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The document investigates whether Russia exerts significant influence over African states in the UN Security Council (UNSC) by analyzing voting patterns between 2014 and 2020. It argues that Russia's influence over the A3 is often exaggerated, as statistical evidence shows little coordination and a trend of increasing divergence. While the A3 are increasingly presenting unified positions on African issues, their voting behavior remains more aligned with the P3 (US, UK, and France) than with Russia. The brief concludes that Russia's role as a 'loud dissenter' has not translated into a strategic alliance with the African grouping.

The paper assesses the synergy between the AfCFTA and the BRI, arguing that targeted, structured cooperation—such as sector-specific preferential trade agreements and the strategic use of Special Economic Zones (SEZs)—is more beneficial for Africa than a status-quo ad hoc approach or a full continent-wide Free Trade Agreement (FTA). It highlights the potential for growth in manufacturing and agriculture while warning against the risks of increased Chinese imports and the complexities of rules of origin.

The report argues that community lands, managed by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), are critical for climate mitigation due to their ability to sequester carbon and maintain biodiversity. Despite managing approximately half of the world's land, only 10% is legally recognized. The document provides evidence that secure land tenure leads to lower deforestation rates compared to state-managed lands and is a cost-effective mitigation strategy. However, these lands face increasing threats from illegal mining, drug trafficking, and land grabbing, while land defenders face rising violence. The report concludes that international climate finance significantly underserves IPLCs and calls for governments to prioritize legal land titling and the protection of environmental defenders.

The document argues that community lands, which cover approximately half of the world's land, are critical for carbon sequestration and biodiversity. It highlights that secure land tenure for IPLCs leads to lower deforestation rates and more effective climate mitigation than state-managed areas, often at a lower cost. However, the report notes that most community land lacks legal recognition, IPLCs receive less than 1% of official development assistance for climate change, and land defenders face increasing violence. It recommends securing land rights, improving law enforcement, and directing international climate funds toward IPLC-led management.

As of May 24, 2022, 43 companies have committed USD 458 million across 48 countries to support the Zero Hunger Private Sector Pledge. The largest individual commitments come from Bayer (USD 160 million) and PepsiCo (USD 100 million), with significant regional focus on Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The statement asserts that marginalized communities, particularly Indigenous peoples in the Global South, are disproportionately affected by climate change despite minimal contribution to it. It argues that these groups face systemic media barriers and colonial stereotypes that silence their political actions and climate struggles. The author contends that communication rights—including increased media access and the democratization of information systems—are necessary to amplify these voices and drive the political action required to tackle the climate crisis.

The project aims to reduce coastal flooding risks in Egypt's North Coast and Nile Delta through the installation of 69 km of sand dune dikes and the development of an integrated coastal zone management plan. Co-financed by the Green Climate Fund (USD 31.4 million) and the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (USD 73.8 million), the initiative targets direct benefits for 768,164 people. Implementation involves multiple Egyptian ministries and the UNDP as the Accredited Entity, while the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency serves as the National Designated Authority.

Climate Investor Two is a fund managed by a consortium including Climate Fund Managers and FMO to deploy EUR 160 million from the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development. It utilizes a three-stage financing structure—development, construction, and re-financing—to target water, oceans, and sanitation subsectors. The fund aims to attract institutional investors and local banks into low- and lower middle-income countries by offering investable securities and building local capacity to manage climate project risks. Success depends on a strong ecosystem of project developers, favorable policy environments, and moderate currency stability in target countries.

The Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), launched by the Ethiopian government in 2005, provides cash or food transfers to over 8 million households to address chronic food insecurity and climate shocks. Integrated into the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy, the program's fifth phase (Phase V), initiated in November 2020 via the Strengthen Ethiopia’s Adaptive Safety Net Project (SEASN), is supported by a diverse funding pool including the World Bank, USAID, UK FCDO, and the Government of Ethiopia. The program utilizes public works, such as building terraced hill slopes, to enhance water retention and climate adaptation.

The Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) and Rabobank Foundation established a USD 2.25 million mechanism in Ethiopia to mitigate risk for lenders providing loans to coffee farmers for processing equipment. By guaranteeing 50% of losses from defaults, the scheme enabled over 23 cooperatives to access commercial credit, supported by technical assistance from CABI and Rabobank International Advisory Services. The document highlights the complementary roles of high-risk appetite philanthropic/DFI funds and low-risk commercial banks, while outlining the legal and pipeline requirements necessary for successful credit guarantee schemes in agriculture.

The R4 Rural Resilience Initiative, launched in 2011 by the World Food Program and Oxfam America, employs a four-pronged strategy—risk reduction, risk transfer, prudent risk-taking, and risk reserves—to help farmers adapt to climate risks. By 2020, the program provided index insurance and complementary services to nearly 180,000 farmers across ten countries, leveraging existing government safety nets and community partnerships to scale its impact.

The Smallholder Forestry Vehicle (SFV) is a financial mechanism that packages tree production partnership contracts from smallholder farmers to attract institutional investors. By separating asset risk from operating company risk, it lowers the cost of capital and reduces transaction costs. As of July 2020, Komaza had partnered with 25,000 farmers in Kenya and planted over 6 million trees, securing a USD 28 million Series B funding round from various impact investors and funds.

As of 31 July 2021, the GCF pipeline includes 89 funding proposals requesting USD 6.4 billion and 350 concept notes requesting USD 15.9 billion. The report details the distribution of these requests by sector, region, and theme, while also tracking the progress of the Simplified Approval Process (SAP) pilot, specific requests for proposals (RFPs) such as REDD-plus and MSME, and the status of 65 active Project Preparation Facility applications.

The document analyzes coal finance in 18 high-impact countries (HICs) with significant electricity access gaps. It finds that while global coal investment is declining, finance persists in HICs, largely driven by Chinese state-owned institutions and a few South Asian nations. The report argues that coal is misaligned with Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) due to long development timelines and high infrastructure costs, contrasting this with the efficiency of distributed renewable energy. It highlights the risk of stranded assets in Bangladesh and Pakistan and the operational hurdles facing coal in Africa, concluding that a shift toward renewables and finance-based carbon accounting is necessary to achieve net-zero goals.

The P-REC Aggregation Fund monetizes Peace Renewable Energy Credits (P-RECs)—a high-quality type of International Renewable Energy Certificate (I-REC) with peacebuilding co-benefits—to provide upfront capital to renewable energy developers in fragile states. By aggregating these certificates and selling them to impact-seeking corporations (such as RE100 members), the Fund aims to provide developers with approximately 10% of construction costs, thereby unlocking further infrastructure finance. The report models a 13-year proof-of-concept phase with a USD 10.25 million fund size, projecting the generation of 812,116 P-RECs and the avoidance of approximately 658,000 tCO2e of emissions.

The Smallholder Resilience Fund (SRF) is a proposed blended finance mechanism and venture studio aimed at bridging the $65 billion financing gap for agricultural SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa. By employing a 'synchronized investment' strategy—providing equity, debt, and working capital across entire value chains—the SRF seeks to de-risk investments and enable smallholders to diversify into climate-smart, high-value crops. The initiative, proposed by One Acre Fund, will pilot in Rwanda's avocado value chain with a $4.2 million grant requirement to catalyze an estimated $50-100 million in total capital over ten years, aiming to increase the annual income of over 100,000 farmers by approximately 15%.

The report assesses the development prospects of the Horn of Africa, highlighting how governance failure, insecurity, and climate-driven food instability hinder progress. It uses the International Futures platform to project that without intervention, no country in the region will eliminate extreme poverty by 2030. The analysis identifies a critical 'youth bulge' and severe infrastructure deficits in energy, transport, and water. To counter these trends, the authors propose an 'Integrated Development Push' scenario combining improved governance, agricultural modernisation, and investments in human capital and basic infrastructure to boost regional GDP and reduce poverty by 2040.

The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) 2021 rating methodology employs a dual-framework approach, combining 'fair share' principles and 'modelled domestic pathways' to assess government climate action. It evaluates targets (domestic and international), implemented policies, and climate finance to determine an overall rating. The system distinguishes between developed countries, which are expected to provide finance and meet stringent domestic targets, and developing countries, which may require international support to achieve full decarbonisation. The methodology specifically excludes land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) from main ratings but flags them when they significantly impact a country's emissions profile.

The authors advocate for the transition from global to regional value chains in Africa, emphasizing that digital transformation—specifically through blockchain, AI, and IoT—is essential to overcome high trade costs, poor infrastructure, and inefficient customs procedures. The paper highlights the AfCFTA as a critical framework for this shift, noting that while Africa currently exports raw materials with little value addition (e.g., coffee and cocoa), digital tools can enable MSMEs and women-led businesses to scale and integrate into more productive regional networks.

The document analyzes coal finance in 18 high-impact countries (HICs) in South Asia and Africa, highlighting that while global trends shift toward renewables, significant coal investment persists, largely driven by Chinese state-owned institutions. It argues that coal is an inefficient path to universal electricity access compared to distributed renewables and warns of stranded asset risks, citing overcapacity in Bangladesh and Pakistan.