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The paper examines the 'digital Grand Canyon' in Africa, identifying infrastructural, financial, and regulatory barriers to internet connectivity. It highlights the disproportionate impact of the digital divide on women and youth and proposes a combination of top-down government strategies and bottom-up market initiatives to foster inclusion. The authors argue that the AfCFTA framework should be used to harmonise digital trade rules, encourage diverse infrastructure financing, and implement comprehensive digital upskilling to ensure the continent's participation in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The GCF is implementing a four-pillar operational framework to enhance coordination with other climate funds. Key achievements include the establishment of a joint steering committee for the Long-Term Vision (LTV) with the GEF, the fast-track reaccreditation of nine entities with the AF, and the development of a joint GCF-GEF pavilion for COP 26 and COP 27. The report details specific funding proposals and readiness grants that demonstrate national programming coherence, as well as ongoing technical dialogues to harmonize results indicators and impact measurement methodologies across funds.

The report identifies a significant gap between the climate goals of WAEMU member states and their financial capacity to implement them. While there is interest in green bonds, the market is hindered by underdeveloped regional financial infrastructure, a lack of technical expertise in green eligibility and reporting, and a dominance of sovereign debt that crowds out corporate issuers. The document recommends strengthening regulatory frameworks, providing technical assistance for project pipeline development, and utilizing risk-mitigation tools like guarantees to attract a more diverse investor base beyond commercial banks.

The report finds that while there is interest in Green Bonds in the WAEMU region, the market is in a nascent stage due to underdeveloped financial infrastructure, a lack of government focus on climate regulatory frameworks, and limited technical capacity among stakeholders. It identifies energy, agriculture, and clean transportation as priority sectors and recommends sustained capacity building, the development of regional guidelines, and the use of technical assistance and risk-transfer instruments to attract investors.

The methodology for the Landscape of Climate Finance in Africa 2022 defines the scope, terminology, and data treatment used to capture climate finance flows across the continent. It utilizes a combination of public and proprietary data from sources such as BNEF, OECD, and the Climate Bonds Initiative, focusing on mitigation, adaptation, and dual-benefit finance. The document details sector classifications—ranging from energy systems to agriculture—and regional groupings based on UN standards. It also identifies significant data gaps, including the difficulty of tracking domestic budget expenditures, private sector investments in adaptation, and the lack of official reporting on Chinese investments in Africa.

The document argues that Africa faces an annual financing gap of over $100 billion to preserve its natural capital, which is critical for global climate and biodiversity goals. It proposes a 'triple bottom line' approach—combining financial returns, environmental impact, and community benefits—applied through landscape financing, restorative agriculture, and sustainable supply chains. The paper identifies green bonds, carbon credits, and impact investing as key financial mechanisms and calls for stronger regulatory frameworks, such as the adoption of Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) guidelines, to attract private capital and prevent 'nature-washing'.

The Russia-Ukraine war has worsened systemic weaknesses in the international food system, disproportionately affecting African countries due to their high reliance on food, fuel, and fertiliser imports from Russia and Ukraine. This vulnerability is compounded by climate-induced weather events, internal conflicts, and structural infrastructure deficits. The report highlights that food price shocks have already triggered protests in countries like Uganda, Malawi, Senegal, and Sudan. To mitigate these risks, the authors recommend that private companies support the diversification of food sources and local agribusiness capacity, while African governments should reduce regulation and leverage regional integration platforms like the AfCFTA.

The document examines the tension between Africa's significant natural gas resources and the global shift toward net-zero emissions. It argues that while gas provides short-term revenue and energy security, long-term investments face high risks of becoming stranded assets due to declining global demand and the falling costs of renewable energy. The paper advocates for leveraging climate finance to scale up renewables and green hydrogen, which it presents as more sustainable pathways for economic diversification and energy access.

Africa's climate finance needs are estimated at USD 250 billion annually, yet only USD 29.5 billion was mobilized in 2020. The report identifies critical barriers—financial, governance, project-level, and infrastructure-related—across the energy, transport, buildings, and AFOLU sectors. It argues that bridging this gap requires 'climate finance innovation,' defined as using financial instruments to overcome barriers in novel contexts. The document details a toolbox of solutions, including blended finance, capital market instruments like YieldCos and Green Bonds, and results-based finance, while providing case studies such as TerraFund and Acorn to demonstrate how these tools can catalyze private investment.

Africa's annual climate finance needs are estimated at USD 250 billion, yet only USD 29.5 billion was mobilized in 2020. The report identifies critical barriers—financial, governance, project-level, and infrastructure-related—across the energy, transport, buildings, and AFOLU sectors. It argues that bridging this gap requires shifting from traditional grants and concessional debt toward innovative structures like YieldCos, Green Bonds, and blended finance to 'crowd-in' private capital. The document provides a toolbox for matching specific instruments to barriers and highlights four case studies: TerraFund for AFR100, the Sub-National Climate Finance Initiative, Acorn's green housing ecosystem, and the Revego Africa Energy Fund.

The document explores the evolving relationship between Korea and Africa, focusing on how Korea's carbon-neutrality goals and technological expertise can support Africa's climate resilience. It identifies key areas for partnership, including renewable energy, green minerals for batteries, smart city development, and climate-resilient agriculture, while emphasizing the need for these initiatives to be African-led and aligned with the AU's strategic framework.

The document outlines the complex regulatory environment of Ghana's cocoa sector, highlighting the central role of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and the tensions between production targets and forest conservation. It details the hierarchy of Ghanaian law, specific primary legislation affecting land and agriculture, and the roles of various state institutions. The briefing also addresses socio-economic challenges, such as poverty and child labour, and examines international treaties and emerging sustainability standards like the Ghana Climate-Smart Cocoa Production Standard (GCSCPS) and the African Regional Standard for Sustainable Cocoa (ARS 1000).

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) highlights the need for integrated planning to manage synergies and trade-offs between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The briefing presents the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) as a unique open-access, quantitative, and prospective tool capable of analyzing both Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and SDGs. SEI's Initiative on Integrated Climate and Development Planning has expanded LEAP with extensions for macroeconomic impacts, health, agriculture, and land use, which have been applied in 16 countries to quantify the co-benefits of climate action.

The document addresses industry resistance to the proposed EU deforestation regulation, specifically the 'Geolocation Requirement' which mandates that operators collect latitude and longitude coordinates for all plots of land where covered products (cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, soy, and wood) were produced. ClientEarth argues that traceability is indispensable for ensuring products are 'deforestation-free' and produced legally. It refutes claims that the regulation mandates specific supply chain models like 'identity preserved' or 'segregated' chains, clarifying that mixed-origin supply chains remain permissible as long as they are traceable. The briefing also contends that geolocation requirements will not necessarily exclude smallholders, noting that many in the cocoa and palm oil sectors already support transparency to improve their market position. Furthermore, it argues that compliance costs are likely to be negligible when implemented at scale and that voluntary certification schemes, while useful tools, cannot serve as automatic evidence of compliance due to documented shortcomings in governance and reliability.

Global Witness analysis indicates that industrial rubber plantations in West and Central Africa caused nearly 520km2 of deforestation between 2000 and 2020. The report highlights that the EU imports over 30% of rubber from six key African producers, yet rubber was excluded from proposed EU anti-deforestation laws following tyre industry lobbying. The study links this deforestation to three multinational companies—Olam, Halcyon Agri, and Socfin—which are financed by major European banks. Additionally, the report documents severe impacts on local and indigenous communities, including land loss, lack of water, and violent repression in countries like Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

Africa was instrumental in establishing the deep seabed mining regime under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea but became apathetic following the 1994 Implementation Agreement. Currently, Africa is the only regional group that has not sponsored an entity to explore the international seabed area (the Area). While the African Union and the UN Economic Commission for Africa have integrated DSM into blue economy strategies and roadmaps, implementation has lagged. The report argues that investing in DSM is strategically appropriate for Africa as the global transition to a low-carbon economy may impact terrestrial mining. It recommends that African states consider sponsoring exploration contracts and that the AU adopt the Lomé Annexes and revise its Integrated Maritime Strategy to provide a clear legal and policy framework for DSM.

The briefing reports that 2030 climate target updates have stalled since COP26, leaving the world on track for 2.4°C of warming based on current targets and 2.7°C based on current policies. Despite the Glasgow Climate Pact's request for governments to strengthen their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by the end of 2022, no major emitter has updated its target. The report highlights a significant emissions gap, noting that global emissions in 2030 would be twice as high as the 1.5°C limit allows without increased action. It suggests four pathways for governments to update targets: full NDC updates, expanding NDC coverage (specifically for China regarding non-CO2 gases), participating in new sectoral initiatives, or implementing policies to overachieve existing targets.

The document examines the digital divide and the resulting low participation of African nations in the WTO's plurilateral e-commerce negotiations. It highlights the tension between the preferred multilateral approach of the African Group and the pragmatic necessity of joining the JSI to avoid being marginalized by rules set by developed nations. The author recommends that African states align e-commerce policies with industrialization goals and leverage the African Union to negotiate as a unified bloc.

The study finds that BNDES credit for agricultural equipment increases land productivity and stimulates crop production without increasing deforestation. The effects are most pronounced in labor-intensive municipalities and when financing is directed toward labor-saving equipment, such as tractors and harvesters, which often leads to the replacement of pasture areas with more productive cropland.

The document examines the relationship between tropical deforestation and water use in agricultural commodity supply chains, specifically those imported into the EU. It highlights that while high-risk deforestation commodities often rely on precipitation (green water), other commodities cause significant water scarcity through irrigation (blue water). The authors warn that focusing solely on deforestation may shift environmental burdens to water-scarce regions and identify critical data gaps regarding water use for beef and wood products.