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The document examines how renewable energy transitions in West Sumatra, Indonesia, can either entrench or challenge existing social inequities. Through case studies of geothermal, micro-hydro, and biofuel projects, it highlights how patriarchal land management and closed decision-making processes exclude women and marginalized groups from benefits. It also analyzes the limitations of national LPG subsidies and grid electrification in reaching the rural poor, concluding that a gender-sensitive approach is essential to ensure just transitions.

The report argues that a successful global low-carbon transition depends on addressing equity concerns to reduce resistance and ensure fairness. It distills seven principles from literature and historical case studies: actively encouraging decarbonization, avoiding carbon lock-in, supporting affected regions, supporting workers and communities, remediating environmental damage, addressing social inequalities, and ensuring inclusive planning. The authors emphasize that these principles must be pursued in parallel and that the need for social support does not justify delaying decarbonization. Historical analysis shows that poorly managed industrial declines lead to poverty, out-migration, and political instability, often with the public sector bearing the costs of private-sector environmental liabilities.

The document argues that the rapid government action and public support seen during the COVID-19 crisis provide a momentum that should be used to implement long-term green recovery strategies rather than short-term fixes. It emphasizes the need for a clear EU-wide dimension to investments to lower finance costs and suggests that recovery packages must prioritize social equity and local self-sufficiency to reduce vulnerability. The paper highlights the importance of defining 'green' across different sectors and suggests that cooperation on technology transfers and intellectual property, similar to WHO initiatives during the pandemic, should be applied to climate and clean energy action. It also notes the tension between EU reindustrialization and the needs of the Global South, as well as the geopolitical implications for Border Carbon Adjustment proposals.

The document argues that low-carbon energy transitions do not automatically address gender and social inequities, and marginalized groups risk being excluded from benefits. It examines four key dimensions: political economy, where power dynamics and social norms can institutionalize differential energy access; energy security, where modern energy services may shift rather than eliminate women's burdens; job markets, where women are under-represented in technical roles due to STEM perceptions and capital access; and technology adoption, where gendered decision-making and social norms influence the uptake of tools like clean cookstoves. The brief concludes that a holistic, systems approach integrating gender and social equity into planning and implementation is essential for a just transition.

The report finds that low-carbon energy transitions do not automatically improve social equity and can replicate existing structural inequalities if power asymmetries are not addressed. While some technologies like household solar provide benefits, others—particularly large-scale hydropower and biofuel plantations—often lead to land loss, displacement, and precarious employment. The authors argue that institutional frameworks and participatory processes, rather than the technology itself, determine whether a transition is just.

The document details efforts to enhance coastal resilience in the Great Lakes region through nature-based solutions, such as wetland restoration and climate-smart agriculture. It highlights the role of the Coastal Assembly in coordinating bi-national wetland restoration and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission's (GLIFWC) use of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to assess species vulnerability. The briefing also emphasizes the importance of soil health in carbon sequestration and the need for federal policy modernization, including updates to the Stafford Act and expanded funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

The SEI Asia Strategy 2020-24 establishes a framework to bridge science, policy, and practice to achieve environmental sustainability and inclusive development in Asia. The strategy is organized around three primary impact areas: reduced climate risk, sustainable resource use and resilient ecosystems, and improved health and well-being. To achieve these, SEI Asia focuses on five core research and policy clusters: Gender, Environment and Development; Water; Climate Change, Disasters and Development; Urban; and Policy. The document also highlights specialized programs for the Mekong Region and Myanmar, and identifies evolving areas of work including ecological economics, sustainable finance, and the environment-health nexus.

The briefing identifies four key priorities for COP25: increasing national climate ambition (NDCs), finalizing rules for international carbon markets and common time frames, reviewing the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage, and advancing climate finance and capacity-building. It emphasizes the need for environmentally sound rules for carbon trading and the importance of integrating social equity into climate policy to ensure a just transition.

The paper argues that ignoring gender and power inequalities in climate change adaptation is maladaptive and leads to further exclusion. It advocates for 'gender-transformative adaptation'—which seeks to change the fundamental attributes of a system and address the root causes of vulnerability—across the natural environment, food security, sustainable cities, infrastructure, industry, and finance. The authors highlight how intersecting inequalities (income, ethnicity, age, etc.) compound vulnerability and recommend rigorous, participatory gender analyses to inform policy and project design. Key findings include the risk of 'elite capture' in the green economy and the critical need for women's land and resource rights to enable nature-based solutions.

The paper argues that ignoring gender and power inequalities in climate adaptation is maladaptive and recommends transforming social structures to ensure equitable resilience. It analyzes six key systems—natural environment, food security, sustainable cities, infrastructure, industry, and finance—demonstrating how patriarchal norms and intersecting inequalities (such as class, ethnicity, and age) disproportionately burden women and marginalized groups. The authors advocate for rigorous gender analyses, the redistribution of care work, and the inclusion of diverse voices in decision-making to move beyond tokenistic gender mainstreaming toward systemic, gender-transformative change.

The briefing outlines four strategic priorities for the upcoming UN Climate Action and SDG Summits: ramping up ambition for systemic economic change, ensuring a just transition that protects vulnerable populations, scaling high-impact solutions across six key sectors, and establishing inclusive long-term goals for carbon neutrality and equity.

The document examines the tension between current development models and disaster risk reduction, arguing that many development patterns actually drive disaster risks. It posits that while resilience is often used to integrate development and disaster risk reduction, resilience alone is insufficient without addressing the underlying power structures and drivers of risk to ensure equitable outcomes for marginalized groups.

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that accelerating the transition from coal to clean energy in Illinois would improve public health, lower electric bills, and spur local investment without significantly increasing costs for ratepayers.

The document outlines strategies for mainstreaming gender into technical modelling, identifying key barriers such as data gaps and lack of awareness, and offering practical frameworks for inclusive project design and data collection.

The paper examines how subnational governments, with a focus on Washington State, can effectively use carbon tax revenues for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation. It argues against a narrow focus on the lowest-cost reductions, which often leads to pitfalls such as overpayment, lack of additionality, and long ramp-up periods. Instead, it recommends a strategic approach that targets market failures, promotes social equity, and leverages existing state programs to ensure rapid and effective deployment of funds.

The document identifies a gap in sustainability efforts regarding gender and social equity, particularly within SMEs. It argues that gender acts as a 'social stratifier' that limits women's access to education, finance, and leadership, which in turn hinders overall economic and environmental progress. The brief provides a business case for gender equality, noting that closing gender gaps in agriculture and employment could significantly boost GDP and food security. It suggests that the 'green economy' risks excluding women if technical roles in renewable energy and construction remain male-dominated. Recommendations include implementing family-friendly workplace policies, repealing discriminatory laws, and adopting public procurement policies that target female-led micro- and small enterprises.

The document argues that development often exacerbates disaster risks due to poor decision-making and trade-offs. It introduces a typology of five trade-offs (power, equity, temporal, risk, and aggregation) to help decision-makers identify and manage these risks. The brief applies this typology to the 'Building Back Better' approach to post-disaster recovery, suggesting that inclusive, long-term, and holistic planning can lead to more resilient development.

The document argues that gender inequality and unequal power relations frequently exclude women from environmental decision-making and the benefits of development programmes. It emphasizes that gender intersects with other vulnerabilities, such as disability and class, and calls for the integration of disaggregated gender data into technical models and climate finance to ensure equitable outcomes in the energy transition and natural resource management.

The SEI Gender and Social Equity Programme seeks to address knowledge and policy gaps by mainstreaming gender and social equity into the institute's research and technical tools. The programme is structured around three main tasks: developing new research projects with a gender and social equity lens, adapting modelling tools like WEAP and LEAP for social inclusion, and aligning these perspectives across all SEI research and operations. Current initiatives include studying the gender pay gap in Estonia's bioeconomy, analyzing social factors in SMEs' sustainability agendas, and using agent-based modelling to simulate inclusive sustainability pathways for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The document outlines a research initiative to break down barriers between disaster risk reduction (DRR), adaptation, and development. It argues that development processes often create the very risks they seek to mitigate, and proposes a framework based on understanding risk trade-offs, promoting 'equitable resilience' to address social injustice, and implementing adaptive governance. The brief highlights the Sendai Framework as a key opportunity to integrate these transformative practices globally.