Search Climate Insights Directory

The author contends that hosting COP29 in Azerbaijan—a country with an authoritarian regime and a growing fossil fuel industry—threatens the summit's potential for real change. The text highlights Azerbaijan's lack of net-zero targets, its expansion of gas production, and its poor human rights record, including the detention of environmental activists. It also criticizes the European Union for increasing gas imports from Azerbaijan, which the author claims bolsters the regime's power. Finally, the document calls for the UN to reform the COP host selection process by introducing mandatory climate action and human rights requirements.

The policy brief contends that carbon markets are a flawed mechanism that fails to provide real climate finance, instead allowing Global North polluters to avoid direct emission reductions while potentially harming Global South communities.

The document advocates for the integration of substantive and procedural human rights into the Global Plastics Treaty, noting that plastic pollution infringes upon rights to health, life, and a clean environment. It critiques the current Compilation Draft for treating public participation as voluntary and omitting the right to effective remedy, while recommending that the final treaty explicitly operationalize the right to a healthy environment and protect marginalized groups.

The document argues that the Chair's third non-paper provides an adequate structure for negotiations at INC-5 but would result in an 'ineffective and useless treaty' if not significantly strengthened. CIEL advocates for replacing voluntary language with legally binding obligations, establishing a dedicated financial mechanism based on the polluter pays principle, and implementing global phase-outs of chemicals of concern. Key recommendations include introducing a freeze on new polymer production capacity, making national plans mandatory, and adopting a qualified majority voting system for the Conference of the Parties to prevent decision-making paralysis.

The report analyzes the roles of Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt as transit and destination hubs for migrants moving from sub-Saharan Africa toward Europe. It highlights a systemic tension between the European Union's focus on border externalization and the African Union's goal of regional free movement. In Libya, state fragmentation has allowed smuggling networks and militias to control migration routes, leading to severe human rights abuses. Tunisia has seen a surge in sub-Saharan migrants and relies heavily on EU-funded border security despite lacking a national asylum policy. Egypt hosts approximately nine million migrants and maintains a more stable governance structure, though it has recently implemented stricter visa restrictions for Sudanese nationals. The report argues that current securitized approaches often drive migrants toward riskier routes and recommends a shift toward human rights, economic development, and the ratification of the AU Free Movement Protocol.

The briefing introduces a three-step framework designed to move adaptation finance beyond simple fund allocation toward achieving equitable outcomes and structural change. It argues that current international funding often fails to reach the most vulnerable populations and frequently ignores the root causes of vulnerability. The framework guides actors through defining their equity goals, selecting guiding principles, and addressing eight specific elements of distributive equity across the project cycle. These elements range from ensuring fair allocation and resource access to more ambitious goals like protecting human rights, addressing intersectionality, and enabling decolonization to dismantle systemic drivers of marginalization.

The assessment finds that SMB's mining operations in the Boké region have caused severe environmental degradation, including deforestation and water pollution, and have negatively impacted local health and livelihoods. The report concludes that SMB has failed to comply with several Guinean laws, including the 2019 Environmental Law and the 2011 Mining Code, particularly regarding community compensation and environmental protection.

A coalition of civil society organisations calls on EU authorities to reject a proposed twelve-month delay to the EU deforestation-free products regulation (EUDR), arguing that such a postponement undermines the European Green Deal and rewards companies profiting from environmental destruction.

The document discusses the rise of due diligence regulations, primarily in the Global North, aimed at addressing risks like deforestation and forced labour in global value chains. It highlights the challenges faced by actors in the Global South in complying with these standards and aims to identify common themes across regulations to improve interoperability through tools like sustainability standards.

The document identifies critical targets within the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and themes for UNFCCC COP29 that African environmental defenders should prioritize. For COP16, it emphasizes the need for human rights-based monitoring of the '30X30' target (Target 3), the protection of defenders (Target 22), and gender equality (Target 23). For COP29, it warns against 'Nature-Based Solutions' as 'false solutions' and calls for ambitious, grant-based climate finance and progressive Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) based on climate justice.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project and United Farm Workers argue that Instar Asset Management has violated the PRI's integrity by ignoring labor abuses at Windmill Farms, including wage theft, gender discrimination, and union-busting, despite Instar's public ESG policies.

The document argues that the climate crisis is a human rights crisis, creating a legal obligation for States and corporations to provide remedy and full reparation for loss and damage. It asserts that the right to remedy is already established under international law and does not require new norms, but rather the application of existing frameworks and the 'polluter pays principle' to hold fossil fuel industries accountable. The text criticizes the UNFCCC for failing to uphold the right to remedy through its reliance on voluntary approaches and calls for the restructuring of loss and damage mechanisms to align with human rights standards. Finally, it emphasizes that while the UNFCCC is insufficient, complementary legal strategies—including litigation in international, regional, and national courts—are essential for delivering climate justice.

The research paper identifies six recurring themes in due diligence regulations: risk management, transparency, traceability, legality, accountability, and stakeholder engagement. It highlights the challenges faced by Global South actors and SMEs in complying with these often unilaterally developed laws. The author suggests a 'smart-mix' approach, where voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) and digital tools (such as satellite imagery and traceability platforms) complement public policies to reduce the compliance burden.

The document identifies significant obstacles to Colombia's transition from thermal coal, including high fiscal dependence on coal exports and royalties, limited local institutional capacity, and inadequate environmental regulations for mine closures. It highlights the vulnerability of the Cesar and La Guajira regions, where coal provides a substantial portion of departmental revenue and high-paying employment. The brief argues that a just transition requires inclusive stakeholder dialogue, permanent funding mechanisms for productive conversion, and the protection of civic space for marginalized groups, including Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.

The document examines the unique vulnerabilities of older people to climate change, noting that by 2050 up to 250 million older adults may face dangerously high temperatures. It highlights a lack of binding international agreements to safeguard their rights and references a 2024 European Court of Human Rights ruling regarding the Swiss Parliament's failure to protect older women. The paper concludes that older adults are a vital resource for climate action due to their economic power and local environmental knowledge.

NGOs are demanding an international investigation into reports that Mozambican security forces committed massacres, torture, and sexual violence near the Mozambique LNG project site between July and September 2021. The statement highlights TotalEnergies' controversial relationship with the Mozambican military and calls on financial institutions to cease their support for the project due to severe human rights and environmental risks.

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and other signatories call on Canada to lead efforts at the UN General Assembly and INC-5 to establish a legally binding global plastics treaty. They argue that the treaty must move beyond product controls to include supply-side measures and mandatory national reductions in virgin plastic production to protect human rights and the health of frontline communities, specifically citing the benzene pollution crisis at Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

In 2023, Global Witness documented 196 murders of land and environmental defenders, contributing to a total of 2,106 since 2012. Latin America remains the most dangerous region, accounting for 85% of 2023 cases, with Colombia recording the highest number of killings (79). The report highlights a systemic pattern of violence including forced disappearances in Mexico and judicial harassment in Asia. Mining is identified as the primary industrial driver of these killings. The document argues that indigenous peoples, who protect 80% of the world's remaining biodiversity, are disproportionately targeted. It calls for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement and greater inclusion of indigenous knowledge in global climate negotiations.

The document argues that the steel sector is no longer 'hard-to-abate' due to advancements in green hydrogen and electric arc furnaces. It challenges the distinction between metallurgical and thermal coal, warns against reliance on CCUS, and highlights the risk of stranded assets. The briefing urges financial institutions to adopt strict sectoral policies to end financing for new blast furnaces and metallurgical coal projects while increasing investment in sustainable alternatives.

The briefing outlines a UN report by Special Rapporteur Elisa Morgera emphasizing that access to quality, evidence-based information is a fundamental human right essential for climate decision-making. It identifies the threats posed by misinformation and disinformation—specifically regarding 'false or misleading solutions' like natural gas and certain types of hydrogen—and calls for proactive transparency from states and businesses. The document also highlights the contradictory role of digital platforms, which facilitate information sharing but often prioritize profit-driven engagement over information integrity.