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This policy brief examines China's dominant role in Africa's critical minerals sector, highlighting the tension between increased investment and the lack of local value addition. It argues that while China's infrastructure-led approach and state support provide a competitive edge, African nations must shift from exporting raw materials to developing domestic processing and refining capabilities to avoid the 'resource curse' and benefit from the global energy transition.

This report assesses the potential for 'book and claim' mechanisms to drive the growth of near-zero product markets in the steel and concrete sectors, exploring how decoupling environmental attributes from physical products can overcome supply chain and accessibility barriers.

This report examines the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in facilitating the transition to a global circular economy to address the 'triple planetary crisis'. It analyzes current trade measures, identifies a disproportionate focus on end-of-life waste management over upstream resource reduction, and proposes a framework for regulatory alignment and mutual recognition of circular goods and services to prevent market fragmentation and 'circular resource nationalism'.

This briefing by the World Resources Institute examines the impact of the transition to electric vehicles (EVs) on the U.S. auto manufacturing workforce. It identifies high-risk job categories, emerging skill requirements, the influence of AI and vertical integration, and the challenges regarding job quality and unionization in the 'Battery Belt' and Southern states.

This briefing by RMI outlines how G20 nations can reduce the environmental impact of the logistics sector, which currently accounts for 10 percent of global emissions. It advocates for a four-pronged strategy involving operational reimagining, policy frameworks, infrastructure redevelopment, and the mobilization of finance to transition the sector toward sustainability.

An executive summary of a special edition of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluating the renewable electricity targets of 10 major fashion and tech companies. The document highlights the inadequacy of standalone Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), the potential of 24/7 hourly matching, and the lack of incentive from major initiatives like the GHG protocol and RE100 to adopt high-quality procurement strategies.

This white paper examines the barriers to business adaptation and the role of public policy in mitigating transboundary climate risks to the European Union's international trade and supply chains.

This guide outlines the Deforestation and Conversion-Free (DCF) Sourcing Criteria developed by the Climate Bonds Initiative to certify agri-food entities that source commodities from areas free of deforestation and natural ecosystem conversion. The criteria aim to align global financial markets with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement by providing a science-based certification process for traders, processors, and manufacturers.

This briefing by RMI analyzes the potential for the Great Lakes region to lead the electric vehicle (EV) and battery supply chain. While the region possesses historical automotive strengths and significant R&D capacity, it faces competition from the 'Battery Belt' in the Deep South and gaps in state-level industrial policies. The document outlines the four stages of the supply chain—upstream, midstream, downstream, and reuse/recycling—and provides a gap analysis of regional policies compared to federal initiatives, urging Great Lakes states to coordinate on strategic coordination, production incentives, and end-of-life regulations to maintain competitiveness.

An open letter from Indonesian and international civil society organisations (CSOs) urges the global fashion industry to reject biomass as a 'low carbon' alternative to fossil fuels. The CSOs argue that biomass is a 'false solution' that drives deforestation, threatens biodiversity in the Leuser Ecosystem, and violates the rights of Indigenous peoples, while producing more CO2 per kilowatt hour than coal.

An open letter from Indonesian civil society organizations and international think tanks urging global fashion brands to abandon biomass as a fuel source in their supply chains, arguing that it is a 'false solution' that drives deforestation and undermines the transition to truly clean energy like solar and wind.

This report by Ember analyses Chinese customs data from the first half of 2023, detailing a 34% increase in solar module exports. It highlights that while global manufacturing capacity is sufficient to meet 1.5C climate pathways, bottlenecks in installation and grid integration are leading to an accumulation of solar panel stocks in warehouses, particularly in Europe.

This briefing from the Stockholm Environment Institute argues that companies integrating environmental, economic, and social impact governance into their supply chains will be more resilient to climate risks and better equipped to manage the transition to net-zero economies.

This report serves as a preliminary synthesis of policy insights from Work Package 3 (WP3) of the CASCADES project, focusing on how trade-linked cross-border climate impacts may disrupt the European economy. It combines quantitative model results with qualitative stakeholder analysis and literature reviews, specifically examining food systems, soy supply chains, and energy transition minerals.

The Stakeholder Toolkit provides a directory of digital monitoring tools, transparency initiatives, and collaborative coalitions designed to support forest monitoring, supply chain accountability, and the protection of land rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

The Stakeholder Toolkit is a curated list of resources, frameworks, and initiatives designed to help financial institutions, investors, and companies manage deforestation risks and integrate nature-related financial disclosures into their decision-making processes.

This fact sheet explains the legal and practical application of the CO2 Performance Ladder (CO2PL) as a procurement tool in the Netherlands and Belgium. It details how the instrument provides award advantages to companies reducing carbon emissions while remaining compliant with the 2014 EU Procurement Directive.

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines transboundary climate risks to Sweden's international trade, arguing that traditional analysis overlooks hidden vulnerabilities in deeper supply chain tiers, specifically regarding inputs from Asia, Africa, and soy production in Brazil.

This briefing by RMI argues that digital traceability tools are essential for managing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks in international supply chains, particularly for materials critical to the energy transition. It highlights the need to move beyond greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting to include human rights and environmental impacts, proposing a decentralized digital system to ensure a just and equitable transition.

This policy brief evaluates progress toward the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) goal of eliminating deforestation from agricultural commodities. It reports that while commodity-driven deforestation rates have declined since a 2016 peak, the 2020 target for ending agriculture-driven deforestation was not met, and current rates remain similar to those seen before 2014.