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Green Climate Fund A Primer
The Green Climate Fund (GCF), an operating entity of the UNFCCC, aims to support low-emission and climate-resilient development in developing countries. It operates through a 24-member Board divided equally between developed and developing nations and distributes funds via 'Accredited Entities' rather than directly. The fund maintains a 50/50 aspirational split between adaptation and mitigation, with half of adaptation funds targeted at particularly vulnerable countries. However, the document highlights concerns regarding the lack of an explicit exclusion list for fossil fuels, the potential for funding 'false solutions', and the limited requirements for national designated authorities (NDAs) to engage with civil society and affected communities.
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Document type: Guide
Un guide Fonds vert pour le climat
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the primary multilateral fund for climate adaptation and mitigation in developing countries. It operates through accredited entities and National Designated Authorities (NDAs), with a target of splitting funding equally between adaptation and mitigation. While it lacks a formal exclusion list for polluting technologies, it employs investment criteria to avoid high-emission infrastructure. Civil society organizations, including Friends of the Earth, act as observers and advocates to ensure transparency and community involvement.
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Document type: Fact sheet
Progress on the New York Declaration on Forests – An Assessment Framework and Initial Report: Technical Annexes
The report evaluates forest governance through three indicators: institutional policy scores, the rule of law (illegal logging and violence), and land tenure rights for indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs). While some progress is noted in policy frameworks and the total area of recognized IPLC rights, the report highlights a slowdown in tenure recognition since 2008, a rise in absolute volumes of illegal timber imports—particularly into China—and persistent violence against land defenders, especially in Latin America.
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Document type: Report
Open letter to implement UN obligations to respect human rights
A coalition of 98 global entities argues that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) fails to comply with international human rights obligations, specifically those recognized in the 2010 Cancun Agreements. The letter calls for the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism, the adoption of international sustainable development safeguards, and the implementation of improved stakeholder consultation processes to prevent environmental and social harms.
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Document type: Statement
Climate Finance in 2013-14 and the USD 100 Billion Goal
The report estimates that climate finance reached USD 62 billion in 2014 and USD 52 billion in 2013, with an annual average of USD 57 billion. Bilateral public climate finance averaged USD 22.8 billion per year, marking a more than 50% increase over 2011-12 levels, while multilateral finance attributable to developed countries was estimated at USD 17.9 billion for the 2013-14 period.
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Document type: Report
OECD Analysis Shows Upward Trend in Climate Finance
The World Resources Institute notes that OECD analysis shows climate finance commitments rose to $62 billion in 2014, up from $52 billion in 2013, suggesting the 2020 goal of $100 billion per year is attainable.
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Document type: Statement
Carbon Pricing, Technology Investment, and Trade: Integrating Design Elements for a Low Carbon Club
The report outlines discussions from a July 2015 workshop regarding the creation of 'low carbon clubs'—coalitions of countries, regional entities, or nonstate actors cooperating on climate objectives. Participants emphasized that such clubs must provide excludable benefits to members to incentivize participation and prevent free riding. The discussions highlighted the necessity of linking carbon pricing with technology innovation and redistribution to ensure efficiency and consumer acceptability. While a global carbon price is deemed unattainable, these clubs are seen as a way for actors to move at 'multiple speeds' complementary to multilateral frameworks like the UNFCCC and the WTO.
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Document type: Report
Carbon leakage myth buster
The document challenges the justification for granting free carbon allowances to EU industries to prevent 'carbon leakage' (production relocation). It argues that there is no compelling evidence of such leakage and that free allocations instead create windfall profits for companies, disincentivize low-carbon innovation, and deprive the public of auctioning revenues. The brief recommends a transition to 100% auctioning of allowances and a more stringent, transparent criteria for the carbon leakage list to ensure only truly high-risk sectors receive support.
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Document type: Policy brief
CDBC’S GREEN AND SMART URBAN DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES
The guidelines establish a 'first green, then smart' approach, where smart technologies are used to optimize the outcomes of sustainable urban design. The framework covers six smart categories: telecommunications, mobility, governance, energy management, safety, and public services, supported by global case studies to demonstrate economic and environmental viability.
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Document type: Guide
Taking Stock: A brief analysis of the UN Sustainable Development Summit
The UN Sustainable Development Summit served to formally adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and affirm global commitment to its implementation. The analysis highlights the success of the Open Working Group's (OWG) inclusive negotiation process, specifically the 'troika' method, in building universal ownership of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While governments announced significant financial and environmental commitments—such as China's US$2 billion South-South cooperation fund and Panama's reforestation pledge—the document identifies critical gaps in the framework, specifically the need for finalized indicators, disaggregated data, and a detailed follow-up and review mechanism. Furthermore, the analysis emphasizes that the success of the SDGs is intrinsically linked to the outcomes of the Paris Climate Change Conference, noting that failure to meet climate objectives would jeopardize all SDGs.
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Document type: Briefing
Evictions, urban cleansing, and Climate Talks in Paris
The authors describe the violent eviction of a refugee collective in Les Lilas and argue that the French government is implementing a 'zero tolerance policy' to remove vulnerable populations, including refugees and homeless people, from Paris before the COP21 climate talks and the 2016 Football Euro Cup. They highlight a 50% increase in homelessness in France over the last decade and contrast the government's stated commitment to humanity during climate negotiations with its domestic treatment of marginalized groups.
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Document type: Statement
For a Europe that unites rather than divides people
The author criticizes the EU's handling of the Greek debt crisis and the refugee crisis as evidence of a failure in solidarity, driven by a 'neoliberal size fits all' approach. The text calls for the Green party to move beyond a defensive, reformist stance and develop a clear vision for a federal Europe capable of addressing global challenges and internal imbalances.
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Document type: Statement
UK nuclear weapons catastrophe making
The report contends that the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system poses an unacceptable risk to human civilisation, arguing that its use would be 'both genocidal and suicidal'. It highlights that a single Trident submarine carries enough firepower to cause over 10 million civilian casualties and trigger a 'nuclear winter' that could threaten 2 billion people with starvation. The authors argue that the probability of unintentional use is 'not negligible' and that the system's cost—estimated up to £100bn over its lifetime—diverts essential funds from health, welfare, and climate change mitigation. The document concludes that the UK should cancel Trident replacement, remove weapons from continuous patrol, and support an international treaty to ban nuclear weapons.
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Document type: Report
Timeline: Progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan
The document outlines the implementation of President Obama's Climate Action Plan (CAP), focusing on three primary goals: cutting U.S. carbon pollution, preparing for climate impacts, and leading international efforts. Key achievements include the finalization of the Clean Power Plan to reduce power sector emissions by 32% by 2030, the establishment of the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and the formation of bilateral climate agreements with China, India, and Brazil. The report details a series of executive orders, agency regulations, and budget requests aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing national infrastructure resilience.
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Document type: Fact sheet
From 90 pages to 9: Track 0 writes a draft Paris Agreement
Track 0, led by Farhana Yamin, Erik Haites, and Niklas Höhne, has developed a draft Paris Agreement designed to reduce the 90 pages of the February 2015 Geneva Negotiating Text into a manageable, ambitious, and politically balanced document. This proposal was created in response to slow progress during the June negotiating session in Bonn and precedes an informal Ministerial Meeting hosted by the French Government on 20 and 21 July in Paris.
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Document type: Report
Modernization and Innovation in the materials sector: lessons from steel and cement
The European steel and cement sectors face substantial surplus production capacity and limited reinvestment, hindering the adoption of low-carbon technologies. While energy efficiency and fuel-switching have provided some gains, breakthrough process technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS) require significant public funding and a credible, long-term carbon price signal for both producers and consumers to be viable. The report argues that a comprehensive policy package—combining the EU ETS, innovation funding, and updated building standards—is essential to transition these capital-intensive industries toward sustainable, high-value production.
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Document type: Report
The role of complementary policies in powering the European decarbonisation of the EU ETS & post-2020
The report argues that a "carbon market only" approach is insufficient for the cost-effective decarbonisation of the European power sector. While the EU ETS is an effective tool for driving fuel switching in the residual thermal generation mix, it cannot alone drive necessary investments in low-carbon technologies due to high capital costs, revenue risks, and the 'merit order effect'. The authors recommend a policy mix where the EU ETS is complemented by tailored national investment supports—such as feed-in tariffs or contracts for difference—to reduce the cost of capital. To ensure coherence, the report proposes an ex-ante cap adjustment process for the ETS based on Member State National Energy and Climate Plans and the development of long-term decarbonisation strategies back-casted from 2050.
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Document type: Report
HIGHLIGHTS FROM Planetary Economics: Energy, Climate Change and the Three Domains of Sustainable Development
The document outlines a framework called 'Planetary Economics' to address the inadequacy of traditional neoclassical economics in solving climate change. It proposes three domains of socio-economic processes: the First Domain (Satisficing), focusing on human behaviour and efficiency gaps; the Second Domain (Optimising), focusing on market trade-offs and pricing; and the Third Domain (Transforming), focusing on innovation and systemic change. These domains map to three policy pillars: standards and engagement for efficiency, markets and prices for carbon reduction, and strategic investment for infrastructure and innovation. The author concludes that only an integrated strategy combining all three pillars can effectively decarbonise energy systems and overcome systemic 'lock-in' and behavioural inertia.
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Document type: Executive summary
BLOOD TIMBER
Between April 2013 and January 2014, logging companies in the Central African Republic (CAR) paid an estimated EUR 3.4 million to the Seleka rebel coalition for 'protection' and to pass checkpoints, effectively funding a regime responsible for mass human rights abuses. Following the Seleka's fall, companies continued to pay an estimated EUR 127,864 to anti-balaka militias in 2014. The report identifies SEFCA, IFB, and the Vicwood Group as primary actors who maintained operations through these payments. It argues that the EU and France failed to enforce the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) and that the EU's Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with CAR is flawed as it attempts to legitimise an industry operating in a failed state. The document recommends a moratorium on industrial logging and the establishment of a Forest Sector Review Committee, drawing parallels to post-war reconstruction in Liberia.
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Document type: Report
Green European Journal
The Green European Journal (July 2015) examines the systemic failures of the EU, including the Greek debt crisis, the refugee crisis, and the dominance of neoliberal technocracy. It advocates for a 'radicalisation of democracy' and a transition toward a degrowth economy. The document critiques the EU's climate contributions for COP 21 as insufficiently ambitious and calls for a reduction in energy dependency on Russia. It emphasizes the need for Green parties to reconnect with grassroots social movements and a 'trans-European' approach to identity and politics.
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Document type: Report