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The report examines the 'Maritimes anomaly,' where New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island have achieved significantly higher heat pump adoption rates than the rest of Canada. It attributes this success to a combination of high energy poverty, a moderate Atlantic climate, existing institutional commitments to energy efficiency, and aggressive financial incentives. The document highlights the importance of 'stacking' provincial and federal grants and warns against the rise of unreliable installers.

The document identifies several critical gaps in current international trade rules as artificial intelligence (AI) integrates into goods and services. It highlights the difficulty of the goods-services distinction, the inadequacy of GATS modes of delivery for AI-embedded products, and the lack of TRIPS agreement definitions for AI-generated intellectual property. While acknowledging the WTO's slow pacing and divergent national norms, the author argues that the WTO should utilize soft law and informal norms to prevent regulatory fragmentation and ensure inclusive global economic growth.

The author argues that while governments can implement unilateral trade-related tools to promote sustainable agriculture, transboundary environmental challenges require multilateral coordination through the WTO. The paper identifies three 'windows of opportunity' for the WTO: addressing environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies, managing sustainability requirements and standards to reduce costs for developing countries, and utilizing the new work program on food insecurity to build resilience in least developed countries and net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs).

The paper examines the rise of trade measures based on non-product-related process and production methods (PPMs) used to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and human rights. It analyzes the legal requirements for such measures to be WTO-compliant, highlighting the importance of non-discrimination and proportionality. The authors provide examples of current PPM-based policies, including forced labour import bans, deforestation-free supply chain regulations, and sustainability-linked tariff preferences in regional trade agreements, while noting ongoing WTO disputes between the EU, Indonesia, and Malaysia over biofuels.

The briefing outlines four key areas where G7 nations can lead on fossil fuel phase-out: setting a 2030 deadline for coal phase-out, implementing the end of fossil fuel subsidies, fulfilling commitments to stop international public finance for fossil fuels, and ending new oil and gas development.

In 2022, solar and wind power continued their rapid growth, with solar being the fastest-growing source and wind recording the largest absolute increase. Conversely, nuclear power saw a significant decline, primarily driven by outages in France and Germany. Coal generation reached an all-time record high of 10,186 TWh, although its overall share of the global electricity mix slightly decreased. Hydro power rebounded after a poor 2021 but remains below 2020 levels due to droughts in Europe. Fossil gas generation remained relatively stable despite supply chain disruptions. To align with the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario by 2030, the report argues that solar and wind must sustain high annual growth rates, coal and unabated gas must be phased out, and nuclear power must grow more rapidly than its recent historical average.

In 2022, global electricity generation remained dominated by fossil fuels at 61%, though wind and solar reached a record 12% share. Despite record growth in renewables, global power sector emissions hit an all-time high of 12,431 mtCO2, driven by rising demand in major economies like China and India. The report highlights a gap between current trends and the IEA Net Zero Emissions scenario, which requires a rapid phase-out of unabated coal and gas by 2035-2040.

In 2022, global electricity reached its lowest emissions intensity ever at 436 gCO2/kWh, with wind and solar hitting a record 12% of generation. Despite this, total power sector CO2 emissions reached a record high of 12,431 mtCO2 because wind and solar growth could not fully keep pace with a 2.5% increase in global electricity demand. This gap was filled by coal and other fossils, with coal generation rising by 108 TWh to a record 10,186 TWh. While clean electricity sources other than wind and solar saw their first year-on-year decline since 2011 due to nuclear outages and droughts, 2022 is characterized as an 'accelerator year' due to policy shifts like the EU's REPowerEU and the US Inflation Reduction Act.

The global electricity system is transitioning toward clean energy, with wind and solar emerging as dominant forces. In 2022, wind and solar met 80% of the increase in global electricity demand. However, other clean sources like nuclear and hydro are underperforming relative to 1.5°C pathways. The report predicts a structural tipping point as soon as 2023, where clean power growth may finally exceed total electricity demand growth, leading to an enduring decline in fossil fuel generation. While coal plant closures have slowed, particularly in China and India, the report suggests a simultaneous phasedown of both coal and gas power is becoming likely, especially in G7 countries and Asia due to energy security and cost concerns.

The Canadian Climate Institute argues that the Parliamentary Budget Officer's (PBO) analysis of carbon pricing is flawed because it ignores the economic costs of climate change and the global shift toward carbon neutrality. While acknowledging the PBO's finding that 80% of households in most provinces benefit from rebates, the Institute asserts that the PBO uses a fictitious scenario of zero climate consequences and fails to account for the risk to Canada's competitiveness and exports in a world where 92% of global GDP comes from countries targeting carbon neutrality.

The European Central Bank's (ECB) March 2023 climate disclosures reveal that its corporate asset portfolios have not decarbonized at a pace matching European climate goals, with total carbon emissions increasing by approximately 88% between 2018 and 2022. The report argues that the ECB's 'climate tilting' framework is insufficient because it only applies to reinvestments rather than the existing stock of assets and fails to exclude fossil fuel developers. To align with its 2021 climate roadmap, the author recommends that the ECB extend its climate approach to the stock of corporate bonds and exclude companies inconsistent with the 1.5°C objective.

ClientEarth argues that the current REACH law is inadequate, noting that over 70% of chemicals produced and used are hazardous. The organization calls for 'REACH 2.0' to implement a non-essential use ban with specific phaseout deadlines, strengthen 'no data, no market' registration requirements, and enable the fast-track restriction of entire chemical groups. Additionally, it advocates for stronger enforcement mechanisms—comparable to GDPR fines—and the creation of legal tools for citizens to demand action against pollution in 'toxic hotspots'.

The Life after Coal Campaign and the Fair Finance Coalition Southern Africa argue that the JET-IP is heavily skewed toward private sector interests and large-scale infrastructure, specifically green hydrogen, at the expense of community-led renewable energy and social investment. They highlight critical gaps in policy alignment, the lack of transparency regarding debt and loan agreements, and the failure to adequately address the health impacts of air pollution at the Medupi and Kusile power stations. The authors call for a reprioritization of funding toward transmission grid strengthening and socially owned energy models, while warning that the current approach to decommissioning coal plants, as seen at Komati, lacks the necessary community participation to be considered 'just'.

The global GSS+ debt market reached a cumulative volume of USD3.7tn by the end of 2022, though new issuance fell 24% year-on-year to USD858.5bn due to rising interest rates and macroeconomic instability. Green bonds remained the dominant theme, accounting for 58% of 2022 volumes at USD487.1bn, while social bonds saw the steepest decline (41%) as COVID-19 recovery funding tapered. Transition bonds were the only segment to grow, increasing 5% to USD3.5bn, driven by policy support in China and Japan. The report also highlights the emergence of sovereign sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) in Chile and Uruguay and the need for a dedicated Climate Resilience Taxonomy to scale adaptation and resilience (A&R) financing.

The document defines greenwashing in the financial sector as false or misleading representations of environmental impact and warns that it can misallocate capital and undermine the Paris Agreement. It outlines five categories of evolving regulation—disclosure, labelling, ratings, taxonomies, and net zero integrity—and classifies enforcement actions into brand, product, financing, and reporting greenwashing. To mitigate risk, the guide proposes 'five pillars' of guarding against greenwashing: screening claims, ensuring transparency, aligning internal actions with public image, monitoring regulatory changes, and adhering to fiduciary duties.

The document argues that MDBs must shift from a project-by-project approach to coordinated country and sector platforms, utilizing 'Just Term Sheets' to standardize transition investments. It recommends scaling risk-sharing instruments, such as guarantees and local currency loans, to lower the cost of capital in EMDEs. Furthermore, it calls for a business model overhaul, transitioning from an 'originate to hold' to an 'originate to distribute' model to recycle capital and increase lending capacity. The paper also emphasizes the need for standardized KPIs, improved data sharing via entities like the GEMS risk database, and the institutionalization of crisis-response toolkits for regular climate action.

In 2022, wind and solar reached a record 12% share of global electricity, driving carbon intensity to a record low of 436 gCO2/kWh. However, absolute power sector emissions reached an all-time high of 12,431 mtCO2 because clean power growth did not fully meet rising global demand, which grew by 2.5% (+694 TWh). While coal generation rose by 1.1% to a record 10,186 TWh, the report forecasts that 2023 could be the first year of structural decline in fossil generation and the peak for power sector emissions. The analysis highlights a significant gap between current growth and the IEA NZE pathway, which requires wind and solar to reach 41% of global generation by 2030.

The report examines the implementation of the Section 45V hydrogen production tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act. It argues that loose guidance on emissions accounting could lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions and create an industry reliant on subsidies. The authors propose a framework based on three principles: additionality (requiring new clean energy sources), deliverability (requiring local, physically deliverable power), and time-matching (requiring hourly alignment of production and generation). Financial analysis of test sites in Texas, Minnesota, and Houston suggests that projects adhering to these strict standards remain profitable, particularly in regions with high wind and solar resource quality.

The report finds that while global coal power is generally declining and many existing plants have set retirement dates, China is experiencing a surge in new coal capacity. In 2022, China's new coal construction capacity grew by 38%, accounting for 68% of global construction. Despite this, the report suggests a coal-free future is possible if countries transition from broad commitments to specific plant retirement plans and close financial channels for coal.

The report finds that while the 'return of coal' did not materialize globally in 2022, the pace of retirements remains insufficient to meet Paris Agreement targets. China is a major outlier, with its coal capacity in development increasing by 38% in 2022, while capacities in the rest of the world decreased by 20%. In the EU and UK, coal use saw a marginal 1% increase due to the gas crisis, but long-term trends remain downward. In Sub-Saharan Africa, coal projects persist despite funding shortages, though some successful just transition initiatives, such as the Komati plant retirement in South Africa, provide a potential model for the region.