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The document asserts that a viable system for sustainable soy production in Brazil exists, featuring international funding for farmers and plans to increase production using previously cleared land, but claims that soy traders are failing to adopt this framework despite negotiations with Brazilian NGOs.

The document argues that critical long-distance transmission can be developed using existing federal legal authorities, though state siting requirements remain a potential obstacle.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative/Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (CPI/PUC-Rio) analyzes the role of rural credit policy in Brazil as a tool for increasing agricultural productivity while reducing deforestation. It argues that improving the efficiency and sustainability alignment of rural credit can allow Brazil to expand food production without further area expansion, leveraging existing cleared lands.

Ember argues that the viability of BECCS as a negative emissions mechanism is undermined by the fact that burning biomass may be net carbon emitting rather than carbon neutral. The document highlights the lack of UK policy measures to ensure carbon-saving biomass production and warns that the land requirements for energy crops could lead to significant food, water, and biodiversity impacts. Furthermore, Ember contends that public subsidies for BECCS are expensive and potentially less effective than investing in rapid decarbonisation or natural forest restoration.

The document examines the risks posed to UK agricultural environmental standards by new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), particularly with the US, Australia, and New Zealand. It proposes a system of 'core' environmental standards based on environmental significance, production constraints, and cost impacts. To protect these, the author suggests several mechanisms: voluntary labelling, legally binding non-regression clauses, conditional import tariffs, and the introduction of mandatory environmental standards for imports. The briefing emphasizes the need for an independent expert body to provide the evidence base and governance required to implement these measures without breaching WTO rules.

The report analyzes Brazil's rural credit system, highlighting its complexity and fragmentation. It provides empirical evidence that rural credit, particularly when directed at small farmers, increases land and labor productivity and reduces deforestation by promoting the conversion of degraded pastures into cropland. The document argues for simplifying the credit system, increasing private sector participation, and strengthening the link between credit access and compliance with the Forest Code to ensure sustainable agricultural growth.

The report analyzes the Brazilian National Rural Credit System, highlighting its complexity and fragmentation. It provides empirical evidence that rural credit, particularly when directed to small farmers, increases land and labor productivity and reduces deforestation pressures by promoting the conversion of pasture to cropland. The document advocates for the integration of the Forest Code and the ABC Program into credit eligibility to foster sustainable agriculture and suggests reducing political interference and increasing private sector participation in rural finance.

The report analyzes the economic risks of palm oil monocropping for independent smallholders in Berau, Indonesia, finding that palm oil returns are often below minimum living costs. It argues that diversifying into crops like maize and cocoa can significantly increase revenue—potentially by up to 825% for maize—while enhancing regional food security and economic stability. The study recommends that the Berau government strengthen priority economic programs, facilitate access to agricultural financing and insurance, and implement environmental safeguards for alternative crops.

The proposal aims to overcome institutional and financial barriers in Nicaragua by strengthening the capacity of the National Designated Authority (MHCP) and a Direct Access Entity applicant (MARENA). Key activities include enhancing project selection procedures, developing a climate finance monitoring system in the Municipality of Managua, closing accreditation gaps for MARENA through new fiduciary and gender policies, and drafting a national Green Growth Strategy. The project also intends to develop three concept notes for climate funding, with implementation led by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) over an 18-month period.

The report argues that independent palm oil smallholders in Berau face significant economic risks due to monocropping and low productivity, with returns often falling far below the regional minimum wage. Through financial modelling, the study finds that diversifying into maize and cocoa can substantially increase revenue—potentially up to 825% more than monocropping—while reducing sensitivity to market price volatility. It recommends that diversification begin during the peak productivity of palm oil trees (around year 10) to ensure bankability and positive cash flow. To facilitate this transition, the report suggests leveraging financial instruments such as the Kredit Usaha Rakyat (KUR) interest rate subsidy, credit guarantee schemes, and maize insurance, while strengthening local programs like PRUKADES and farmers' corporation plantation zones.

The report evaluates the operationalization of REDD+ and the inclusion of forest-related mitigation targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. While the overarching goal of including forests in a global climate agreement is considered met, the report identifies significant barriers to REDD+ implementation, including insufficient finance and a lack of quantifiable targets in many NDCs. Recent updates to NDCs show some improvement in the quality and scale of forest targets in specific countries.

The report finds that international and domestic public finance for forests is significantly lower than the sector's climate mitigation potential. It highlights a gap where 'grey' finance for agriculture far outweighs 'green' finance for forest protection. Additionally, the document notes that most major financial institutions lack deforestation policies, and private investment in sustainable commodity production remains difficult to quantify and insufficient in scale.

The document argues that Sub-Saharan Africa's high dependence on traditional biomass, such as fuelwood and charcoal, leads to negative sustainability outcomes, including increased vulnerability to climate change and poverty. To transition toward modern bioenergy, the text proposes four strategies: strengthening linkages between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and bioenergy across sectors, developing context-specific markets rather than importing external models, increasing land productivity through integrated landscape approaches, and better integrating climate change mitigation with adaptation strategies.

The report highlights a critical gap in Brazil's Feasibility Studies (EVTEA) and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), which often ignore indirect environmental effects of transportation projects. Using a 'market access' approach, the authors demonstrate that infrastructure improvements can drive deforestation far from the project site by reducing freight costs and incentivizing agricultural expansion. For example, while the Ferrogrão railroad may reduce direct carbon emissions, its indirect impact is estimated to increase deforestation by 2,000 km², releasing over 60 million tCOe. The report recommends that policymakers use geoprocessing and statistical tools to identify these broader areas of influence to ensure sustainable infrastructure development.

The whitepaper highlights a critical gap in how Brazil assesses the environmental impact of transport infrastructure, specifically the failure of Technical, Economic, and Environmental Feasibility Studies (EVTEA) and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) to account for indirect effects. It proposes a 'market access' approach, combining geoprocessing and statistical analysis, to quantify how reduced transport costs induce agricultural expansion and deforestation far from the actual project site. Using the Ferrogrão railroad as an example, the authors demonstrate that indirect carbon costs can vastly outweigh direct emissions reductions. The document recommends that EVTEAs and EIAs adopt robust methodologies to identify both direct and indirect areas of influence to ensure sustainable infrastructure development.

In response to the 2019 'megafire' in the Chiquitano Forest, which burned approximately 3.6 million hectares, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) developed a pilot framework to help Bolivian policymakers use watersheds as the primary management unit for land and water planning. The framework combines remote sensing data on land use and fire from 2001 to 2019 with watershed maps and water-related indicators, such as groundwater recharge areas, to identify vulnerable zones. While current restoration plans in the Santa Cruz Department focus on socio-economic and governance actions, they lack water resource components. SEI's tool distinguishes between fires in intact forests versus those in areas already converted to agriculture and identifies northern Chiquitania as having the highest groundwater recharge potential. Future work involves adding criteria like ecosystem relevance and population size, and developing a regional-scale model using the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) tool to quantify the hydrological impacts of forest cover loss.

Mighty Earth calls for new EU legislation to ensure corporations only sell deforestation-free products, arguing that European consumption of commodities like soy, palm oil, beef, coffee, and cocoa fuels the destruction of global ecosystems, including the Amazon and Cerrado.

The report evaluates a 28.7 MW onshore wind portfolio in Germany against a gas-fired power plant of equivalent annual generation. Using the SAVi methodology, it integrates externalities (environmental, social, and economic) and climate change risks (physical and transitional) into a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA), Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), and financial analysis. The findings indicate that while both assets are viable under conventional metrics, the wind portfolio is significantly more resilient to climate risks and societal costs. The gas-fired plant's financial viability collapses if a carbon tax is introduced or if social costs of carbon are internalized, whereas the wind portfolio maintains positive internal rates of return (IRR) and lower societal LCOE.

The document details a 2019 case study in Colombia's Campoalegre River Basin where the Tandem framework was used to bridge the gap between climate information providers and water planning users. Through a series of workshops and interviews, stakeholders co-defined adaptation challenges and designed the graphical interfaces of needed climate services. The process highlighted the importance of addressing power dynamics, building trust prior to implementation, and using tools like social mapping and individual questionnaires to ensure inclusive participation. The study also emphasizes the role of the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) tool in supporting robust decision-making within the Colombian POMCA planning framework.

The report analyzes Brazil's agricultural risk management landscape, highlighting a significant gap in insurance coverage compared to global peers like the US and China. It examines key programs such as the PSR, Proagro, Garantia-Safra, and PGPM, noting high market concentration and a heavy reliance on credit over insurance. The authors argue that inadequate risk management leads to underinvestment and inefficient land use, recommending a shift in public funding from rural credit to insurance subsidies and the expansion of the Agricultural Climate Risk Zoning (ZARC) system.