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The report argues that there is no single blueprint for a green economy, but rather multiple pathways driven by local communities. It critiques 'green growth' for focusing on GDP and resource efficiency while often ignoring social justice, structural power asymmetries, and the needs of the poor. The document emphasizes the need to connect international financial and policy mechanisms with ground-level realities, suggesting that developing countries can 'leapfrog' industrialised pathways by investing in low-carbon infrastructure. Key recommendations include 'greening' existing financial flows like Official Development Assistance (ODA), integrating social justice goals from the outset of policy design, and diversifying political narratives to include indigenous and non-Western knowledge.

The document analyzes the gap between current and ideal governance practices for sustainable development in Asia-Pacific, focusing on multistakeholder processes, vertical and horizontal integration, and monitoring and evaluation. It identifies a prevalence of 'silo' approaches where sustainable development is managed primarily by environment ministries and recommends a comprehensive capacity-building agenda to improve long-term strategic planning, data quality, and subnational implementation.

The document analyzes National Councils for Sustainable Development (NCSDs) as mechanisms for stakeholder engagement in national sustainable development strategies (NSDSs). It categorizes NCSDs by membership—government-only, mixed, or non-governmental—and evaluates the strengths and challenges of each. The briefing identifies key success factors, such as the appointment of independent chairs and the maintenance of a 'critical friend' relationship with government, while detailing the core functions of NCSDs in strategy creation, policy implementation, monitoring, and international outreach.

The author argues that climate policy is inherently contested because it creates winners and losers, necessitating a strategic approach to communication and implementation. The proposed plan includes simplifying the climate narrative through personal and emotional storytelling, framing action as a transformational economic opportunity (green growth), designing policy packages that compensate those negatively impacted, building cross-party long-term consensus to avoid policy reversals, and focusing on rigorous implementation. The text highlights various international examples, such as Rwanda's green growth strategy and Bolivia's payments for ecosystem services, to illustrate how climate action can be integrated with development goals.

The report identifies that high cost, short tenors, and variable interest rates of debt increase the cost of renewable energy in India by 24-32% compared to the US. It evaluates five recommended instruments to address these barriers: government bonds, infrastructure debt funds (mutual fund model), partial credit guarantees, partial risk guarantees, and exchange rate liquidity facilities. The analysis finds that government bonds offer the highest potential for cost reduction (up to 4.5 percentage points) and tenor increase (up to 10 years), while other instruments like partial credit guarantees can mobilize private capital from pension and insurance funds by enhancing project credit ratings to AA. The report also examines the impact of currency hedging costs, which currently neutralize the advantages of lower-cost foreign debt, and proposes a liquidity facility to mitigate this risk.

The report examines the energy sector in Bangladesh, highlighting a sharp increase in energy subsidies from US$128 million in FY2010 to US$1.91 billion in FY2012. It identifies a critical supply-demand gap in electricity and the high cost of relying on liquid fuel-based rental power plants. The document outlines the government's Power System Master Plan (PSMP) 2010, which aims for fuel diversification including coal, nuclear, and renewables. It argues for a transition toward cost-reflective pricing and targeted cash transfers to replace broad subsidies, aligned with an IMF Extended Credit Facility arrangement to restore fiscal sustainability.

The report establishes a framework for evaluating the financial viability of power sectors through four key criteria: cost recovery, ability to meet demand, investment capacity, and adherence to social and environmental norms. It details specific metrics such as Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), system losses, and the 'price-gap approach' for measuring subsidies. The analysis highlights global variances, noting that 82% of 87 analyzed countries provided electricity subsidies in 2011 and that power outages cause significant economic losses, averaging 19% of annual sales for affected firms. The framework also emphasizes the tension between achieving full cost recovery and maintaining affordability for low-income households, particularly in African nations.

The document outlines a qualitative participatory scenario development (PSD) approach used to help stakeholders in developing countries anticipate climate change consequences and identify robust adaptation pathways. By combining backcasting—working backward from a desired future—with the introduction of climate and socioeconomic boundary conditions, the process identifies integrated 'hard' (infrastructure) and 'soft' (governance and training) adaptation measures. Key findings emphasize that place-based discussions bridge the gap between abstract global climate models and local policy needs, and that adaptation must be integrated with broader socioeconomic development to be credible and pro-poor. The authors highlight challenges including the cognitive difficulty of imagining long-term futures and the necessity of local collaboration to ensure ownership and relevance.

The International Conservation Budget 2014 details U.S. government initiatives to protect global biodiversity and natural resources. It highlights the strategic link between conservation and national security, noting how resource scarcity and illegal wildlife trafficking fuel instability and terrorism. The report outlines funding and activities across agencies including USAID, the Department of the Treasury (via the Global Environment Facility and Tropical Forest Conservation Act), the Department of State, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Key efforts include combating wildlife trafficking, managing transboundary landscapes through the SCAPES program, and implementing REDD+ initiatives in Mexico and the Amazon. The document emphasizes the role of public-private partnerships and community-based natural resource management in achieving sustainable development and protecting critical ecosystems across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The report argues that while real-economy policies are essential, they are insufficient to catalyze the scale of green finance needed for a sustainable transition. It examines China's progress in green credit, insurance, and emissions trading, while highlighting the need for a comprehensive framework of definitions, standards, and regulatory mandates to avoid systemic risks like stranded assets. The authors suggest that emerging economies, particularly China, have an opportunity to 'leapfrog' developed markets by integrating sustainability into the core design of their maturing financial systems.

The document outlines the observed and projected climate impacts in South Asia, emphasizing the region's vulnerability to flooding, heat-related mortality, and food insecurity. It argues that while further warming is inevitable, integrated adaptation and low-carbon development can reduce risks and provide economic opportunities, provided there is strong international cooperation and financial support.

The document translates the global findings of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report into a regional context for South Asia, detailing observed warming, projected risks to food and water security, and the potential for low-carbon development. It emphasizes that while further warming is inevitable, integrated adaptation and mitigation can protect development gains and offer economic opportunities.

The document outlines the transition from short-term National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) to medium- and long-term National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It emphasizes the need for iterative planning, the use of 'no-regret' strategies to manage data uncertainty, and the integration of climate adaptation into national development strategies. The briefing highlights significant funding gaps, noting that LDCF resources fall short of demand and that LDCs require approximately US$ 5 billion to implement NAPAs alone. It also discusses the role of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the importance of establishing robust monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks to track adaptation effectiveness and climate finance.

The paper argues that fossil-fuel subsidies in Emerging and Developing Asia, totaling US$104 billion in 2011, represent a significant opportunity to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It contends that these subsidies are regressive, primarily benefiting wealthier populations while undermining investments in renewable energy and public health. Using case studies from the Philippines and Indonesia, the document demonstrates how transitioning from universal subsidies to targeted social welfare programs and fuel taxation can improve fiscal health and social equity. The author recommends that the SDGs explicitly include a goal to phase out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies by 2030 to encourage national reforms.

The document argues that disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation have evolved separately despite significant overlaps. It highlights that while DRR focuses on near-term risks and emergency management, adaptation takes a longer-term view of adjusting to climatic shifts. The brief emphasizes that both are driven by exposure and vulnerability, which are often exacerbated by poor development planning. It calls for a transformative approach that prioritizes vulnerability reduction over simple risk management, integrating human rights and sustainable development to prevent the creation of new risks.

The document analyzes 75 carbon-financed cookstove projects in India and Kenya, finding that while carbon revenues often fund price subsidies and after-sales support, many developers rely on them exclusively, creating financial risk. It suggests that carbon finance is most effective as 'transitional crediting' to stimulate early demand and that the monitoring requirements of carbon markets can actually improve long-term stove uptake.

The document outlines SEI's approach to climate adaptation, emphasizing that vulnerability is driven more by socioeconomic conditions than by climate exposure. It argues that adaptation and development are inextricably linked and that adaptation has inherent limits, meaning it cannot replace mitigation. The briefing also details SEI's global initiatives, such as the weADAPT platform and the Asia Adaptation Knowledge Platform, and identifies future research priorities including the role of gender, culture, and the private sector in adaptation.

The report advocates for Sweden to shift its approach to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) from a humanitarian-led response model to one integrated with sustainable development and resilience building. It highlights that disaster risk is driven more by increasing vulnerability and 'risk blindness' than by natural hazards alone. The authors recommend that the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Sida move DRR activities out of purely humanitarian departments to address underlying structural causes of risk, particularly in urban areas and among the most vulnerable populations.

The IFC-PPCR project in Nepal aims to build climate resilience in the agricultural sector by incentivizing private actors to train farmers in improved agronomic practices and expanding access to climate-adaptive finance. The project targets 15,000 farmers growing rice, maize, and sugarcane in the Terai region. Key strategies include using PPCR grants to cover start-up training costs for agribusinesses and developing a risk-sharing facility to encourage local commercial banks to lend to the high-risk agricultural sector. While agribusinesses see a business case through improved crop supply and quality, banks are motivated by market potential and regulatory mandates to increase agricultural lending. The project highlights the importance of early consultation and tailored capacity building to overcome public and private sector reluctance in Least Developed Countries.

The document is an open letter addressed to ministers and delegates of UNFCCC signatory states, urging them to adopt ambitious climate protection measures and stop the use of emissions trading to weaken climate commitments. The signatories, representing 33 countries, demand the rejection of a pilot phase for emissions unit trading under the Framework for Various Approaches (FVA), the prevention of double counting, and the exclusion of non-additional projects and coal from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). They also call for the cessation of fossil fuel subsidies and the implementation of human rights safeguards in climate projects.