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The Carbon-Free City Handbook outlines a strategic framework for cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through immediate, economically viable actions. It categorizes recommendations into buildings, transportation and mobility, electricity, industry, and biological resources, emphasizing the importance of setting bold 100% targets to drive transformational change rather than incremental progress.

RMI implemented a parking cash-out program at its Boulder Commons North office, allowing employees to choose between a parking spot or cash to support alternative commuting. During a three-month pilot, 64% of employees opted for the cash-out, with 60% of those switching from single-occupancy vehicles to biking, walking, or busing. This shift is estimated to avoid 950 single-occupancy vehicle miles and 415 kg of carbon emissions weekly. The program leverages a 'green-lease' structure that decouples parking costs from rent, demonstrating that transportation demand management can provide cost savings for employers and developers even in smaller urban settings.

The document examines the 'true cost' of coal-fired power in Central Java, Indonesia, contrasting the financial and social costs of planned coal expansion against the potential of renewable energy. It argues that current capacity plans may lead to unnecessary overcapacity and that the inclusion of health and climate externalities makes renewables a cheaper alternative.

The report evaluates the US coal fleet's economic viability against alternatives like natural gas and renewables, finding that 38% of the 2016 fleet faces an uncertain near-term future due to being either uneconomic or announced for retirement. It also estimates that emissions reductions from 2008 to 2016 provided $250 billion in public health and climate benefits. A proximity analysis indicates that while many coal plants are located in low-income and minority communities, the demographic distribution of the fleet has not changed significantly during the transition.

The document outlines the technical framework for analyzing New Mexico's energy transition, comparing a 'business-as-usual' baseline against a strengthened renewable portfolio standard (RPS). It specifies the cost, performance, and retirement assumptions for various power generation technologies and the economic parameters used to estimate job creation and local revenue from wind, solar, and transmission projects.

The assessment reveals a complex gender landscape in Mongolia where women have high educational attainment and strong legal protections but face significant barriers in the labor market, political empowerment, and decision-making. In the energy sector, women bear a disproportionate burden of household drudgery, particularly in rural areas and peri-urban gers. While small-scale solar home systems have previously improved intra-household dynamics and saved time for women, the large-scale renewable energy sector is in its infancy with limited gender-disaggregated data. XacBank aims to address these gaps by implementing gender-non-discriminatory hiring and capacity-building targets within its solar program to benefit vulnerable populations, including rural women and female-headed households.

The policy brief analyzes the decentralized solar market in Brazil, finding that consumer uptake is driven primarily by demand-side factors rather than natural resource availability. Analysis of 5,563 municipalities reveals that areas with higher GDP, larger populations, and higher electricity tariffs have more photovoltaic units, while regions with the highest solar potential, such as the Center and Northeast, have lower adoption rates. The authors recommend that climate risk mitigation policies address these demand-side barriers to encourage solar penetration in the poorest regions with the highest solar potential.

The document proposes the Green FIDC, a specialized securitization vehicle that transforms risky greenfield projects into bankable assets for institutional investors. By utilizing a two-stage process—initial development finance followed by refinancing through senior shares in the Brazilian capital markets—the instrument aims to reduce reliance on the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) and lower the cost of capital for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. The analysis highlights two pilot opportunities: a 90 MW solar PV project in Ceará and a municipal street lighting LED retrofit in Rio de Janeiro. Financial modeling suggests the instrument is commercially viable, with the potential to leverage USD 1 billion in investment and avoid 10 million tons of CO2 if scaled.

The research finds that demand-side factors are the primary drivers of distributed solar PV adoption in Brazil, often outweighing the availability of solar resources. Analysis shows that municipalities with higher GDP, larger populations, and higher electricity tariffs have more PV units, while solar radiation only becomes a significant positive predictor when comparing municipalities within the same electricity distributor's concession area. The authors argue that current subsidy policies in the Northeast region artificially lower tariffs, hindering PV growth in areas with the highest solar potential. They conclude that climate mitigation policies must address demand-side frictions and tariff structures rather than focusing solely on natural resource availability.

The report examines the role of microgrids in the global energy transition, highlighting how falling costs of solar and wind energy enable these small networks to provide reliable, low-carbon power. It compares connected microgrids, which can operate independently during outages, with isolated microgrids, such as those in the Caribbean, which must be self-sufficient. The text emphasizes that both types face similar challenges in balancing variable renewables with firm energy sources and suggests that knowledge sharing, particularly from island nations leading in renewable integration, can accelerate the global transition.

The document outlines the financial and environmental modeling for a proposed USD 100 million equity fund designed to scale up renewable energy projects. It details the use of an option mechanism to make early-stage development more attractive to investors, projecting that public finance could mobilize significant private capital and abate substantial CO2 emissions. It also compares RESF to various other clean energy funds and technical assistance initiatives across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The report presents five scenarios demonstrating that global warming can be limited to well below 2 C° if the world leverages exponential technological improvements and S-curve market diffusion. It highlights that experts often underestimate the speed of energy transitions by ignoring learning rates and systemic feedbacks. The proposed pathways involve reducing energy demand by approximately 60% through efficiency and electrification, shifting the electricity supply to over 90% renewables by 2040 in aggressive scenarios, and transforming agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) into a net carbon sink by the mid-2040s.

The mining industry is a major global energy consumer, with 2014 consumption reaching almost 1,400 TWh, representing between 1.25% and 11% of total world energy use. Much of this energy is provided by carbon-intensive diesel generation, particularly at remote off-grid sites. However, falling costs for solar PV and wind energy—with global LCOE dropping by 85% and 66% respectively since 2009—now make renewables cost-competitive with diesel and grid power. The document suggests that most mining functions, excluding trucking, can be electrified, and that U.S. mines could convert an additional 30% of their energy load to electricity. Beyond carbon reduction, transitioning to renewables can provide mining companies with a 'social license to operate' by creating local jobs, improving community relations through microgrids or community solar, and helping national governments meet Paris Agreement NDCs. The 'Sunshine for Mines' program aims to catalyze the installation of 8 GW of renewable capacity in the mining sector by 2025.

The 2017 Allianz Climate and Energy Monitor finds that while emerging markets like China and India are seeing a boom in renewable energy installations driven by falling costs, OECD countries—specifically Germany, the UK, and France—remain the most attractive investment destinations due to stable policy frameworks. The report highlights a significant investment gap, stating that G20 countries must roughly double annual investments to meet Paris Agreement goals, with absolute needs reaching USD 709 billion per year (2012 prices) between 2014 and 2035. It notes a global shift from feed-in tariffs to auction-based support systems and warns that governments must now transition from focusing on generation to holistic power system design to integrate variable renewables and avoid curtailment.

Tanzania possesses estimated natural gas reserves of roughly 60 TCF, with the potential to generate up to $6 billion in annual revenue. While the country has established formal governance frameworks, including the Petroleum Act and the Tanzania Extractive Industries Transparency and Accountability Act, the paper argues that the actual impact on development depends on the political will to combat 'grand corruption' and the ability of civil society to hold the ruling coalition accountable. The author warns that windfall rents could incentivize elite predation and weaken the state's incentive to maintain a broad tax base, potentially destabilizing the political equilibrium.

Amory B. Lovins of RMI argues that subsidies for distressed nuclear plants are unjustified because closing high-cost nuclear units and reinvesting their operating expenses into energy efficiency can reduce more carbon than maintaining the plants. He contends that 'baseload' power is not a grid requirement and that variable renewables are more resilient and cost-effective than central thermal plants.

The report examines the progress of decarbonisation across three global energy sectors. It highlights the rapid growth of wind and solar power, the emerging scale of electric vehicle sales, and the relative lag in the buildings sector despite available technological solutions.

The CSIR's analysis of South Africa's Draft IRP 2016 concludes that a 'Least Cost' scenario—prioritising solar PV, wind, and flexible power—is significantly cheaper, creates more jobs, and emits less CO2 than the government's Base Case and Carbon Budget scenarios. The report argues that the Draft IRP 2016 imposes annual new-build constraints on solar and wind without techno-economic justification, which artificially inflates costs and pushes the system toward new coal or nuclear investment. By 2050, the CSIR finds that a renewable energy share of over 70% is cost-optimal. Technical assessments on system inertia and transmission infrastructure indicate that the costs of maintaining stability in a high-renewable system are low, representing less than 1% of total power generation costs.

The Union of Concerned Scientists ranked U.S. states on their clean energy momentum using 12 metrics divided into technical progress, direct effects, and policy environments. California ranked first overall, followed by Vermont and Massachusetts. The analysis found that 13 percent of U.S. electricity was generated from renewable energy in 2015, and 36 percent of generating capacity being built between 2016 and 2019 is expected to be renewable. Significant reductions in power plant emissions were noted between 2011 and 2015, with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide declining by 47, 24, and 11 percent, respectively.

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) argues that South Africa's draft Integrated Energy Plan (IEP) and Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Update are inconsistent with the Constitution, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), and the National Energy Act (NEA). The CER contends that the plans unjustifiably constrain renewable energy while promoting new coal-fired power stations, which they claim cause severe health impacts and contribute to climate change. They highlight that coal-fired power is no longer the least-cost option and risks creating stranded assets. The document recommends removing build limits on wind and solar, excluding new coal and nuclear power, and conducting a comprehensive assessment of external social and environmental costs.