Search Climate Insights Directory

The Climate Solutions Partnership (CSP) report details the results of a five-year philanthropic commitment to scale climate innovation and nature-based solutions. Key achievements include unlocking US$635.4 million in finance, avoiding 7.81 million tonnes of GHG emissions, and managing 13 million hectares for biodiversity. The program implemented diverse projects, such as renewable energy aggregation for SMEs in China, solar-powered dairy cooling in India, and the development of environmental compensation laws in Mexico and El Salvador. It also focused on supply chain transparency in the palm oil sector and the creation of financial toolkits to combat environmental crimes.

Albania is highly vulnerable to extreme weather, particularly floods and droughts, despite having 100 per cent renewable power generation. To address this, the government established the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Climate Change in 2014 and developed a National Adaptation Plan (NAP), making it the only Balkan country to do so. With support from the NAP Global Network and GIZ, Albania has integrated adaptation into its National Strategy on Climate Change (approved July 2, 2019) and is working on urban resilience through 'Action 12', which requires an estimated USD 50 million in funding for municipal adaptation plans.

The 'Building a Resilient Future Day' outcome document outlines a multi-stakeholder effort to move beyond incremental change toward transformative climate resilience. It identifies 70 specific actions and emphasizes the need for risk-informed decision-making, nature-based solutions, and the integration of climate action with food security and conflict prevention. The report highlights the critical role of local communities, youth, and women in decision-making and calls for decentralized funding to reach grassroots levels. Key focus areas include the transformation of food systems, the implementation of early warning, early action (EWEA) systems, and the development of resilient urban infrastructure. The document aligns these efforts with the UN Climate Action Summit's Call for Action and the Global Commission on Adaptation's Year of Action.

The report evaluates ten Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) Round 1 projects, which supported over 5 million people. Key findings highlight the effectiveness of 'layering' interventions, participatory design, and close government partnerships in increasing resilience. Successes include the deployment of early warning systems reaching 1.2 million people in Uganda, the empowerment of urban slum women in South Asia, and the implementation of road water harvesting benefiting 3 million people in Ethiopia. The synthesis emphasizes that combining traditional tools like microcredit with innovative digital technology and inclusive social strategies creates sustainable, transformational change.

The Msimbazi Basin in Dar es Salaam faces severe flood risks exacerbated by rapid urbanisation and climate change, with annual losses estimated at $47 million. To address this, the Tanzania Urban Resilience Programme (TURP) was established in 2016 to implement a holistic strategy involving risk identification, reduction, emergency preparedness, and a 'resilience academy'. A central component is the proposed Msimbazi Basin City Park, which employs a hybrid approach combining ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) with hard engineering to manage floodwaters while providing socio-economic and biodiversity benefits. The document highlights that the government secured $20 million by framing the project as 'urban planning, restructuring and resilience' rather than solely flood management, suggesting that cross-sectoral project packaging is essential for accessing diverse funding streams.

The document examines the implementation of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in South African coastal cities, highlighting the need for integrated governance, cross-sectoral partnerships, and innovative financing to move beyond traditional 'grey' infrastructure solutions.

The document argues that ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA)—the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help people adapt to climate change—is a sustainable development approach that provides socio-economic, adaptation, and conservation benefits. While South Africa has national frameworks for EbA, implementation in coastal cities faces significant hurdles, including a lack of promulgated Coastal Management Lines (CMLs), complex jurisdictional overlaps between national and local government, and a persistent preference for 'grey' engineering solutions over nature-based ones. Case studies of Cape Town and Durban highlight successes such as hybrid dune rehabilitation and the use of 'climate change champions' to break down institutional silos, but also reveal challenges like funding gaps and public lack of buy-in among poor communities who prioritize immediate economic needs over environmental resilience.

The IAI Directorate's report details the implementation of the IAI Long-Term Communications Strategy and Plan, focusing on increasing public awareness and providing scientific data to policymakers. Key activities include joint publications with UN agencies, the development of project briefs on climate and environmental issues, and the use of social media and online courses to disseminate research findings.

The document describes a partnership between the University of Cape Town’s d-school, GreenCape, and the City of Cape Town to introduce design thinking to youth. It focuses on a workshop for 180 Grade 6 learners from Wesfleur Primary School in Atlantis, using the challenge of saving water during a drought to teach human-centred problem solving. The study concludes that while young children can engage with the process, the approach is most effective for students in Grades 10-12.

The report details two workshops held in 2018 focused on South-South and triangular cooperation for climate action. It highlights case studies of technological exchange in agriculture, water management, and urban resilience, while identifying systemic barriers such as funding gaps and a lack of institutional capacity at the subnational level.

The SEI Initiative on City Health and Wellbeing focuses on the intersection of urban growth, environmental quality, and resident wellbeing, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Using case studies in Nakuru, Kenya, and Udon Thani, Thailand, the initiative employs a multi-disciplinary approach to study the impact of urban forms, co-design citizen science monitoring, analyze urban metabolism through participatory modelling, and examine governance for urban equity. The goal is to generate evidence that informs holistic decision-making and sustainable urban planning, integrating health and wellbeing with climate change mitigation and resilience.

The document examines the proliferation of slums in Ghana, identifying drivers such as rapid urbanization, poverty, and the failure to implement national housing and environmental policies. Based on research in Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi, it highlights the severe lack of sanitation, healthcare, and secure housing, as well as the negative impacts on children and the environment. It argues that current housing policies are deficient because they ignore the needs of the poor and the role of social networks. The brief recommends against forced evictions, calling instead for slum upgrading, strategic private-sector partnerships for affordable housing, and the integration of slum dwellers' perspectives into urban planning.

The report examines the development of slums in Ghana, specifically within the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA). It identifies key drivers such as rural-urban migration, poverty, and systemic policy failures in housing. The study highlights the negative impacts of slums on child development, public health, and urban security, while also noting the potential for economic contributions through informal recycling and food services. It argues that the Ghana National Housing Policy is weak and fails to specifically address slums or cultural norms. The report recommends against forced evictions, calling instead for coordinated stakeholder collaboration, the upgrading of existing settlements, and a comprehensive revision of national housing policy to foster urban resilience.

The brief finds that while 66% of EU cities have climate plans, there is significant disparity based on city size and national legislation. National mandates in countries like Denmark and the UK significantly increase the likelihood of cities having plans, while many cities in Spain and Italy rely on international networks like the Covenant of Mayors due to a lack of national guidance.

The Tonga Green Climate Fund Country Programme identifies 29 priority initiatives—comprising 12 adaptation, 4 mitigation, 9 cross-cutting projects, 3 readiness support initiatives, and 1 project preparation grant—with a total estimated cost of USD $486.33 million. The programme focuses on critical vulnerabilities including sea-level rise, tropical cyclones, and drought, aligning with the Tonga Strategic Development Framework 2015-2025 and the Second Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (JNAP 2). Key priorities include renewable energy expansion, coastal resilience, climate-smart agriculture, and the climate-proofing of urban infrastructure in Nuku’alofa.

The CASCADE project seeks to enhance urban and macro-regional resilience in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) by adapting risk assessment methodologies to the climate change context. The initiative focuses on bridging the gap between climate change professionals and civil protection experts, aligning with the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the Baltic 2030 Action Plan. The project intends to produce a training course for city officials responsible for civil protection that can be replicated across BSR countries and to initiate a region-wide policy dialogue on cross-sectorial cooperation and policy coherence regarding climate risk assessments.

The report inventories over 125 submissions of digital technologies designed to build resilience, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region. It categorizes these tools by technology type, scale of impact, supported systems, and primary focus (preparedness, recurring event response, or catastrophic event response). The inventory details specific projects, such as the use of satellite data for flood risk in India, mobile health programs in India, and 3D printing for medical supplies in Nepal, highlighting a strong trend toward pro-poor focus and the use of mobile-based communication (SMS, IVR) and geospatial data (GIS, remote sensing) to support vulnerable populations.

The document outlines strategies for enhancing the resilience of urban water and sanitation infrastructure against climate shocks, emphasizing multi-barrier methods, redundancy, decentralization, and green infrastructure.

The document argues that conventional infrastructure design standards must be strengthened to account for climate change, specifically noting that a warming climate increases cooling demands and exposes electricity grids to shocks like ice storms and droughts. It identifies modular and distributed renewable energy generation and storage as key to resilience. For ICT, the brief suggests increasing resilience through redundant landlines, ISP diversity, emergency roaming, and cell phone micro-charging backup systems. The work was developed for the cities of Edmonton and Calgary, focusing on the principles of robustness, redundancy, and resourcefulness.

The December 2015 extreme rainfall event in Chennai, India, which saw a record 494 mm of rain in 24 hours, was determined by climate attribution studies to be a 1 in 600–2,500 year event not caused by anthropogenic global warming. While the event's rarity would have overwhelmed most cities, its impact was exacerbated by poor land-use planning, including the encroachment of wetlands and riverbeds, and a clogged drainage system. The document recommends that Indian cities integrate wetland protection, river basin approaches, and vulnerability-focused disaster action plans into their urban development to build resilience against increasing extreme weather trends.