Search Climate Insights Directory

The 2025 Global Forum in Bridgetown, Barbados, brought together over 1,300 participants to advance a just energy transition and end energy poverty, resulting in the Barbados Declaration and over $500 million in new financial commitments for clean energy in the Global South.

The EU and UK have withdrawn from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), but a 'sunset clause' in Article 47(3) may extend fossil fuel investment protections for up to 20 years, potentially until 2043. The author contends that the ECT is part of a systemic global issue involving over 2,800 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and 450 treaties with investment provisions (TIPs) that facilitate investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) claims against climate policies. Current reform efforts by UNCITRAL, UNCTAD, the WTO, and the OECD are described as fragmented or focused on procedural rather than substantive changes. The document proposes the use of 'inter se' agreements to neutralize sunset clauses and the creation of a legally binding multilateral or plurilateral agreement to immediately remove investment benefits for fossil fuels and align financial flows with Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement.

Climate change is significantly increasing the number of winter days with minimum temperatures above 0°C across the Northern Hemisphere. Analysis of the decade 2014-2023 shows that over one-third of analyzed countries and 44% of analyzed cities experienced at least one additional week of above-freezing days annually. Europe is the most affected region, with some countries like Lithuania and Latvia seeing over 20 additional above-freezing days per year. These shifts impact snowfall, the USD 12.5 billion winter sports industry, water supplies, and ecosystem health.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and McKinsey have proposed using 'transition credits' (carbon offsets) to attract finance for the early retirement of coal plants in Asia. Reclaim Finance argues that this approach replicates the failures of the broader offset industry, specifically regarding the inability to prove 'additionality' and the risk of inflated emission reduction estimates. The document asserts that offsets create perverse incentives that may deter governments from enacting national coal phaseout policies or providing concessional finance. It concludes that a successful transition requires increased public concessional funding and accelerated investment in sustainable power alternatives rather than a reliance on tradeable offsets.

National renewable energy targets for 2030 currently aim for a collective doubling of capacity rather than the tripling agreed upon at COP28, despite market forecasts suggesting such a goal is achievable, particularly for solar and battery storage.

The paper explores the intersection of gender inequality and climate change, particularly in Africa, highlighting how women are disproportionately affected by climate-related displacement, food insecurity, and energy poverty. It details structural barriers in employment, land ownership, and political representation that limit women's adaptive capacity. The document reviews international frameworks like the Paris Agreement and the Lima Work Programme on Gender, and calls for COP29 to prioritize honoring financial pledges, increasing women's access to clean energy, and investing in gender-disaggregated data to ensure a just social order.

The document argues that Asia can achieve a more rapid coal phase-out by stopping the construction of new plants, which would allow 90% of the existing fleet to exceed their 20-year investment recovery period by 2040. It critiques co-firing with ammonia or biomass as expensive and marginally effective, while highlighting successful financing models from IEEFA and the Griffith Asia Institute that make early retirement financially viable through renewables bundling and refinancing. The briefing emphasizes that a just transition requires concessional and multilateral financing from developed nations to support coal-dependent communities.

The document examines the significant infrastructure financing gap in Africa and argues that the private sector can bridge this gap by accessing 'geopolitical funds' such as China's Belt and Road Initiative, the EU's Global Gateway Initiative, and the G7's Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. It highlights that while these funds offer immense potential, the primary barrier is the 'bankability' of African projects, with 80% of projects failing at the feasibility stage. The brief recommends enhancing African agency and private sector involvement to ensure infrastructure development aligns with continental goals.

The report finds that while European DFIs are central to public climate finance, their current private capital mobilisation levels are low, with most lacking specific mobilisation targets. It identifies barriers such as low risk appetite from shareholders, a preference for transaction-level tools over institutional-level ones, and regulatory hurdles like the EU Taxonomy's limited applicability outside Europe. The document proposes 30 recommendations, including adopting broader mobilisation definitions, increasing on-selling of assets, and enhancing transparency through databases like GEMs to attract private investors.

The document examines the potential for BRICS nations to integrate economically and form a common currency to reduce reliance on the US dollar. It applies Optimum Currency Area (OCA) theory to the bloc, noting that while the New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) demonstrate a commitment to cooperation, significant economic heterogeneity in GDP growth, inflation, and fiscal policy remains a major hurdle. The analysis suggests that while traditional OCA criteria are not fully met, the 'new' OCA theory—which emphasises political commitment and endogenous policy harmonisation—provides a more plausible path toward a multipolar financial order.

The document explores transition finance as a tool for emerging and developing economies, particularly in Asia, to decarbonise high-emitting sectors that struggle to meet strict green finance criteria. It analyses the taxonomies of Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and ASEAN, while highlighting risks of 'transition-washing' and the need for science-based targets and independent verification to ensure alignment with 1.5°C pathways.

The research evaluates power sector data transparency in 39 Asian economies, finding that over half have insufficient or poor data, which hinders the monitoring of clean power targets and grid optimisation. While higher-income economies generally perform better, countries like India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are noted for leading improvements. The report provides nine recommendations for enhancing data governance, emphasizing the need for machine-readable, licence-free, and centrally located data to accelerate the transition from coal to clean electricity.

The Net Zero Stocktake 2024 finds that while net zero target-setting is increasing among companies, cities, and subnational governments, very few (5% or less) meet all minimum integrity criteria. The report highlights a significant rise in target-setting by Asian companies and notes that while national targets often act as an ambition 'ceiling', some subnational governments in countries like Australia, Germany, and India have set more ambitious targets than their national governments.

The document argues for a shift in steel production to reduce the sector's 11% contribution to global CO2 emissions, particularly as demand is projected to rise by 12% to 36% by 2050. It suggests 'green iron corridors'—where ironmaking occurs in areas with abundant iron ore and renewable energy, and steelmaking occurs in demand centers—to achieve cost and energy savings. The report estimates that restructuring half of primary steelmaking to use green iron could save over $25 billion annually for the top 10 importers, and fast-tracking corridors to the EU and Asia could abate approximately 30 million tons of CO2 annually by 2030.

The document analyzes the 'stabilized text' of the JSI e-commerce agreement, which aims to establish a global benchmark for digital trade rules. It details enabling regulatory obligations, a moratorium on customs duties for electronic transmissions, and specific flexibilities for developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs), such as extended implementation timelines and technical assistance. The author highlights significant challenges, including the low participation of LDCs and African nations, disagreements among key members like the US and China, and a broader legal debate over whether plurilateral agreements can be formally incorporated into the WTO's consensus-based treaty system.

The report argues that because Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are often viewed as public goods and are in a nascent stage of commercial development, they require a combination of ecosystem building, public sector incentives, and specific de-risking tools. It identifies guarantees as the most catalytic instruments for attracting private capital and emphasizes that technical assistance and concessional capital must be used to prove commercial viability before NbS can scale through direct investment alone.

The document examines the tensions between the industrial growth strategy of South Africa's beef sector and the goals of a just transition. It highlights a 'dualistic' industry where commercial production is highly concentrated and intensive, while smallholder farmers face significant barriers to market entry. The report argues that current efforts to integrate smallholders into commercial value chains may benefit only a small elite and fail to address broader agrarian inequalities. Ecologically, it notes that beef cattle are the largest source of agricultural GHG emissions in South Africa, primarily through enteric fermentation. While the industry promotes 'sustainable intensification' and regenerative grazing, the report cautions that these may not offset total emissions growth and may not address the socio-economic distribution of emissions. It concludes that a just transition requires setting ambitious emission limits, redistributing productive resources like land, and reconfiguring labour markets to improve conditions for farm workers.

Three companies—GE Vernova, Siemens Energy, and Mitsubishi Power—control two-thirds of the global market for gas turbines in power plants currently under construction. While these firms are expanding through regional partnerships and promoting 'hydrogen-ready' technology, the report argues they face significant geopolitical and financial risks due to the rapid growth of renewables and the potential for gas power overcapacity.

The document examines debt-for-nature swaps, where foreign currency debt is cancelled in exchange for local currency investment in environmental projects. While popular in Latin America and the Caribbean, the tool is described as having a very small market impact, offsetting only 0.11% of debt payments for low- and middle-income countries between 1987 and 2023. The IMF suggests that conditional grants or comprehensive debt restructuring are often more effective depending on debt sustainability. Case studies from Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador highlight risks including loss of national sovereignty, negative real interest rates, and the exclusion of Indigenous communities.

The document positions agroforestry as a critical tool for bioenergy security, noting that traditional biomass is unlikely to be displaced by modern energy sources in the near term in specific rural regions. It emphasizes that integrating biomass production on farms reduces environmental risks and labor drudgery while supporting food security. To achieve sustainable sourcing, the brief advocates for scaling up efficient energy conversion technologies—such as improved cookstoves, briquettes, and biogas infrastructure—and implementing adaptable land tenure systems.