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The Net Zero Stocktake 2025 finds that while the number of net zero targets continues to rise across companies, cities, and regions, the integrity of these commitments remains low. As of September 2025, 1,935 entities have targets, including 137 national governments and 63% of the Forbes Global 2000. However, only a small fraction of companies, regions, and cities meet all minimum integrity requirements. The report also highlights a gap in planning, with nearly one-third of Forbes Global 2000 companies lacking a clear roadmap, and expresses concern over the lack of dedicated targets for nature-based carbon removals.

China is rapidly transitioning its energy system through massive investment in renewables, grid infrastructure, and whole-economy electrification. This shift is moving China toward a peak in fossil fuel use and is driving down the global cost of clean technologies, enabling emerging markets to leapfrog traditional development paths and potentially triggering a structural decline in global fossil fuel demand by 2030.

The briefing challenges the notion that coal plants are necessary for grid reliability amidst a data center boom in the US. It asserts that coal plants are prone to unplanned outages, lack the ramp speed required for voltage-sensitive loads, and create grid congestion. The author suggests that over 95 percent of future demand can be met using scalable clean solutions such as battery storage and demand flexibility.

The document analyzes how federal clean energy incentives have driven over $321 billion in investments across the U.S. between Q2 2022 and Q1 2025, highlighting that these investments are heavily concentrated in Southern and Western states and Republican-held congressional districts. It argues that rolling back these incentives would disproportionately harm these regions and jeopardize significant outstanding investments in states like Louisiana and North Dakota, as well as major projects in emerging hubs like Southern Arizona and the Southeast.

The author outlines three priorities for Canada's post-election climate strategy: improving affordability through energy-efficient technologies like heat pumps, maintaining economic competitiveness against global decarbonization trends and carbon border tariffs, and protecting communities from the increasing financial and health costs of extreme weather disasters.

Reclaim Finance calls on investors to vote against strategic resolutions at 2025 annual general meetings for major oil and gas companies, arguing that traditional shareholder engagement has failed to align these firms with a 1.5°C trajectory. The document highlights that 95% of oil and gas companies continue developing new projects and that some majors, such as BP, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Equinor, are increasing production or weakening climate targets. It advocates for using opposition votes as an effective lever to signal that climate priorities must be integrated into corporate strategy.

Reclaim Finance calls on investors to shift from ineffective shareholder engagement to voting against management-proposed resolutions at 2025 AGMs for oil and gas companies. The organization highlights that 95% of upstream oil and gas companies are developing new projects despite IPCC and IEA warnings that such expansion is incompatible with a 1.5°C world. It specifically notes that majors like BP, TotalEnergies, Eni, and Equinor are backtracking on climate commitments by planning production increases. The document asserts that current collaborative initiatives, such as Climate Action 100+, have failed to align corporate strategies with 1.5°C trajectories, making strategic voting a necessary lever to signal that climate must be an integral part of corporate strategy.

The document analyzes the financial burden on Wisconsin Electric Power Company (WEPCO) ratepayers resulting from the early retirement of the coal-fired Oak Creek Power Plant and warns against repeating these mistakes by investing in new natural gas plants. It argues that clean energy alternatives and better regulatory scrutiny of load forecasts can prevent future stranded assets.

GreenLatinos condemns President Donald Trump's congressional speech, arguing that his agenda prioritizes corporate polluters over public health and environmental justice. The organization highlights significant losses in clean energy employment and investment, as well as projected increases in energy costs for working families.

The report argues that repealing federal clean energy tax credits and funding programs would lead to significant job losses, increased household energy costs, reduced GDP, and higher air pollution levels in the United States between 2025 and 2035.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) advocates for a nationally owned development finance strategy to address debt distress and the climate crisis. In South Africa, the IEJ focuses on increasing transparency for international financial institution (IFI) loans and ensuring that the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JET-P) prioritizes public good over private profit through fair risk-sharing and expanded policy tools.

The statement warns against the potential dismantling of EU sustainability rules through the proposed Omnibus simplification package, arguing that such moves would penalize companies already investing in sustainable supply chains and create policy uncertainty. It advocates for 'competitive sustainability' and a just transition to clean energy, while supporting regulatory simplification only if it enhances efficiency without undermining the foundations of sustainable business practices.

The author contends that following the U.S. lead in abandoning the Paris climate accord would be 'economically perilous' for countries like Indonesia. He highlights the continued global acceleration of electric vehicle and solar energy growth, and cites specific policy actions in Japan and South Korea as examples of proactive decarbonization. The text argues that U.S. clean energy deployment is driven by economic sense and private sector investment, which will persist regardless of federal government policy.

The World Resources Institute warns that the Trump administration's retreat from climate action and multilateralism—including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and freezing foreign assistance—will undermine U.S. security, prosperity, and global stability. The organization highlights that the U.S. provides over 10% of global climate finance and cautions that halting this support will make it harder to reach the $1.3 trillion target needed by developing countries by 2035.

The World Resources Institute asserts that the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will not stop global climate action but will diminish American political influence and cede a competitive advantage in the green energy economy to China and the European Union. The statement emphasizes that subnational entities and the Inflation Reduction Act will maintain U.S. climate progress.

The document examines how current electricity rate designs in the U.S. often overcharge heat pump users because their peak demand occurs in winter, while grid peaks typically occur in summer. Using data from NIPSCO in Northern Indiana, the brief demonstrates that aligning rates with the actual cost of service could save electrified customers hundreds of dollars annually. It proposes several rate reform options—including seasonal heating rates, time-varying rates, and separate customer classes—while emphasizing the need for affordability measures for low-income households and the long-term evolution of rates as the grid transitions to clean energy.

Global warming projections for 2100 have remained stagnant since 2021, with current policies leading to a median estimate of 2.7°C of warming. While clean energy investments now double those for fossil fuels, record-high fossil fuel subsidies and funding for prolonging projects are preventing the steep emissions decline required by the Paris Agreement. The briefing emphasizes that seven large emitters and the COP Troika countries, responsible for 63% of 2022 global emissions, must set more ambitious 2030 and 2035 targets to align with 1.5°C.

The document highlights a significant gap in clean energy investment for emerging and developing economies (EMDEs), noting that only 15% of global investment reaches these regions (excluding China). It identifies the primary barrier as an elevated cost of capital—often two to three times higher than in OECD countries—driven by risks such as currency exchange, regulatory uncertainty, and asset expropriation. In Africa, the weighted average cost of capital for power sector projects is 15.6%, making decarbonization prohibitively expensive. The authors argue that COP29 must move beyond pledges toward granular, data-driven plans and bottom-up actions that improve local infrastructure and market performance to make EMDEs more attractive to risk-averse private capital.

The We Mean Business Coalition states that U.S. businesses will continue to pursue clean energy and climate resilience because climate-related factors present concrete operational risks and the global market for clean technologies is expanding. The coalition emphasizes that non-federal actors in the U.S. remain committed to climate goals and urges that COP29 negotiations maintain momentum to deliver global finance for national climate plans.

The study finds that the average WACC for African countries (15.6%) is significantly higher than the 10% uniform value often used in planning, with Eastern Africa facing the highest costs. This high cost of capital, driven by low economic development and high risk premiums, disproportionately affects capital-intensive clean energy projects. The authors argue that relying on uniform WACC values misguides policy and recommend localized data and risk-mitigation instruments to attract private investment.