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The Japanese green bond market grew by a third in 2020, reaching a cumulative issuance of USD 26.15 billion. Issuance is led by financial corporates and government-backed entities, with proceeds primarily allocated to buildings, transport, and energy. The report highlights a strong record of external reviews and post-issuance reporting, while identifying significant opportunities to scale up the market through the refinancing of unlabelled climate-aligned debt, particularly in the transport sector. Additionally, it outlines Japan's policy shift toward net-zero emissions by 2050 and the resulting development of green growth strategies and ESG disclosure frameworks.

The report presents survey data from March 2021 on U.S. registered voters' attitudes toward international climate action. It finds broad support for the U.S. reducing emissions regardless of other countries' actions, participation in the Paris Climate Agreement, and pressuring other nations to reduce carbon pollution. While there is strong consensus that developing and industrialized nations should do more to address global warming, support for providing financial and technical aid to developing countries for mitigation and adaptation is more divided along partisan lines.

The report presents survey data from March 2021 on U.S. registered voters' perspectives on international climate action. It finds broad support for the U.S. reducing emissions regardless of other nations' actions, participation in the Paris Climate Agreement, and pressuring other countries to reduce carbon pollution. While there is strong consensus that developing and industrialized nations should do more to address global warming, support for providing financial aid for mitigation and adaptation to developing countries is more divided along partisan lines.

The report asserts that the Great Barrier Reef's Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is deteriorating due to climate change, with the IUCN assessing its outlook as "critical" in 2020. It argues that Australia is fueling this crisis by maintaining inadequate emissions targets, expanding fossil fuel exports, and failing to align its Reef 2050 Plan with a well-below 1.5°C warming pathway. The document concludes that site-level mitigation is insufficient and calls for the World Heritage Committee to require Australia to implement national-level decarbonization and legislative commitments to protect the Reef.

The document critiques COVAX as a multi-stakeholder entity that marginalizes the World Health Organization (WHO) and replaces public health governance with a commercial banking model. It argues that COVAX is designed to protect the global pharmaceutical market and serve as a tool for geopolitical 'soft power' rather than ensuring equitable vaccine access. The author highlights that COVAX's funding mechanisms, dominated by a few wealthy nations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, allow private interests to influence vaccine R&D and distribution, potentially risking the health and political autonomy of developing nations.

The report finds a significant investment gap between Canada's current climate-related fiscal commitments and the funding required to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. While acknowledging positive steps in public transit and building energy efficiency, the authors argue that Canada is being outpaced by international peers, such as the US and EU, in per capita green spending. The analysis identifies critical funding shortfalls across seven sectors, including transportation, clean energy, and nature-based solutions, and calls for Budget 2021 to prioritize uncosted measures and scaled-up investments to ensure an equitable green recovery.

The report argues that while Canada has made positive climate commitments, there is a significant investment gap between current budget allocations and the funding required to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. By comparing federal spending with recommendations from expert coalitions, the document identifies critical funding shortages across seven sectors: transport, building retrofits, clean energy, nature and adaptation, agriculture, industry and innovation, and workforce development. It highlights that Canada's per capita climate spending during the pandemic is more than eight times lower than the promises made by the US under Joe Biden. The report calls for the 2021 Budget to prioritize deficit spending on green infrastructure, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and implement a just transition for workers, particularly in the coal, oil, and gas sectors.

The NAP Global Network responds to an external evaluation of its 2015–2020 activities, committing to integrate findings into its 2021–2025 Strategy. Key commitments include revising its Theory of Change, expanding support to 30 new countries by 2025, and shifting focus from 'paper NAPs' toward the actual implementation of adaptation priorities. The Network also aims to enhance private sector engagement, vertical integration, and the alignment of NAP processes with the Paris Agreement's Global Stocktake and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The Green Central Banking Scorecard evaluates G20 monetary and prudential authorities across four categories: Research and Advocacy, Monetary Policy, Financial Policy, and Leading by Example. The findings reveal a significant gap between rhetoric and action, with most institutions scoring high in research but failing to implement high-impact policies that restrict financial flows to fossil fuels. China, Brazil, and France are the top-ranked countries, though no G20 institution has implemented a 'high impact' policy as defined by the report's criteria.

The report highlights that the water and sanitation sector contributes up to 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and is highly vulnerable to climate impacts. It advocates for a shift from single-issue, siloed approaches toward integrated, local, and cross-sectoral collaborations to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 and 13. Through case studies in Peru, Uganda, Germany, and Bolivia, the document demonstrates how regulatory frameworks, peer-to-peer partnerships (WOPs), and systems-thinking can reduce carbon footprints and build resilience. It concludes that while collaboration is essential, it must be implemented proportionately to avoid operational inefficiency.

The report argues that most non-light-water reactors (NLWRs) do not provide significant enough improvements over light-water reactors (LWRs) to justify their associated safety, security, and proliferation risks. It specifically evaluates sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs), and molten salt reactors (MSRs), finding that claims regarding 'burning' nuclear waste are oversimplified and that the timelines for commercialization are often unrealistic. The author recommends that the US Department of Energy (DOE) prioritize improving existing LWR technology over pursuing immature NLWR designs.

The document identifies systemic barriers to nature-positive infrastructure, including a lack of decision-relevant biodiversity data, limited technical capacity among engineers, and financial models that prioritize short-term returns over long-term ecosystem benefits. It argues for a paradigm shift toward nature-based solutions (NbS) and ecological connectivity, recommending the adoption of standardized metrics like the European Taxonomy and the Task Force for Nature-Related Disclosure (TNFD). The report emphasizes that 'upstream' policy and spatial planning are the most effective levers for change, urging governments to redirect COVID-19 recovery stimulus packages away from fossil-fuel reliant sectors toward sustainable, decarbonized infrastructure.

The brief warns that funding for blue hydrogen may conflict with Canada's goals to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 and reach net-zero by 2050. It recommends that subsidies for hydrogen based on natural gas without significant carbon capture and storage be ineligible for assistance, and that blue hydrogen only receive support if it matches the environmental performance and cost of green hydrogen.

The report identifies the transport sector as Mexico's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and argues that green bonds can bridge the investment gap for sustainable mobility. It highlights specific projects, such as electric buses in Mexico City and the Mexico-Toluca train, while outlining the Climate Bonds Standard for certifying eligible low-carbon transport assets.

The analysis finds that most COVID-19 stimulus packages in the five studied Asian countries lack sufficient climate considerations, with 'dirty' stimulus often outweighing green measures. South Korea is the best performer due to its Green New Deal, while the Philippines and Singapore showed no quantified commitment to green outcomes. The report recommends increasing the size of green stimulus, implementing green conditionalities for bailouts, and expanding support for green R&D and tax reductions.

The document analyzes Canada's 2020 COVID-19 recovery spending, noting a higher commitment to clean energy (CAD 14.7 billion) than fossil energy (CAD 3.6 billion) according to Energy Policy Tracker data. However, it highlights significant transparency gaps regarding credit support from public finance institutions like EDC and BDC. Compared to France, Germany, and the UK, Canada's per capita investment in electric vehicles is lower, while its investment in building retrofits is relatively high. The brief warns that Canada's hydrogen strategy leans toward 'blue hydrogen' (fossil-based) while European peers prioritize 'green hydrogen'. It recommends applying strict 'green strings' to stimulus, phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and aligning ambition with international standards.

The document examines Canada's approach to the hydrogen economy, specifically the tension between supporting 'blue hydrogen' (fossil fuel-based with carbon capture) and 'green hydrogen' (renewable-based). It argues that blue hydrogen is less environmentally effective due to methane leaks and high costs of carbon capture and storage (CCS), and is likely to be out-competed by green hydrogen by 2030. The author contends that subsidies for blue hydrogen constitute fossil fuel subsidies that undermine Canada's climate goals and net-zero 2050 target, recommending strict environmental and cost criteria for any public funding.

The document argues that the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'—characterized by AI, cloud computing, and IoT—is providing the tools necessary to overcome legacy modeling and accelerate decarbonization. It identifies data and transparency as one of six key market catalysts and provides examples of how corporations (Tesla), cities (Shenzhen), and financial instruments (Sustainability Linked Loans) are leveraging data to reduce emissions and capture economic value. The brief concludes with recommendations for policymakers, corporations, and financial institutions to integrate climate-relevant data into their strategic decision-making to mitigate risk and seize a projected $26 trillion economic opportunity by 2030.

The document examines how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of e-governance tools, specifically social media and smartphones, to maintain public service delivery. It highlights South Africa's use of WhatsApp chatbots and the 'COVID Alert SA' contact tracing app as innovative examples, while noting that the 'digital divide' and concerns over surveillance and fake news remain significant barriers to digital governance across Africa.

The document examines the intersection of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, using Germany as a case study to identify mechanisms for integrated policy making. It argues that while coherence is recognized as valuable, practical implementation remains a challenge due to a lack of research on enabling factors. The study identifies six good practices from the German experience, emphasizing that coherence requires strong political will and the involvement of all administrative levels, though it notes there is no universal approach to institutional coherence.