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The 2024 National Budget continues a decade-long trend of budget cuts to achieve a primary budget surplus and stabilise debt, despite high levels of poverty and unemployment in South Africa. The IEJ argues that the National Treasury's claim of insufficient funds is contradicted by the drawdown of R150 billion from the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA). The document highlights real-term declines in per capita non-interest expenditure, social grant values, and spending on healthcare and education. It proposes alternative revenue sources, such as wealth taxes and taxing financial transactions, to fund essential services and job creation. The IEJ criticises the reliance on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure and electricity, warning of fiscal risks and potential tariff increases.

The document outlines the environmental crises caused by fossil-fuel-driven economic systems, emphasizing the need for a 'just transition' and a shift toward circular economies. It highlights the critical state of biodiversity, water security, and air quality, noting that the poorest populations suffer most despite contributing least to the problem. The guide calls for systemic changes in food production, energy use, and consumption patterns to protect the planet for future generations.

Ember's submission to the NSW Parliament inquiry into Net Zero highlights that the coal mining sector is the biggest potential risk to the state's emission goals. The document argues that existing federal mechanisms, such as the Safeguard Mechanism and the Coal Mine Waste Gas method, are insufficient to drive material onsite reductions. Using Tahmoor Colliery as a case study, Ember demonstrates that Ventilation Air Methane (VAM) mitigation via Regenerative Thermal Oxidiser (RTO) technology is technically and commercially feasible but underutilised due to a lack of state-led regulatory pressure and the availability of carbon offsets. The submission calls for a pause on new coal mine expansions and a dedicated report from the Net Zero Commission by June 2025 to assess sectoral risks and develop a coal-specific emissions target.

The document analyzes COP 28 outcomes for Africa, noting a gap between high-level agreements and the actual financial resources provided for adaptation and loss and damage. While it highlights the historic agreement to transition away from fossil fuels and new food system initiatives, it argues that the scale of funding remains insufficient for Africa's urgent needs.

The IEJ criticizes President Ramaphosa's SONA for lacking concrete plans to address South Africa's economic crises, poverty, and unemployment. The organization urges MPs to question the President on the sustainability of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant, the risks of private sector-led infrastructure and energy transitions, the 'starvation' of public services by the National Treasury, and the failure to hold state capture perpetrators accountable. The IEJ specifically calls for a transition to a Universal Basic Income Guarantee and the use of the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA) to fund developmental priorities.

The research uses 20 semi-structured interviews with taxi and truck drivers in Sweden to examine how decarbonization technologies affect quality of working life. While workers identify potential health and safety benefits, they express concerns regarding their professional aspirations and needs, with perceived impacts varying by age, gender, and geography.

The author contends that treating climate change, pandemics, and economic instability as separate issues leads to fragmented solutions that may worsen other crises. Drawing on the concept of 'crisis tribes'—groups defined by the specific traumas they have experienced—the text argues that current dominant policy responses often prioritize narrow interests over systemic health. To counter this, the Green Economy Coalition proposes a 'new eco-social contract for a shared global green deal' focused on building global partner networks, developing national eco-social contracting prototypes, and establishing a collective global green economy architecture to ensure a fair transition for all nations.

The document argues that National Treasury's 'hyper-austerity' and unilateral budget cuts undermine constitutional rights and the effectiveness of social programmes. It highlights the decline in funding for the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant and the failure of child support grants to keep pace with food inflation. The authors call for a shift toward a developmental agenda that includes a basic income grant by 2025, wealth taxes to fund social services, and public investment in infrastructure and the energy transition.

The document evaluates low-, medium-, and high-ambition scenarios for transitioning South Africa's Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant into a more permanent basic income grant (BIG). Using the DIMMSIM model, the research finds that such grants are fiscally sustainable when funded through progressive taxation and lead to significant reductions in poverty and unemployment while boosting GDP growth.

The Global Research and Action Network for a New Eco-Social Contract (GRAN-ESC) proposes that the UN's 'Pact for the Future' adopt 'eco-social contracts' that integrate ecological, social, and economic elements. The submission advocates for a shift toward transformative, community-led sustainable development, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, and the reform of the international financial architecture to support debtor nations in the 'Majority World'. Key recommendations include the legal recognition of the rights of nature, the creation of a UN taskforce on structural green and eco-social transition policies, and the implementation of deliberative processes like citizens' assemblies to ensure the inclusion of marginalised groups and future generations.

The report examines the challenges of a just energy transition in Colombia's coal-producing regions of Cesar and La Guajira. It analyzes the differing visions of transition held by national and regional actors, the power dynamics that resist the planned phase-out of coal mining, and the efforts of civil society to promote sustainable futures. This work is part of a broader comparative project involving South Africa and Indonesia to understand energy transition hurdles in Global South coal-producing nations.

The document argues that while African nations have submitted ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), they face a massive climate finance gap and high debt burdens that hinder a just energy transition. It critiques previous G20 presidencies for treating developing countries as a monolith and failing to address Africa's specific needs, such as the disparity between mitigation and adaptation funding. The brief recommends that the Brazilian and South African G20 presidencies focus on increasing the flow and quality of finance through concessional capital, debt-for-nature swaps, and the re-channeling of special drawing rights, while also enhancing Africa's participation in carbon markets and attracting private sector investment.

Carbon Market Watch argues that the Gold Standard's proposed methodology for coal plant phase-outs is insufficient due to unpredictable economic and political factors, weak eligibility criteria for renewable energy, and inadequate financial and emissions accounting. The organization recommends stricter timelines for developed economies, more rigorous additionality assessments, and the inclusion of construction emissions to avoid the issuance of low-quality credits.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, provides USD 27 billion in grants to mobilize financing for GHG emissions reduction in the United States, specifically targeting low-income and disadvantaged communities (LIDACs). While the fund offers a transformative opportunity to align climate mitigation with economic development and climate justice, the report identifies significant barriers, including short implementation timeframes, varying operational capacities among community development financial institutions (CDFIs), and a shortage of skilled workforce and project pipelines. To overcome these, the report recommends catalyzing private capital through secondary markets and blended finance, standardizing underwriting and financial products, implementing a hub-and-spoke technical assistance framework, aligning government efforts across all levels, and establishing a collaborative 'sandbox' culture for systemic learning.

Reclaim Finance establishes a comprehensive framework to identify insufficient or greenwashed corporate climate transition plans. The report outlines five essential steps for a robust plan: setting science-based absolute emission targets, developing a detailed decarbonization strategy (including financial alignment and fossil fuel phase-outs), implementing a value-chain engagement strategy, integrating reporting and governance, and addressing just transition and biodiversity. It further maps these criteria to the EU's European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and the European Central Bank's (ECB) supervisory expectations to help companies and financial institutions meet regulatory obligations.

The report argues that social conflict surrounding wind energy in La Guajira is driven not by opposition to the technology, but by the processes of implementation and consultation. It identifies eight enabling factors for social acceptance: improving information access, regulating community advisers, recognizing the duality of Wayuu leadership, establishing benefit-sharing standards, ensuring equitable internal distribution of benefits, monitoring 'electric transfers', strengthening regional institutional capacity, and aligning industry development with territorial planning. The authors propose actionable solutions including a regional information observatory, a certification program for advisers, and peer-to-peer learning networks for communities.

The document analyzes the socio-economic and political challenges of transitioning away from thermal coal in the Colombian Caribbean. It highlights the tension between national economic reliance on coal exports and the local need for socio-ecological transformation. The paper identifies significant barriers, including high regional fiscal dependence on royalties, environmental liabilities from unplanned mine closures, and a centralized power structure that often excludes local communities from decision-making. Using the case of La Jagua de Ibirico, it illustrates the crisis triggered by abrupt mining suspensions, emphasizing the urgency of planned closures and economic diversification to avoid systemic collapse in coal-dependent municipalities.

The report examines the potential effects of International Maritime Organization (IMO) candidate mid-term GHG measures on African economies. Using a CGE model, it finds that a USD100/t carbon levy would generally reduce GDP and household incomes across Africa, increase global food prices, and reduce the supply of maritime services. A case study of Ghana highlights existing freight cost imbalances and the risk of a stranded fleet of older vessels. The authors argue that for such measures to be equitable, revenues must be redistributed as direct grants (not loans) for out-of-sector climate resilience and mitigation, based on criteria including climate vulnerability and historical emissions contributions.

The report argues that climate action and gender equality are synergistic and must be integrated to achieve a just transition. Based on 12 projects in 17 countries, it identifies four axes for empowerment: improving productivity of existing activities, helping women enter male-dominated sectors, consolidating low-carbon business plans, and providing access to new green technologies. Key findings highlight that women's traditional knowledge is often inherently low-carbon and that removing discriminatory barriers—such as limited land rights and social norms—can accelerate climate resilience and economic growth. The document provides specific recommendations for policymakers to integrate gender-sensitive budgeting and support women's leadership in sectors like regenerative agriculture, the blue economy, and ecotourism.

The GLOW program demonstrates that gender equality and climate action are synergistic, arguing that women's leadership and participation are essential for the effectiveness and sustainability of low-carbon transitions. Through projects in the Global South, the report identifies four pathways for empowerment: improving the productivity of existing women's economic activities via climate-smart methods, integrating women into traditionally male-dominated value chains, consolidating low-carbon business models, and creating entirely new green jobs using emerging technologies. Key findings highlight that women often possess traditional knowledge that is inherently low-carbon and that emerging technologies, such as solar irrigation and circular bioeconomy tools (e.g., black soldier fly farming), can reduce servile labor and lower barriers to entry for women. The report recommends integrating gender-transformative policies into National Determined Contributions (NDCs), increasing women's access to productive assets and digital markets, and addressing the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work as a core component of climate action.