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The 2025 Impact Report details the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative's progress in securing diplomatic support, engaging subnational governments, and conducting research to create a 1.5ºC-aligned mechanism for phasing out fossil fuels. Key achievements include the announcement of the First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels for April 2026, the addition of Cambodia and Saint Kitts and Nevis to the participating nations, and a resolution in support of the treaty passed by the IUCN. The initiative has grown to include 18 participating countries from the Global South, over 140 cities, and 4,200 civil society organizations.

The document argues that carbon markets are 'false climate solutions' that enable big polluters to continue emitting greenhouse gases through 'greenwashing' while causing land grabbing and human rights violations in the Global South. It details how carbon credits are generated from nature-based solutions and 'techno-fixes', warns communities about deceptive contracts and the failure of industry 'safeguards', and provides a framework for resistance based on climate justice and the right to say no.

The document argues that carbon markets are 'false climate solutions' designed by polluters to maintain profitable systems of capitalism and neocolonialism. It explains how carbon credits are generated through nature-based solutions (NBS) and technological fixes, which often lead to land grabbing and the violation of indigenous rights. The guide provides a framework for communities to identify 'red flags' in contracts, exercise their right to say no, and employ strategies of international solidarity to oppose the commodification of nature.

The document argues that carbon markets are a continuation of colonial and capitalist systems that allow major polluters to avoid reducing emissions through 'greenwashing'. It explains how carbon credits are generated—often through flawed calculations in nature-based solutions or technological fixes—and details the risks to communities, including land grabbing and the violation of indigenous rights. The guide provides practical advice for communities to identify predatory contracts, exercise their right to say no, and seek alternatives like community forest management and agroecology.

The document argues that carbon markets are 'false climate solutions' that allow major polluters to continue emitting greenhouse gases through 'greenwashing' while causing harm to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It describes how carbon credits are generated from projects—including nature-based solutions and technological patches—and warns that these often lead to land grabbing, human rights violations, and the failure to actually reduce global emissions. The guide provides a framework for communities to identify predatory contracts, demand Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), and organize international solidarity to oppose the financialization of nature.

The document is a training guide designed to move beyond a simple replacement of fossil fuels with renewables, advocating instead for a systemic change based on energy justice. It structures learning into three phases: 'Discover' (focusing on energy sufficiency and extractivism), 'Define' (conceptualizing just transitions), and 'Develop' (exploring circular systems and community-owned energy). The manual highlights the risks of 'green extractivism' and 'narrative injustice,' where climate goals are used to justify the expropriation of land and resources in the Global South. It provides case studies of community energy projects in Gambia, Denmark, Brazil, and the UK to illustrate scalable models of popular power and energy sovereignty.

The report examines how voluntary sustainability initiatives (VSIs) in the mining sector address forest risks. It finds that while VSIs are growing in membership and scope, they often lack biome-specific language, fail to address the full mining lifecycle, and suffer from governance gaps and weak market incentives. The analysis of 20 VSIs reveals that about half do not explicitly recognize forest impacts. The report argues that VSIs must move beyond broad sustainability language to integrate specific criteria and collaborate with governments to raise regulatory baselines to effectively protect forests, especially as demand for energy transition minerals increases.

The report outlines nine fundamental principles of resilience science designed for decision-makers. It defines resilience as the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform, emphasizing that it is an active process rather than a passive state. Key themes include the necessity of diversity, the role of social and ecological relationships, the importance of managing trade-offs through collaborative governance, and the requirement to address power imbalances to ensure equitable outcomes. The document argues that proactive investment in resilience provides a 'triple dividend' by avoiding losses, stimulating economic growth, and delivering social and environmental benefits.

The report outlines nine 'Must-Knows' of resilience science, defining resilience as the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform. It argues that resilience is a continuous process of learning and innovation, requiring diversity in knowledge and nature, strong social-ecological relationships, and the active management of trade-offs. The document emphasizes that investing in resilience provides a 'triple dividend' by avoiding losses, boosting economies, and strengthening societies, while stressing that equitable resilience requires addressing power imbalances and historical injustices.

The document defines ring-fencing as a limitation on the consolidation of income and deductions across different projects or activities for tax purposes. It argues that while ring-fencing can discourage investment in marginal ore bodies and increase compliance costs, it is essential for capturing economic rents, preventing permanent revenue loss from unsuccessful exploration, and mitigating BEPS practices. The guide recommends ring-fencing by mining licence area and suggests that profit-based taxes like Resource Rent Tax (RRT) and Additional Profit Tax (APT) must be ring-fenced to be effective. It also provides technical recommendations on apportioning indirect and general expenditures, suggesting that capital expenditure (CapEx) is a more effective allocation key than production volumes to avoid tax deferral.

The document examines 'ring-fencing'—the practice of limiting the consolidation of revenues and deductions for different activities or projects undertaken by the same taxpayer—as a tool for governments to protect the mining tax base. It analyzes the trade-offs between accelerating public revenue and potentially discouraging investment, particularly in marginal deposits. The guide details various design options, such as ring-fencing by mining license area, activity (upstream vs. downstream), or separating mining from non-mining activities. It also provides practical recommendations on allocating indirect and general expenses, managing national transfer pricing risks, and handling permanent losses from unsuccessful exploration to balance revenue needs with investment incentives.

The IPIE analyzed GenAI usage across 50 countries with competitive national elections in 2024. Findings show that GenAI was reported in 80% of these countries, primarily for content creation (90% of cases). While 69% of instances served malicious ends, 16% were benevolent. The study highlights a significant challenge in actor identification, with 46% of cases remaining unclear, and notes that foreign actors were involved in 20% of reported incidents, all for nefarious purposes.

The policy brief outlines the critical role of maritime transport in Africa's blue economy and the threats posed by climate change, including sea level rise and new global emissions regulations. It advocates for a new continental maritime governance framework to coordinate decarbonisation and resilience efforts. Key recommendations include transforming ports into green logistics hubs, implementing climate risk assessments in infrastructure design, and securing sustainable financing for fleet and port modernisation.

The document analyzes the crisis facing ECOWAS in 2025, characterized by the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, and a decline in the organization's normative authority regarding democratic governance. It identifies a structural power imbalance where the executive Authority dominates, leading to inconsistent applications of 'zero-tolerance' policies toward unconstitutional changes of government (UCGs). The authors propose a three-phase reform strategy: first, restoring political authority through the operationalization of ECOSOC and revised sanctions; second, rebalancing power by making Court rulings binding and introducing parliamentary confirmation for Commission leadership; and third, transitioning to a supranational model with direct elections for the Parliament and primacy of Community law. The brief emphasizes the need for a coalition of 'reform champions'—including Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, and Ghana—and strategic financial support from Germany and the EU to ensure regional stability.

African cities face extreme climate vulnerability, with 83% rated at 'extreme risk', yet they are largely bypassed by the global climate financial architecture. The document highlights that while cities generate 80% of global GDP and are first responders in disasters, they are not parties to international conventions like the UNFCCC. It urges cities to conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments—including non-economic loss and damage—and to leverage city networks and multi-level governance to access the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the Warsaw International Mechanism, and the Santiago Network. The brief recommends that national governments integrate urban loss and damage into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) to improve funding access and implementation.

The report analyzes the integration of human mobility into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), finding that while 83% of submitted NAPs reference mobility, most lack detailed strategies for sub-national implementation. Through case studies in Costa Rica, Senegal, and Sri Lanka, it identifies gaps in financing, data, and coordination between national and local governments, while proposing a typology of approaches for localizing mobility actions.

The report details the G20's shifting focus on food security from 2020 to 2025, highlighting key declarations and initiatives from various presidencies. It compares G20 efforts with G7 initiatives and other global actors like the FAO and WFP, while outlining South Africa's specific priorities for its 2024-2025 G20 presidency, including inclusive market participation and climate resilience.

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) aims to reduce the EU's role in global deforestation by requiring sustainable sourcing of commodities like cattle, cocoa, and wood. However, the regulation has faced strong opposition from producer nations in the Global South, who describe it as 'regulatory imperialism' and a 'discriminatory and punitive unilateral benchmarking system'. These countries argue that the EUDR ignores national laws and shifts the financial burden of compliance onto producers, with Brazil estimating risks to exports worth 15 billion dollars and Indonesia facing potential losses of seven billion dollars. Internal EU political pressure has led to the regulation's postponement to the end of 2025 and the introduction of a 'no-risk' category, which critics warn could create loopholes for deforestation-linked products. The document further notes that some countries are redirecting exports to markets with less stringent requirements, such as China and Africa. It concludes that the EU must involve affected nations in policy drafting and prioritize reducing domestic consumption of high-impact products to achieve genuine sustainability.

The document argues that while the AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol provides a strategic framework for interoperability, its success depends on member states overcoming 'digital exclusion', characterized by a significant rural-urban divide where rural internet penetration is only 23% compared to 57% in urban areas. To facilitate implementation, the author recommends a tiered approach of 'foundational' and 'catalytic' measures. Foundational steps include investing in broadband, establishing data protection laws, and improving digital literacy. Catalytic steps involve offering incentives for tech startups, supporting local e-commerce platforms, and developing specialized training for MSMEs. The brief specifically suggests that member states amend domestic regulations to allow satellite services like Starlink to mitigate terrestrial connectivity deficits and modernize banking regulations to accommodate fintech. It also warns that the protocol's suggestion to develop rules of origin for digitally delivered services (DDS) departs from the WTO e-commerce moratorium and may be 'costly and prejudicial to businesses'.

The document outlines a strategy for South Africa's 2025 G20 presidency to address the deepening financial crisis in Africa, where debt servicing often exceeds spending on health or education. It critiques the current global governance architecture, noting the IMF's diminished bargaining power and the complexity of modern bondholder-led debt. The author proposes three priorities: establishing general principles for holistic debt restructuring based on norms like 'optimality' and 'responsibility'; utilizing the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) to study the failures of the Common Framework and Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI); and addressing the debate between whether African debt is primarily a liquidity or solvency issue to restore access to finance.