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This briefing by the World Resources Institute outlines three strategic steps for the Biden administration to re-establish the United States as a global leader in climate action following the 2020 presidential election. It emphasizes the need for a robust national climate commitment, increased financial support for developing nations, and the integration of climate change into core foreign policy to rebuild international trust and align with global trends toward net-zero emissions.

Minutes from the Green Economy Coalition (GEC) Steering Group meeting on November 11, 2020, detailing strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the status of four strategic priorities.

This methodology note describes the framework used by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and its partners to track and score government support for fossil fuels across G20 countries between 2014 and 2020.

This briefing from the World Resources Institute argues for a holistic 'water-energy-food nexus' approach to resource management, highlighting how climate change, population growth, and economic development create interconnected crises. Using examples from India, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, and Pakistan, the author demonstrates how water scarcity triggers failures in energy production and food security, and proposes a management framework based on knowledge, governance, and cooperation.

This report analyzes the distribution of residential electricity subsidies in the Indian state of Jharkhand using a survey of over 900 households. It finds that subsidies are poorly targeted, with wealthier households receiving a disproportionate share of benefits, and proposes tariff adjustments to redirect funds toward the poor.

This report by the NewClimate Institute, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, and IIASA provides an update on climate mitigation policies, COVID-19 response measures, and the status of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and Long-Term Strategies (LTS) across 25 countries and regions between July 2019 and August 2020.

The World Resources Institute provides a three-step guide for governments and communities to transform degraded landscapes effectively. The process emphasizes the integration of biophysical data with social landscape analysis to avoid pitfalls such as planting trees in incorrect locations or violating human rights, ensuring that restoration pledges to initiatives like the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 result in high-impact outcomes.

This briefing, produced by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), examines the intersection of energy affordability and electricity pricing reform in India following the COVID-19 pandemic. It discusses the financial instability of electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs), the socio-economic impact of lockdowns on low-income households, and potential strategies for rationalizing tariffs and subsidies to ensure social sustainability during economic recovery.

This briefing by the Climate Action Tracker analyzes COVID-19 recovery packages from five major emitters and updates global temperature projections, concluding that pandemic-related emission dips are not structural and will not significantly lower long-term warming.

This case study describes a climate-smart agriculture initiative led by the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) in Campierganj, Uttar Pradesh, India. The project focuses on gender-responsive training to address increasing climate volatility, including unpredictable rains and flash floods, by empowering women who constitute over 40% of the local agricultural workforce.

This case study by the Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG) examines the challenges of fostering climate resilience in the peri-urban areas of Uttar Pradesh, India. It argues that current urban development policies treat populations as homogeneous, ignoring gender, class, and age differences that affect vulnerability to climate hazards. The document advocates for gender-responsive, climate-smart development solutions that increase women's participation in decision-making and address the silos between urban, peri-urban, and rural governance.

This research paper by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the necessary adaptations for South Africa's trade policy following the COVID-19 pandemic. It advocates for a revised Trade Policy Strategic Framework that emphasizes regional integration through the AfCFTA and SACU, a strategic redesign of South Africa's role within the WTO, and the diversification of global trading partnerships to ensure economic resilience in the 2020s.

This case study profiles Agnisumukh, a Bangalore-based company founded by Hari Rao in 2014, which develops energy-efficient, flameless radiant heat gas burner systems for commercial kitchens in India to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

This policy brief examines the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, detailing its origins, the diplomatic tensions between developed and developing nations, and its lasting impact on international environmental law and the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This case study examines the role of gender-responsive approaches in building climate resilience within the peri-urban areas of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. It highlights the vulnerability of agriculture-based livelihoods to climate hazards and argues that effective resilience requires addressing socioeconomic disparities, improving gender-disaggregated data collection, and sensitizing urban local bodies to gender issues.

The report by IPEN and CIEL proposes a coordinated international tax on chemical feedstocks (basic chemicals) to generate sustainable funding for the sound management of chemicals and wastes, particularly in developing and transition countries. It argues that current funding mechanisms are inadequate and that the chemical industry must internalize the social and environmental costs of its products in accordance with the polluter pays principle.

This report summarizes discussions on the Government of India's economic recovery package announced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyzes the package's composition, its focus on supply-side measures, and provides specific recommendations for 'greening' the stimulus to align economic recovery with environmental sustainability and climate goals.

This briefing describes the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, as the foundational event for modern environmental diplomacy. It details the conference's origins, the tensions between developed and developing nations, the resulting Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan, and the subsequent establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This briefing proposes the creation of Solar Investment Trusts (SEITs) as a mechanism to overcome financing barriers for small-scale industrial and commercial rooftop solar developers in India. By structuring SEITs as Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) under SEBI guidelines, the model aims to lower the cost of equity, increase capital mobilization, and enable capital recycling to help India reach its rooftop solar capacity targets.

This research paper by the NewClimate Institute and Fraunhofer ISI argues that national greenhouse gas emission targets should be determined by combining equity-based 'fair contribution' assessments with technical 'mitigation potential' evaluations to align with the Paris Agreement.