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The document argues that green bonds are an under-utilised tool that could help Africa meet its estimated USD 2.8 trillion climate finance need by 2030. While the global green bond market reached approximately USD 2.8 trillion in 2023, Africa's share is less than 1%, representing only USD 5.1 billion. The paper highlights successful issuances in South Africa, Nigeria, and Zambia, while identifying key barriers such as low liquidity, inadequate regulation, and high transaction costs. It calls for stronger public-private collaboration and international support at COP29 to create enabling environments for green bond proliferation in Africa.

A global network of women leaders from business, politics, and civil society urges world leaders to accelerate carbon pollution reduction. They demand that by 2025, governments increase NDC ambition to align with the 1.5°C limit, phase out fossil fuels, triple renewables, double energy efficiency, halt deforestation, and mobilize public and private finance, particularly for the Global South.

FSD Africa is working to deepen African capital markets to reduce reliance on banks and external debt, leveraging an estimated $2 trillion in domestic assets. The organization employs a four-pronged strategy: policy and regulatory development, market infrastructure creation, product development (specifically GSSS bonds), and stakeholder convening. Key achievements include mobilising over $1.2 billion through 21 thematic bond transactions and establishing critical infrastructure like the Ethiopian Securities Exchange. Future priorities include carbon markets, sovereign debt management, and financing the energy transition.

The report analyzes the environmental impact of the global data-center boom, identifying systemic challenges such as energy infrastructure lags and temporal-spatial mismatches between green power and demand. It proposes a comprehensive transformation pathway involving optimized site selection, enhanced energy efficiency through new metrics beyond PUE, and the adoption of diverse green power procurement options. The document emphasizes the potential for data centers to act as flexible grid resources and calls for mandatory carbon disclosure and standardized accounting to drive the transition.

The proposal seeks USD 999,998.93 to create a centralized Secretariat for the Brazil Climate and Ecological Transformation Investment Platform (BIP), hosted by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). The BIP aims to bridge the gap between climate-positive projects and investors to help Brazil meet its NDC target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 53.1% by 2030. The project focuses on three priority areas: Nature-based Climate Solutions, Industry and Mobility, and Energy. Key activities include developing a project pipeline, creating innovative financial mechanisms, and establishing ICT infrastructure to facilitate public-private collaboration.

The document highlights a contradiction between the desire of French and European citizens to support the ecological transition and the reality that their savings are invested by financial institutions into fossil fuels. It identifies a lack of transparency and poor accessibility as the primary obstacles to sustainable saving.

Reclaim Finance contends that the Capital Markets Union (CMU), while promoted by EU leaders as a solution to the investment gap for the European Green Deal, is not inherently a green finance tool. The organization warns that without targeted safeguards and a clear definition of 'green' securitization, the CMU could stimulate investment in high-carbon activities and undermine financial stability by weakening prudential rules.

The report argues that China's agri-food system requires significant investment to achieve net-zero emissions and climate resilience, but currently faces a massive funding gap and a mismatch between existing green finance policies and the sector's needs. It advocates for the use of transition finance—including sustainability-linked loans, bonds, and blended finance—to mobilize private capital. The authors emphasize that a 'just transition' is essential to protect vulnerable smallholder farmers. Key barriers identified include poor climate information disclosure by companies and a lack of credible transition plans. The report recommends that regulators standardize GHG accounting for agriculture, mandate climate disclosures for large firms, and align agricultural subsidies with climate goals.

The guide establishes a standardized framework for tracking climate mitigation, adaptation, and biodiversity finance. It provides detailed lists of eligible activities for mitigation, a three-step validation process for adaptation, and specific criteria for biodiversity finance. The document emphasizes the use of ex-ante GHG emission reduction assessments and offers methodologies for quantifying finance through incremental or proportional approaches to ensure transparency and avoid double-counting.

The report proposes a two-step assessment approach to link financial institutions' net zero strategies to real-world impacts. It emphasizes tracking investments in new assets rather than existing portfolios to avoid the 'divestment' loophole where assets are transferred without reducing emissions. The methodology uses a multi-level ownership tree (up to Level 2) to attribute finance to indirect investors based on equity and debt weightings, utilizing data from sources like Bloomberg Terminal and CPI's Global Landscape of Climate Finance.

The report finds a positive trend in European pension funds' commitment to sustainable investing, with significant growth in the adoption of mitigation targets and climate risk management. However, a persistent gap remains between these commitments and actual real-economy impact, as pension funds rarely invest directly in projects and often hold fragmented indirect ownership. The analysis highlights that larger funds, those in net-zero coalitions, and funds in countries with strong regulatory frameworks—such as the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, and France—are leading the transition. Key challenges include the gap between asset ownership and management, the difficulty of transitioning passive investments, and limited capital flow to emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).

The global bioeconomy, currently valued at US$4-5 trillion with potential growth to US$30 trillion by 2050, is presented as a critical complement to clean tech for achieving a just transition. The document identifies significant financing barriers, including perverse fossil fuel subsidies and limited risk capital in the Global South, while proposing a suite of sustainable finance instruments—such as nature credits and sustainability-linked financing—to bridge these gaps. It advocates for an integrated approach combining national strategies with international cooperation, specifically through the G20, to establish common principles, measurement standards, and trade rules that protect biodiversity and the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities.

The document evaluates the suitability of NGFS, IEA, and NITI Aayog scenarios for the Indian context, highlighting that global models often underestimate India's specific macroeconomic risks. It details transmission channels from macro-variables to micro-level financial risks and analyzes case studies from the ECB, Bank of England, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Central Bank of Colombia. The authors propose a phased roadmap for the Reserve Bank of India, moving from preliminary top-down exercises to the development of in-house macroeconomic models and comprehensive bottom-up stress tests over a long-term horizon.

The report analyzes eight nature-based solutions (NbS) case studies across the EU and China, focusing on land, water, urban, and financing ecosystems. It evaluates these projects against the UNEA-5 definition and IUCN Global Standard, highlighting successes in large-scale landscape restoration and the role of research programs like Horizon 2020. Key findings emphasize that while NbS are increasingly mainstreamed, challenges remain in inclusive governance and private sector financing. The document recommends enhanced bilateral lesson-sharing, the development of a global costs-benefits database, and the use of standardized assessment tools to prevent greenwashing.

The report argues that India requires cumulative investments of US$10.1 trillion by 2070 to reach net-zero, yet current tracked mitigation finance is only about 25 percent of the required amount. It distinguishes between 'green finance' for near-zero emission technologies and 'transition finance' for hard-to-abate sectors that lack immediate green alternatives. The document identifies critical gaps in the supply of finance, noting a lack of standardised taxonomy and an underdeveloped corporate bond market. On the demand side, it analyses the decarbonisation needs of the steel, cement, transport, power, and agriculture sectors, highlighting the high capital costs and technical risks of transformative technologies like Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS). The report proposes a five-pillar roadmap covering scope and definition, transparency, cooperation, supply chain support, and financial innovation, while recommending the establishment of a Prime Ministers Net Zero Council (PMNZC) to coordinate inter-ministerial efforts.

The report examines how the EU's CBAM and potential future BCAs from other nations affect Vietnam's export-oriented economy, focusing on the iron, steel, aluminum, cement, and fertilizer sectors. It highlights the administrative and financial burdens on Vietnamese enterprises, particularly SMEs, and argues for the development of a domestic carbon pricing mechanism to retain revenues and improve competitiveness. The document also emphasizes the need for technical assistance and the application of the 'common but differentiated responsibilities' principle to ensure fairness for developing nations.

Singapore is implementing a phased approach to mandatory climate-related disclosures (CRD) for listed and large non-listed companies to align financial decisions with its 2050 net-zero target. This includes transitioning from TCFD-based requirements to ISSB standards, with specific timelines for Scope 3 GHG emissions reporting and environmental risk management guidelines for financial institutions issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

FSD Africa is implementing a program to promote the adoption of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) across Africa, focusing on adapting the global framework to local contexts. The initiative includes capacity building, the creation of the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA), and strategic outreach to G20 and sovereign stakeholders. A key partnership with FirstRand has involved piloting the TNFD framework through nature-risk assessments in the agricultural and extractive industries and evaluating organizational readiness for disclosure.

Mexico's sustainable debt market reached a cumulative GSS+ volume of USD 55.7bn by the end of 2023, with sustainability bonds emerging as the dominant instrument. The market is heavily driven by the public sector, particularly the federal government and development banks, though private corporate participation is increasing. The report highlights the introduction of the Mexican Sustainable Taxonomy in March 2023 as a key development to guide investments. While Mexico is a global leader in sustainability bond volume, challenges remain in the sustainability-linked bond (SLB) market regarding the credibility of GHG targets. Key opportunities for growth are identified in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and low-carbon construction, supported by trends such as US nearshoring.

The report identifies currency risk—specifically the mismatch between local currency revenues and hard currency debt—as a primary barrier to climate investment in EMDEs. It argues that while long-term solutions require macroeconomic reform and deeper local capital markets, immediate needs must be met through innovative hedging mechanisms. The document analyzes five specific models: a TCX donor-funded guarantee, Eco Invest Brasil, the Delta onshore DFI platform, FSD Africa's MDB portfolio transfer, and a CPI FX Hedging Facility for India. It concludes that concessional capital is essential in the short term to make these tools affordable and to catalyze private investment.