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The policy brief argues that while crop insurance can enhance climate resilience and food security by protecting livelihoods and encouraging investment, adoption in Africa remains low due to design flaws and affordability. It reviews lessons from multi-peril and index-based insurance, highlighting the need to reduce basis risk through AI and digital innovations. The authors recommend that South Africa's G20 presidency promote high-quality, inclusive insurance products, integrate them into holistic risk management strategies alongside social protection, and develop 'smart subsidy' approaches tailored to different farmer profiles.

The policy brief examines the role of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)—comprising digital identity, payments, and data-sharing systems—in addressing the shadow economy in Africa, which is estimated by the IMF to represent roughly 35% of GDP (approximately $1–1.2 trillion). It distinguishes between the general informal economy and the 'shadow economy,' focusing on high-value transactions deliberately structured to evade taxes. The document highlights that cash transactions enable this opacity, while digitalisation can increase visibility and audit trails. Drawing on lessons from South Korea's Tax Incentive for Electronically Traceable Payments (TIETP) and India's 'India Stack' and demonetisation, the brief suggests that incentivising consumers to use digital payments is more effective than solely targeting sellers. It notes that while Uganda has used DPI to register over 350,000 informal participants, revenue gains were limited by weak enforcement and data-sharing obstacles. The brief recommends that South Africa, during its 2025 G20 presidency, advocate for an 'Africa Stack' of open APIs and modular technology to spur private sector innovation and improve tax administration across the continent.

The global economy consumes approximately 100 billion metric tons of resources annually, with 75% coming from non-renewable sources. While the European Union leads in circular economy policy, global resource productivity has stalled since 2000, and the world must reduce per capita material consumption from 12.6 metric tons in 2022 to below 5 metric tons by 2050 to ensure sustainability. Significant disparities exist in consumption, with the top 25% of the population using 52% of the world's resources. Despite some progress in municipal waste recycling—averaging 35% across OECD countries—and the regulation of single-use products in 75 countries, systemic changes in product design and corporate monitoring are required to decouple economic growth from resource extraction.

China is rapidly transitioning its energy system through massive investment in renewables, grid infrastructure, and whole-economy electrification. This shift is moving China toward a peak in fossil fuel use and is driving down the global cost of clean technologies, enabling emerging markets to leapfrog traditional development paths and potentially triggering a structural decline in global fossil fuel demand by 2030.

China's massive scale in producing solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles has significantly lowered global costs, with solar module prices falling over 70% between 2022 and mid-2025. This manufacturing capacity allows China to potentially supply the entire world's solar needs for 2030 as defined by the IEA. These affordable technologies are facilitating an 'energy leapfrog' in emerging markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where some countries now have higher solar shares in power generation than the US. Consequently, China's own fossil fuel demand is approaching a plateau, and the global demand for fossil fuels is projected to be in structural decline by 2030.

The HSBC India Framework is a Category I-2 sub-project under the Green Guarantee Company (GGC) programme, managed by MUFG Bank, Ltd. It aims to enhance capital deployment for clean energy initiatives in India through GGC guarantees. The framework adopts both HSBC's Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), based on the Equator Principles, and the GGC ESMS to manage risks. While specific transactions are not yet identified, the framework establishes that the more stringent requirement will apply if differences arise between the two ESMS. The project intends to avoid transactions impacting indigenous peoples' land and livelihoods, though land acquisition under IFC Performance Standard 5 may be triggered.

The report argues that major steel companies, including ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel, and POSCO, overlook methane emissions from coal mining in their Scope 3 disclosures. It highlights that these emissions, particularly from 'gassiest' Australian mines, significantly increase the climate impact of blast furnace-based steelmaking and are not mitigated by downstream technologies like hydrogen injection or CCUS.

The report finds that methane from Australian coking coal adds an average of 10-17% to the short-term climate impact of blast furnace-based steelmaking, with some 'super-emitting' mines potentially doubling this impact. It highlights significant underreporting of methane emissions in Australia, specifically citing the Hail Creek mine, and notes that leading steelmakers like ArcelorMittal, Nippon Steel, and POSCO fail to disclose the methane footprint of their coal supplies. The document argues that cutting coal mine methane is a cost-effective near-term decarbonisation step, as over half of these emissions are avoidable using existing technology.

The report argues that methane emissions from coking coal mining are a significant but under-accounted 'blind spot' in the steel industry's climate impact. It highlights that coking coal is more methane-intensive than thermal coal and that Australian mines, which supply over half of the global seaborne coking coal market, consistently underreport these emissions. Using IEA data and GWP20 metrics, the report estimates that mining emissions can add 10% to 17% to the emission intensity of blast furnace steel, with some 'gassiest' mines potentially doubling the climate footprint. It concludes that nearly half of these emissions could be abated using existing technologies at a cost lower than the market price of Australian Carbon Credit Units.

The document provides legal proposals to integrate environmental rights into the LBI, emphasizing the need to hold transnational corporations accountable for environmental degradation and climate change. It advocates for the recognition of the RtHE, the inclusion of the financial and extractive sectors in the LBI's scope, and the implementation of strict liability for hazardous activities. The briefing also highlights the necessity of protecting environmental human rights defenders and ensuring that human rights obligations take primacy over trade and investment agreements.

The briefing paper advocates for a legally binding international instrument to end corporate impunity regarding environmental and human rights abuses. It highlights the insufficiency of voluntary frameworks and argues that the LBI can operationalize the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment by establishing mandatory due diligence, extraterritorial jurisdiction, and strict liability for parent companies across global value chains.

The report examines the application of the 2022 Basel principles for climate-related financial risks (CRFRs) in India, noting that their microprudential focus may create systemic risks. It proposes two macroprudential principles for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI): incentivising credible transition plans and supporting transition and adaptation finance. The document also details practical hurdles faced by Indian banks, such as data gaps and capacity constraints, and aligns the Basel framework with the RBI's 2022 Discussion Paper and 2024 Draft Disclosure Framework.

The workshop, held in September 2025, focused on linking local leadership with global climate frameworks. Through case studies from India, South Africa, and Ethiopia, participants identified the necessity of community ownership, political will at the national level, and the use of the COP30 Action Agenda to scale locally-led solutions. The event concluded that a global Just Transition must be grounded in local realities and supported by international mechanisms for finance and knowledge sharing.

The document examines Nigeria's vulnerability to global energy transitions due to its heavy reliance on oil and gas exports, high production costs, and limited economic diversification. It highlights the risks of reduced government revenue and job losses while identifying opportunities in critical minerals, natural gas as a transition fuel, and non-oil sector growth.

India's transition to electric mobility requires significant technology upgrades for automotive component MSMEs, who face structural barriers to affordable capital. CPI estimates that these MSMEs need INR 55,000 crore (USD 6.6 billion) in investment between FY2026 and FY2035 to maintain their industry share. To bridge this gap, the report proposes AC-TUFF, a blended-finance special purpose vehicle utilizing a tiered capital stack (first-loss, concessional, and commercial capital) and an integrated technical assistance wing. The facility aims to mobilize a total corpus of INR 5,000 crore to support the localization of EV components, which has a projected annual market potential of INR 3.86 lakh crore by FY2035.

The Kandy Declaration, issued during the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in Sri Lanka, calls for a systemic transformation of global societies to dismantle capitalist and imperialist structures. It advocates for food sovereignty, agroecology, and a feminist just energy transition while opposing corporate monopolies over land, seeds, and water. The document commits to transforming the United Nations multilateral system, cancelling external sovereign debt, and holding transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations through a legally binding treaty.

The Kandy Declaration, emerging from the 3rd Global Nyéléni Forum in Sri Lanka, calls for a systemic transformation to combat the intersecting crises of climate, health, and food insecurity. It advocates for the protection of the 'commons'—including seeds, water, and land—against corporate extractivism and the 'blue' and 'green' neoliberal regimes. The document commits to a feminist and popular transition toward agroecology, a just energy transition, and the reform of the UN multilateral system to prioritize people over corporate interests.

The Kandy Declaration, issued during the 3rd Nyéléni World Forum in Sri Lanka, is a call for systemic transformation by a global coalition of social movements, Indigenous peoples, and civil society. It argues that capitalism and imperialism drive multiple crises—including climate change, biodiversity loss, and food insecurity—through extractivism, industrial agriculture, and the commodification of nature. The document advocates for a transition toward agroecology, food sovereignty, and feminist economies, while demanding the reform of the UN multilateral system to prioritize people over corporate interests. Key commitments include fighting for a legally binding treaty on transnational corporate accountability, implementing a feminist and just energy transition, and opposing 'green and blue' neoliberal regimes.

The briefing argues that nuclear power is an impractical solution for near-term climate targets in Europe and Australia due to systemic delays, high costs, and a high rate of project cancellations. In Europe, utility-scale wind and solar capacity under construction or in pre-construction outweighs nuclear by fourteen to one, and solar generation surpassed nuclear in the EU for the first time in mid-2025. In Australia, the document concludes that nuclear is unlikely to replace coal by 2038 because construction timelines—estimated by CSIRO to be at least five years longer than the global average—would require groundbreaking by the end of 2025. Globally, the Global Nuclear Power Tracker indicates that 38% of all proposed nuclear capacity (566 GW) has been cancelled.

The Production Gap Report 2025 finds that governments are collectively planning more fossil fuel production than in 2023, with 2030 projected levels exceeding 1.5°C-consistent pathways by over 120%. While some countries are developing net-zero aligned scenarios, most continue to expand production and provide substantial financial support for fossil fuels, undermining Paris Agreement commitments.