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The GCF readiness programme aims to empower developing countries to access climate finance through five activity areas: strengthening National Designated Authorities (NDAs), developing strategic frameworks, supporting accreditation of implementing entities, building project pipelines, and information sharing. As of April 2015, 70 countries expressed interest, with over 120 NDAs nominated. The Fund provides up to US$ 1 million per country annually, with a minimum of 50% allocated to particularly vulnerable nations. The Secretariat has standardized work packages for NDA strengthening and strategic frameworks, each budgeted up to US$ 150,000, and is coordinating with partners like UNDP, GIZ, and the African Development Bank to avoid duplication of efforts.

This report provides an overview of the water-energy-food nexus in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), focusing on the interdependencies between these sectors and the challenges posed by climate change, population growth, and resource distribution.

The report examines Energy Savings Insurance (ESI), an instrument developed by the Inter-American Development Bank and BASE to unlock energy efficiency investments for SMEs by insuring against the risk that projected energy savings are not met. ESI can absorb up to 80% of underperformance risk and is being piloted or replicated across several countries, including Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador. If scaled globally, the instrument is estimated to drive USD 10-100 billion in investment and reduce annual emissions by 27-234 MtCO2 by 2030.

The Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) instrument is designed to stimulate energy efficiency investments by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by mitigating the risk that actual energy savings fall below projections. A pilot in Mexico's agro-industry sector targets 10 fast-track projects valued at USD 2.14 million, utilizing a package of surety insurance, credit lines from FIRA, and third-party verification by ANCE. Financial modeling indicates that the ESI package can absorb 60-80% of the impact of underperformance on debt service repayments, significantly reducing risk for both equity investors and loan providers. The report proposes scaling the initiative to 6-14 additional Latin American and Caribbean countries through a regional facility, with further replication planned for China, India, Indonesia, and Africa, aiming for a global potential of USD 10-100 billion in investments by 2030.

The UNEP Financial Inquiry argues that while global financial assets are abundant, investment flows are misaligned with sustainable development due to systemic failures and ineffective pricing. It identifies five key financial areas for alignment—banking, bonds, institutional investment, central banks, and systemic risk assessment—and proposes a performance framework based on effectiveness, efficiency, and resilience to measure the scaling of sustainable finance.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is positioned to become the largest multilateral institution for climate adaptation finance, with donor governments committing US$10.2 billion by the end of 2014. To ensure effectiveness, the document argues that the GCF must prioritize country ownership through direct access modalities, develop robust investment and accountability frameworks that avoid maladaptation, and clarify the role of its Private Sector Facility. It specifically suggests piloting small grants facilities under 'enhanced direct access' to reach local organizations and leveraging the experience of existing National Implementing Entities already accredited by the Adaptation Fund.

The briefing examines the concept of 'climate compatible development' as a means to achieve 'zero-zero'—the simultaneous eradication of poverty and the elimination of net CO2 emissions. It frames this as a 'wicked problem' requiring the integration of mitigation, adaptation, and economic transformation. The author emphasizes that success depends on policy leadership, careful design to manage winners and losers, and cross-government implementation beyond environmental ministries.

The report examines the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting how the region's reliance on natural resources creates critical trade-offs. It argues that while LAC is resource-abundant, fragmented governance and climate change threaten security. The document proposes a framework for action based on infrastructure, information, institutions, and investment to transition toward climate-compatible development.

The IAI activities plan for 2015-2016 focuses on completing a tripartite institutional structure across Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, while advancing interdisciplinary research and capacity building. Key initiatives include a small grants call on ecosystem services in adaptation, professional development seminars in Colombia and Panama, and the development of four global environmental change seminars for 2016-2018. The institute also continues its engagement with IPBES and the UNFCCC SBSTA process.

The handbook defines Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) as a process to optimize value-for-money across an asset's lifecycle, rather than focusing solely on the lowest purchase price. It provides a framework for integrating sustainability into every stage of the procurement cycle—from needs analysis and market consultations to technical specifications and contract conditions. The document details specific mandatory and optional criteria for high-spend categories such as IT equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure, while emphasizing the use of the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) principle. It also outlines strategies to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the potential for SPP to act as a catalyst for inclusive green growth and foreign direct investment.

The report documents the rapid growth of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) in agriculture and forestry between 2008 and 2014. It highlights that all surveyed standards experienced growth in compliant areas, with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil showing the most significant expansion. The document provides detailed statistics for commodities including bananas, cocoa, coffee, cotton, palm oil, soybeans, sugarcane, tea, and forestry, while identifying critical data gaps in multiple certification, pricing, and consumption patterns that hinder policy planning.

The document advocates for a shift in DDR processes from viewing gender as a challenge to treating it as an asset. It emphasizes that women are active combatants who gain skills and independence during conflict, while men can also be victims of violent masculinity and repressive regimes. The author argues that successful DDR requires increasing female participation in peace processes, 'disarming' violent masculinities, and accounting for the socio-economic and cultural contexts that affect reintegration.

The SEI Initiative on Fossil Fuels and Climate Change, launched in January 2015, focuses on the supply side of climate policy to prevent the 'lock-in' of fossil fuel dependence. The initiative investigates the emissions implications of infrastructure, the political economy of extraction, and the role of international governance. It employs a multi-disciplinary approach involving energy modelling and political economy analysis, with specific case studies in Colombia, South Africa, Indonesia, Norway, and the U.S. to examine the interplay between resource exploitation and low-carbon development goals.

The briefing presents Transformative Transparency, a data-driven platform developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Global Canopy Programme. It aims to increase transparency in the trade of agricultural commodities—specifically those linked to deforestation—by linking production landscapes to consumer countries using customs data, bills of lading, and subnational production data. The platform is designed to help investors, retailers, governments, and consumers identify risk factors and monitor sustainability commitments, such as 'zero deforestation' pledges, by providing a more comprehensive and cost-efficient alternative to footprint analyses and bespoke traceability systems.

The SEI Initiative on the Water, Energy and Food Nexus aims to improve sustainable development by formalizing the interdependencies between water, energy, and agriculture. The initiative is structured around three themes: governing the nexus, understanding the nexus, and implementing the nexus. To achieve this, SEI utilizes a 'nexus toolkit' combining the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system and the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) system to quantify development paths and policy impacts. The initiative applies this framework to specific case studies: in Myanmar, it focuses on sustainable river basin development amidst a transition toward universal electricity access by 2030; in Zambia, it seeks to align conflicting sectoral targets in national policy frameworks; and in Colombia, it focuses on balancing sustainable development in the Rio Cravo Sur watershed within the Orinoco region.

The document examines how increasing the Degree of Regulation (DOR) through hydropower dams in the Magdalena River Basin affects the Mompos Depression. While current regulation is low, the addition of 30 planned projects could increase the DOR from 5% to 30%, significantly altering seasonal and low flows critical for biodiversity. The analysis finds that these dams would not protect against extreme floods, as safety releases during peak flows are necessary, and that reducing lateral connectivity via levees could increase peak flows downstream in cities like Barranquilla.

The document details a discussion on the failure of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to provide sustainable development, highlighting human rights violations and the lack of social safeguards. It specifically cites the Reliance Sasan Ultra Mega Power Plant in India for violating additionality and stakeholder consultation rules, and coal mining in Colombia for causing coercive displacement and killings. The report emphasizes the urgent need for a grievance mechanism within the CDM and introduces the CDM Benefit Tracker to monitor discrepancies between promised and actual project benefits in India.

The document critiques the 'financialization of nature,' where biodiversity is converted into financial assets and commodities. It argues that assigning prices to nature ignores its intrinsic value, marginalizes indigenous and local communities, and allows corporations to continue destructive activities through 'offsetting' mechanisms. The author calls for the protection of biodiversity through strong legislation and community-led governance rather than market-based instruments.

The report argues that Anglo American and other dirty energy corporations have 'captured' climate policy-making, particularly within the UNFCCC, to protect their business models. It highlights the severe social and environmental damage caused by the El Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia, including water scarcity and the displacement of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The document details Anglo American's use of a 'web of influence'—including memberships in groups like the ICC, WBCSD, and EUROMINES—to lobby for market-based mechanisms such as carbon trading and carbon capture and storage (CCS), which the authors term 'false solutions'. It concludes by calling for the removal of corporate privileged access to climate negotiations, the end of public subsidies for dirty energy, and increased lobby transparency.

The report denounces Anglo American for using its privileged access to governments and the UNFCCC to undermine genuine climate action in favor of 'false solutions' like carbon markets and carbon capture. It highlights the severe social and environmental impacts of the El Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia, including water scarcity and the displacement of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The document argues that corporate capture of international climate negotiations prevents the addressing of systemic causes of climate change and calls for the complete removal of corporate influence from climate policy-making.