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The MENA region increased its operational renewable energy capacity by 57% since May 2022, adding 6.9 GW of solar and wind power. While there is a massive pipeline of 361 GW in planned projects, 60% of this capacity is earmarked for green hydrogen production and export rather than domestic decarbonization. The region remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels, with oil and gas providing over 90% of electricity, and 18 of 23 analyzed countries planning to expand their gas and oil power fleets. To fully decarbonize the electricity sector by 2050, the region would need to add 19 GW of solar and wind capacity annually.

The 2023 state of global environmental governance was characterized by a tension between significant multilateral achievements and deepening geopolitical fractures. While the world saw the adoption of the BBNJ treaty and the Global Framework on Chemicals, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains dire, with only 15% of targets on track. Climate action reached a milestone with the first Global Stocktake (GST) in Dubai, calling for a transition away from fossil fuels, though critics noted the absence of a full phase-out. Geopolitical tensions, particularly Russia's invasion of Ukraine, have hindered scientific collaboration in the Arctic and increased the use of voting over consensus in treaty negotiations. Financial gaps remain a critical barrier, with calls for a New Global Financing Pact to address the needs of the Global South.

The report identifies a global convergence of far-right groups, conspiracy theorists, and 'parents' rights' movements targeting drag events to denigrate the LGBTQ+ community. While the US is the primary driver of narratives and the only country in the set to pass anti-drag legislation, similar tactics like doxxing and harassment are appearing globally. The report highlights the use of 'save the children' and 'groomer' narratives to justify extremism and warns that these fringe tropes are becoming mainstreamed in political discourse.

The author introduces the 'double duality' framework, arguing that smugglers are simultaneously perceived as problems and solutions by both migrants and states. For migrants, smugglers provide essential mobility but pose risks of exploitation; for states, smugglers undermine border control but provide 'moral capital' that justifies restrictive policies. The paper analyzes how destination states use a 'protection narrative'—casting smugglers as villains and migrants as victims—to maintain political authority while limiting asylum access. It further distinguishes between 'facilitation' and 'exploitation' to show that not all dangers faced by migrants originate from smugglers, and that counter-smuggling measures often shift risks onto the migrants themselves.

The report analyzes 92 empirical studies (138 distinct analyses) published between 2003 and 2022. It finds a bimodal pattern where migrant exposure either strongly increases or strongly decreases trust, with positive effects more common for social and political trust and negative effects more common for perceptions of physical and economic security. The review highlights a significant Western bias in existing literature and finds strong evidence for the contact hypothesis, where direct intergroup interaction reduces prejudice and increases trust.

WRI Europe's 2023-2027 strategy focuses on transforming the food, land, water, energy, and city systems to achieve interconnected goals for people, nature, and climate. The strategy emphasizes Europe's role as a driver, consumer, and partner for change, specifically supporting the implementation of the EU Green Deal and managing the impacts of the energy transition, such as the demand for rare minerals. WRI Europe aims to act as an enabling office for focus countries with large emerging economies while addressing Europe's own environmental footprint through data-driven solutions and partnerships like the Systems Transformation Hub in Brussels.

The WRI Europe Strategy (2023-2027) positions the Europe office as a strategic hub to accelerate the global energy and nature transition. It focuses on three primary roles: driving positive change through leadership in sectors like food and energy efficiency, reducing Europe's own ecological footprint as a consumer, and acting as a partner for funding and knowledge. Key priorities include implementing the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), reducing the carbon footprint of meals via the Coolfood initiative, and developing a Distributional Impact Assessment Tool to ensure equitable transitions. The strategy also emphasizes leveraging Europe's circular economy leadership to improve mineral recycling for the clean energy transition and supporting sustainable ocean management through the Ocean Panel.

WRI's 2023-2027 Strategic Plan shifts the organization from a focus on commitments to delivering tangible impact on the ground. The strategy centers on three interconnected global goals: improving human well-being (People), protecting ecosystem health (Nature), and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C (Climate). To achieve these, WRI targets transitions in three 'Human-Centered Systems'—food, land and water; energy; and cities—supported by shifts in 'Enabling Systems' including economics, finance, and governance. The plan prioritizes 12 focus countries and a network of 25 priority cities, utilizing a new results framework based on theories of change to measure progress toward 2027 and 2030 targets.

The 2023 Year in Review for the Corporate Consultative Group (CCG) outlines how WRI partners with the private sector to accelerate the energy transition and protect nature. The report details member benefits such as 'Tailored Advice' and 'MindShare' events, while aligning corporate engagement with WRI's 2023–2027 Strategic Plan. It highlights specific goals for decarbonizing energy, halting deforestation, and shifting finance, noting that CCG members provide critical unrestricted funds and practical input to ensure WRI's research is fit for corporate application.

The WRI 2023-2027 Strategic Plan aims to facilitate a 'great transition' by addressing the systemic links between human needs, ecosystem health, and climate stability. The strategy focuses on transforming three primary human systems—food, land and water; energy; and cities—while reforming the underlying economic, financial, and governance 'enabling systems.' WRI intends to implement these strategies through global initiatives and deep engagement in 12 focus countries, utilizing evidence-based theories of change and multi-year flexible funding to achieve measurable impact aligned with international targets like the Paris Agreement.

The document explains attribution studies—which use climate models to determine if and how much human-induced climate change affected a specific event—and provides guidance on reporting various extreme phenomena. It details how global warming increases the probability and intensity of heatwaves and heavy precipitation globally, while the effects on droughts, wildfires, and tropical cyclones vary by region or specific metric. It emphasizes that while climate change influences the risk and intensity of these events, human factors like land use and water management also contribute to whether an event becomes a disaster.

The report examines food wastage at the primary production level in South Africa, identifying environmental factors as the primary cause of food loss and behavioural issues as a key driver of food waste. It highlights a critical lack of baseline data, with fewer than 40% of surveyed farmers measuring their waste. While farmers are motivated by financial viability and moral responsibility to reduce waste, they face significant logistical, financial, and regulatory barriers, including high transport costs and strict export standards. The document recommends the development of centralised redistribution contacts and validated waste-tracking tools to help South Africa meet SDG 12.3.

The report argues that renewable energy projects in energy-scarce areas, specifically refugee camps, often overlook the potential to provoke or exacerbate conflict due to unequal energy access. An analysis of 11 projects in Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp reveals that conflict potential is rarely discussed and data on resulting tensions is lacking. The authors recommend local community engagement and stakeholder inclusion to mitigate these risks.

The author contends that inflation in the Eurozone is caused by vulnerability to global shocks—such as the energy crisis and supply chain disruptions—rather than a 'wage-price spiral'. The text criticizes the use of restrictive monetary policies (raising interest rates) as harmful and suggests that companies are maintaining or increasing margins by passing costs to consumers. To counter the decline in the wage share of GDP, the document proposes indexing wages to inflation, taxing superprofits, and investing in domestic transport, housing insulation, and agriculture to reduce reliance on imported inputs.

The 2022 Climate, Environmental, and Energy Congressional Hearings Tracker catalogs hearings held by various U.S. House and Senate committees. The tracker covers a wide array of topics including the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, electric vehicle infrastructure, methane pollution, and agricultural resiliency. It details the specific dates and titles of hearings across committees such as the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

This research paper by the Climate Policy Initiative evaluates methodologies for tracking investments in climate resilient infrastructure (CRI). The study pilots a framework based on five climate resilience principles across the water, transport, energy, and AFOLU sectors, finding that CRI investments are a small fraction of total infrastructure spending, with USD 87 spent on non-resilient projects for every USD 1 spent on CRI.

The report documents systemic human rights violations in Paraguay's soy-growing regions, linking these abuses to major US commodity traders (ADM, Cargill, and Bunge) and European meat processors (2 Sisters and Danish Crown). It argues that voluntary sustainability certifications, specifically 'mass balance' schemes, act as accounting tricks that allow tainted soy to enter European supply chains. The document calls for mandatory due diligence legislation in the EU and UK to replace ineffective voluntary initiatives.

The report finds that investments in climate resilient infrastructure (CRI) are in their nascent stages, representing only about 1.1% of average annual infrastructure investment in 2019/20. It proposes a five-principle framework to define and track CRI, though data gaps limited its operationalization to three principles. The study highlights a significant gap between investment and vulnerability, noting no correlation between per capita CRI investment and the ND-GAIN Vulnerability Index. It recommends the adoption of common resilience principles, mandated double materiality disclosures, and the creation of a standardized CRI taxonomy to scale finance.

The document analyzes a planned US$245 billion expansion of gas infrastructure in Africa, highlighting a significant imbalance where investment in LNG export terminals and pipelines far outweighs investment in domestic power generation. It warns that these projects, often driven by Europe's short-term energy crisis following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, risk becoming stranded assets while failing to address low electricity access in countries like Nigeria, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The report highlights a significant imbalance in African gas infrastructure, where investments are heavily skewed toward LNG export terminals rather than domestic electricity generation. With an estimated $245 billion in total gas infrastructure investments underway or planned, the document warns of 'stranded assets' as the world transitions to clean energy and European demand fluctuates. It details the current and projected capacities of LNG terminals, pipelines, and gas-fired power plants, noting that while countries like Nigeria, Mozambique, and Tanzania pursue massive export projects, they continue to face severe domestic electricity shortages.