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The document advocates for reforming the Competition Act to address greenwashing, which it describes as a market distortion that prevents consumers from making informed choices and hinders firms investing in environmental quality. The authors propose several amendments, including updating the Act's purpose clause to include environmental and climate considerations, establishing clear substantiation standards for environmental claims, and requiring public disclosure of the data used to support such claims. They also suggest introducing enhanced penalties for environmental harm, expanding private rights of action for consumers, and allocating penalties to the Environmental Damages Fund. The statement highlights that while other jurisdictions like the EU, France, and California have implemented mandatory disclosures or bans on generic claims, Canada lacks dedicated statutes for regulating environmental claims to the general public.

The document examines the ubiquity of airborne micro- and nanoplastics, detailing how they originate from diverse sources, travel long distances via the atmosphere, and enter the human body through inhalation and ingestion. It highlights the 'Trojan Horse' effect, where these particles carry toxic chemicals and pathogens into internal organs, potentially causing respiratory diseases, endocrine disruption, and developmental issues. The briefing concludes that current voluntary measures are insufficient and calls for legally binding global regulations to reduce plastic production and phase out hazardous chemicals.

The document outlines a comprehensive framework of 101 sustainable finance policies categorized by three primary ambitions: speed, steer, and simplify. It provides specific recommendations across various government departments—including fiscal, trade, energy, and industrial policy—as well as for central banks and financial regulators. The guide emphasizes the need for science-based targets, the removal of fossil fuel subsidies, the use of green taxonomies, and the implementation of derisking mechanisms like blended finance to mobilize private capital for the 1.5°C transition.

The report finds that green bonds in EUR and USD generally outperformed vanilla equivalents in H2 2022, exhibiting higher book cover and greater spread compression. While the incidence of an outright 'greenium' (pricing inside the yield curve) decreased due to macroeconomic volatility, green bonds still achieved relatively tighter pricing than matched vanilla pairs. Approximately 67% of these bonds were allocated to green or responsible investors. The report also notes a trend of auto manufacturers increasing their use of green labels and a net growth of 11.2% in green bond ETF assets.

ClientEarth asserts that current REACH enforcement is insufficient and inconsistent across EU Member States, creating an uneven playing field and failing to protect human health and the environment. The document details high non-compliance rates across registration, supply chain, downstream user, restriction, and authorisation obligations. It proposes a comprehensive reform package including a Commission-led EU audit system, the power for ECHA to revoke registration numbers ('no data, no market'), 'name and shame' transparency measures, and turnover-based fines of at least 8% for serious breaches of authorisation and restriction decisions.

The document argues that EU and UK governments have failed to protect public health by not holding auto manufacturers accountable for illegal defeat devices. It proposes three main pillars of action: identifying and correcting the use of these devices through manufacturer-funded retrofits, establishing a 'Dieselgate Clean Up Fund' paid for by industry to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, and adopting more robust clean air laws and emissions standards, including an ambitious Euro 7 standard and a phase-out of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 for cars and vans.

The briefing reveals that small-scale coastal fishing (SSCF), despite representing 75% of the EU fleet, received only 20% of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) spending between 2014 and 2021. It highlights a lack of transparent reporting by Member States on SSCF action plans and notes that higher public aid intensity has not sufficiently increased investments in small-scale projects. The document argues that funding disproportionately favors larger vessels, particularly in the Mediterranean, and recommends that the European Commission mandate more granular data collection and that Member States provide local administrative support to help small-scale fishers access funds.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and Climate Finance for Equitable Transitions (CLiFT) argue that the JET-IP's strategy of 'de-risking' private finance is insufficient to mobilise the required R1.5 trillion and exposes South Africa to significant fiscal, legal, and social risks. The authors contend that the plan fails to meet National Determined Contributions (NDCs) due to an over-reliance on private renewable energy and a lack of investment in public transport and energy efficiency. They recommend shifting to a 'rights-based' governance framework and an 'allocative credit policy' that prioritises public investment, local manufacturing, and comprehensive social protections for workers and communities.

The document examines the 'politics of lockdown' in Norway, France, and the UK, arguing that the imposition of civic duties was an iterative process of negotiation rather than a simple application of law. While Norway and the UK primarily used existing legislation to enforce restrictions, France utilized a state-of-exception framework. The authors find that compliance relied on 'greater good' arguments and social trust, and that over time, governments shifted from universal mandates to disaggregated, regional, or group-specific duties to maintain public cooperation.

The document argues that employee savings in France, totaling 158 billion euros, are often invested in climate-harmful activities without the knowledge of savers. It proposes 14 specific measures to remedy this, including a mandatory 'tricolore' indicator for controversial activities, the requirement for ISIN codes for FCPE funds, and fiscal incentives for responsible savings plans. It also suggests restricting asset managers' access to the employee savings market unless they adhere to strict climate policies, particularly regarding the phase-out of fossil fuel investments.

The steel sector is the highest CO2 emitter among heavy industries, accounting for 11% of global CO2 emissions. The report highlights that the dominant blast furnace to basic oxygen furnace (BF-BOF) route is highly carbon-intensive due to its reliance on metallurgical coal. To meet the 1.5°C target, the IEA suggests steel emissions must drop by 25% by 2030 and 92% by 2050. The document emphasizes a critical investment window, as over 70% of existing coal-fired blast furnaces need refurbishing by 2030. Reclaim Finance recommends that financial institutions end support for new metallurgical coal mines and coal-based steel facilities, instead prioritizing electric arc furnaces (EAF) and hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (HDRI).

The Strategic Plan for Advancing Energy Efficiency Across Demand Sectors by 2030 outlines a framework for G20 countries to double the global annual rate of energy intensity improvement. It focuses on five pillars: buildings, industry, transport, financing, and behavioral change. The plan argues that energy efficiency is the 'first fuel' for the energy transition and proposes specific high-impact opportunities, such as rethinking building codes (RENEW), scaling motor efficiency for SMEs (SME²), and aggregating energy services (FAST). It emphasizes the need to triple annual energy efficiency investments to approximately USD 840 billion by 2030 and highlights the potential of the Indian 'Lifestyle for Environment' (LiFE) initiative to reduce global CO2 emissions by 2 billion tonnes by 2030.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) 2022 Annual Results Report details the organization's progress across three impact areas: reducing climate risk, promoting sustainable resource use and resilient ecosystems, and improving health and well-being. Key achievements include contributing to the COP27 decision to establish a loss and damage fund, developing the Global Environmental Impacts of Consumption (GEIC) indicator adopted at COP15, and implementing water management master plans in Bolivia. The report highlights the use of digital tools like LEAP, WEAP, and Trase to inform policy in various regions, including Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Organizationally, SEI reports an increase in scientific publications, a diversification of funding sources, and the implementation of a global monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) procedure.

The briefing argues that the EU is on course to reach a 45% renewable energy share by 2030, rendering the current 40% Fit-for-55 target outdated. This trajectory is driven by solar capacity growth, heat pump adoption, and electric vehicle expansion, which are all outpacing original policy forecasts.

The document examines how the cost-of-living crisis in Europe is driving vulnerable households toward risky, unregulated financial products like buy-now-pay-later schemes and crypto assets. It calls for EU policymakers to update the Consumer Credit Directive (CCD) and the Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services Directive (DMFSD) to include better creditworthiness assessments, advertising rules, and debt relief measures to prevent a debt spiral among low-income citizens.

The document provides a comprehensive set of definitions for geothermal energy stakeholders, categorizing terms into internal heat, rock and fluid parameters, system types, locations, operations, and project finance. It emphasizes superhot rock (SHR) geothermal, which involves resources at or above 374°C, and distinguishes between conventional hydrothermal systems and unconventional methods like Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) and closed-loop circuits. The glossary also outlines the technology readiness level (TRL) scale and the projected economic competitiveness of SHR at the Nth-of-a-kind scale.

The text examines the intersection of the cost-of-living crisis, energy insecurity, and climate change in Europe, arguing that these shocks reveal the failure of the current socioeconomic model. It suggests that Green parties must move beyond austerity or simple redistribution to advocate for public investments in the green transition, decentralized renewable energy cooperatives, and a Green New Deal to ensure social protections and ecological resilience.

The report examines the fragmented state of Green Public Procurement (GPP) within the EU and proposes recommendations to leverage public purchasing power for decarbonization. Focusing on the construction and road transport sectors—which each account for approximately 12% of government procurement GHG emissions globally—the study analyzes case studies from eight EU Member States to identify best practices for meeting the EU's goal of a 55% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030.

The document argues that ENGIE's transition strategy is incompatible with a 1.5°C scenario due to its continued investment in gas power and lack of transparency in its decarbonization plans.

The document criticizes ENGIE for expanding its fossil gas capacity and lacking a detailed transition strategy aligned with a 1.5°C scenario, despite its efforts to phase out coal.