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The IAI report for the 2020-2021 fiscal year indicates that only 57% of approved contributions were received by April 30, 2021, with 8 countries delayed by more than three years. Total expenditures from July 2020 to February 2021 were $777,655, which was 16.7% lower than the budgeted $933,333, primarily due to COVID-19 restrictions on travel and physical meetings. The report also notes that contributions remaining at $5,000 since 1992 have lost approximately 89% of their purchasing power.

The IAI Directorate reported progress in aligning its Scientific Agenda with its Strategic Plan, incorporating revisions from Canada, Argentina, and Colombia. Key scientific initiatives included transdisciplinary projects on vector-borne diseases in Jamaica and St. Lucia, and the development of a COVID-19 working group. The Directorate launched the Science, Technology and Policy (STeP) fellowship program, implemented in two countries, and established partnerships with Mitacs in Canada and the PAGES program. Efforts to bridge science and policy included a virtual workshop on drought policies for Southern South America and the creation of a fire monitoring platform for the triborder Amazon region (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru). The IAI also collaborated with the Belmont Forum on several Collaborative Research Actions (CRA) and published a special issue in the Journal Environmental Development on CRN3 results.

The IAI Executive Directorate reported progress in its strategic plan during 2020-2021 despite COVID-19 challenges. Key achievements include the launch of the Science, Technology, and Policy (STeP) fellowship program, the development of a revised scientific agenda incorporating feedback from Canada, Argentina, and Colombia, and the execution of transdisciplinary projects on climate-driven vector-borne diseases in Jamaica and Saint Lucia. The IAI also expanded its partnerships with the Belmont Forum, Wellcome Trust, and Mitacs Canada, while contributing to the IPCC's chapter on Central and South America.

The Green Economy Coalition introduces the Triple B Framework to address capital misallocation and sluggish growth in the green transition. The framework identifies 'bottlenecks' (structural, processual, and cognitive barriers) and 'blind spots' (behavioral biases resulting from homogeneity in the finance industry) that hinder investment. It redefines 'blended finance' to include non-financial capital—such as social, political, and cultural capital—arguing that these are often more critical than financial capital in emerging markets. The report suggests that supporting 'ecosystem builders' and sequencing non-financial capital before financial injections can de-risk investments and better serve developing countries.

The report analyzes how pre-pandemic economic conditions in 60 developing nations create vulnerabilities to COVID-19-induced trade shocks. It examines five key markets—production, trade, capital, currency, and labour—to identify risks such as global value chain disruptions, 'sudden stops' in foreign investment, and currency crises. The analysis emphasizes that countries with high reliance on specific sectors like international tourism or those with significant trade deficits and foreign-denominated debt are most at risk. The author urges the diversification of global value chains over protectionism to build long-term resilience.

Developing countries are increasingly facing 'compound shocks'—simultaneous or sequential disruptive events like pandemics, economic crises, and climate-driven disasters—which deplete budgets and cause cascading system failures. The authors argue that the current disaster risk finance architecture over-incentivizes ex post relief over ex ante preparedness. To address this, they propose that the World Bank's IDA offer softer financing terms (higher grant components) to countries that commit to specific resilience investments in data collection, regulatory reform, budgetary frameworks, and early warning systems. Additionally, they recommend introducing automatic 'disaster clauses' in IDA debt to defer payments following major shocks, similar to models used by Grenada and Barbados. Finally, the document proposes transforming the Global Risk Financing Facility (GRiF) into a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) to increase its operational independence, broaden its donor base beyond Germany and the United Kingdom, and better support regional risk pools and risk measurement capacity.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has established a four-year work programme (2020-2023) to scale up climate finance for its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs). The strategy focuses on three main areas: public sector investment in water security, renewable energy, and resilient infrastructure; leveraging the private sector through financial sector transformation; and enhancing institutional capacity through GCF Readiness support. The pipeline includes regional programmes for financial transformation, Integrated Utilities Services (IUS) for energy, and water security, alongside single-country projects in The Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Grenada. The CDB emphasizes the need for concessional financing to address high public debt levels exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document argues that gender-blind climate interventions risk deepening inequalities and undermining resilience. It proposes a project cycle that begins with representative stakeholder committees and gender-disaggregated data collection to understand differential vulnerabilities. The guide details tools like 'problem tree' analysis and the 'resilience wheel' to design transformative solutions. It emphasizes the use of SMART and SPICED indicators to track progress, illustrated through five case studies in Cambodia, Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria, and Ecuador, which demonstrate the 'double win' of achieving both climate goals and gender empowerment.

The document argues that the financial system's current inertia and short-term bias prevent the redirection of private capital toward net-zero, climate-resilient economies. It emphasizes that limiting warming to 1.5°C is technically feasible but requires a dramatic scale-up of investment in energy, land, urban, and industrial systems. The report advocates for a dual approach of 'market fixing' (carbon pricing and risk disclosure) and 'market shaping' (de-risking and policy support) to overcome investment barriers. In the context of Covid-19, it highlights the risk of 'colourless' recovery packages entrenching fossil fuel dependence and proposes integrating NDCs into investment plans, alleviating debt through climate swaps, utilizing multi-sovereign guarantee funds, and expanding green bond markets to support developing nations.

The NAP Global Network provides demand-driven support to developing countries through long-term in-country programs and short-term technical inputs via its Country Support Hub. Over five years, the Network has helped countries like Colombia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Ghana, Kiribati, Peru, Saint Lucia, and South Africa achieve milestones including the adoption of NAP documents, the creation of sectoral adaptation strategies, and the establishment of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. Key lessons emphasize that building trust-based relationships with government partners is essential and that a 'value chain' of technical assistance, peer learning, and knowledge resources accelerates the transition from planning to implementation.

The document argues that climate change creates systemic, transboundary risks to food security that cannot be managed through traditional national strategies like diversification. Using a 'stress test' methodology, it identifies critical vulnerabilities in the trade of maize, rice, wheat, soy, sugar cane, and coffee, highlighting that a few major exporters—such as the US, Brazil, and China—transmit significant risk to global consumers. The authors call for a shift from national adaptation to a cooperative multilateral approach, utilizing frameworks like the Paris Agreement's Global Goal on Adaptation and rethinking climate finance to target systemic resilience in global commodity markets.

The policy brief examines the restart of WTO agriculture negotiations under Chair Gloria Abraham Peralta, identifying seven key negotiating areas and the political obstacles hindering progress. It highlights the impact of COVID-19 on food export restrictions and the ongoing tension between developed and developing nations over farm subsidies and market access. The author suggests a phased approach to negotiations, identifying 'low-hanging fruit' such as humanitarian food aid exemptions and transparency improvements, while proposing compromise frameworks for domestic support and public stockholding to foster more equitable global food markets.

The briefing argues that the Biden administration can reclaim U.S. climate leadership by submitting a robust national climate commitment (NDC) of 45-50% emissions reductions by 2030, increasing financial support for developing countries through the Green Climate Fund and other mechanisms, and integrating climate change as a core foreign policy issue through strategic bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.

The report evaluates the operationalization of REDD+ and the inclusion of forest-related mitigation targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. While the overarching goal of including forests in a global climate agreement is considered met, the report identifies significant barriers to REDD+ implementation, including insufficient finance and a lack of quantifiable targets in many NDCs. Recent updates to NDCs show some improvement in the quality and scale of forest targets in specific countries.

The Commonwealth of Dominica is seeking GCF readiness support to address gaps in its transport sector, which is the country's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The proposal outlines a four-step approach: collecting bottom-up transport data and modelling, analyzing low-carbon options (such as electric mobility and low-carbon shipping), formulating a cabinet-endorsed roadmap, and structuring financial instruments to access climate finance. The project aims to help Dominica achieve its Nationally Determined Contribution target of reducing transport emissions by 17% by 2030 relative to 2014 levels, which requires a 40-50% reduction compared to a business-as-usual trajectory. Key deliverables include a transport emission inventory, a low carbon transport roadmap, and a GCF concept note for a specific low-carbon transport project.

The proposal addresses the vulnerability of the Caribbean agricultural sector to climate change and its historical lack of prioritization in climate finance. It aims to increase the sector's profile by improving the collection and analysis of agricultural data, strengthening institutional capacities for GCF programming, and developing a pipeline of bankable, low-emission, and climate-resilient projects. Key activities include regional scoping studies on NDCs, the creation of a knowledge management portal, and the development of occupational competency standards for youth in climate-smart agriculture.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is seeking Project Preparation Facility (PPF) funding to design a programme that blends GCF and CDB resources to provide concessional loans to Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in Belize, Jamaica, and St. Lucia. These DFIs will then on-lend to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and homeowners for climate mitigation and adaptation projects. The programme aims to address financial barriers, such as high interest rates and perceived risks, while providing technical assistance to improve the capacity of both lenders and borrowers to implement bankable climate projects. Tentative targets include reducing at least 0.6 million tCO2eq and benefiting at least 375,000 people.

The report details the proceedings of the 50th meeting of the Executive Council (EC) of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, held via videoconference on 19 August 2020. The meeting focused on implementing decisions from the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP-28) and discussing the feasibility of virtual meetings.

The Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) announced the election results from its 28th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP-28) held on 19 August 2020. The Executive Council for 2020–2022 includes Canada, Chile, Jamaica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, the United States, and Uruguay, with the United States serving as Chair. Additionally, the document lists the newly elected members of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and the Science-Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC), including their respective areas of expertise and institutional affiliations.

The document is a participant list for the 28th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, dated 19 August 2020. It identifies representatives from various member nations and the chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC).