Search Climate Insights Directory

This policy brief examines the opportunities and challenges associated with Somalia's admission to the East African Community (EAC) in March 2024. It analyzes the strategic, economic, and security implications for both Somalia and the bloc, highlighting the tension between the political will for integration and the institutional, legal, and security fragilities within Somalia.

The Energizing Healthcare 2025 conference report details a two-day event focused on accelerating clean and reliable energy for healthcare facilities in low-resource settings. The report highlights a global energy access gap affecting 1 billion people and outlines the financial, technical, and coordination requirements needed to close this gap by 2030, emphasizing the transition from diesel to solar and the integration of energy into national climate and health planning.

This policy brief examines the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Digital Trade Protocol, focusing on overcoming digital exclusion and harmonising regulations to boost intra-African digital trade. It provides specific recommendations for member states across regulatory reform, digital public infrastructure, and human capital development to bridge the digital divide and create a predictable business environment for digital services.

This policy brief examines the potential for the South African G20 presidency to facilitate the rechannelling of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), specifically the African Development Bank (AfDB). It outlines the financial mechanisms for such a transfer, the political and legal hurdles preventing it, and the potential development impacts for African nations.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) provides a guide for developing financial instruments for climate adaptation, drawing on a decade of experience from the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (The Lab). It identifies key barriers to adaptation finance—such as high perceived risk, limited investor awareness, and a lack of bankable pipelines—and outlines a five-step framework for structuring successful instruments: defining a resilience thesis, building robust pipelines, strategic funder engagement, cultivating collaborations, and measuring impact.

This special edition of the Peace & Security Council Report focuses on the 2025 African Union (AU) senior leadership election process, detailing the procedural rules, the candidates for the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson positions, and the institutional challenges facing the incoming leadership.

This research paper by the Africa Policy Research Institute examines how green technologies in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, waste management, and green construction can address youth unemployment in Africa. It identifies significant job creation potential but highlights critical barriers including financing gaps, infrastructure deficits, and policy implementation failures.

This briefing outlines the critical need for sustainable cooling in Kenya, highlighting the vulnerability of millions of people to extreme heat and the potential climate impact of increasing refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) usage. It connects cooling access to health, nutrition, and economic goals, while aligning these needs with Kenya's Energy Transition and Investment Plan 2023-2050.

This research paper analyzes two private sector-led mini-grid case studies in Kenya to understand how external risks—such as political interference and regulatory uncertainty—affect business models. It concludes that the viability of these models depends on the developer's ability to maintain a service focused on reliability, affordability, simplicity, and adaptability.

The ninth FOCAC Beijing Summit (2024) marked a re-calibration of China-Africa relations, with China pledging USD 50.7 billion over three years. African leaders demonstrated increased agency, shifting focus from raw aid to value-added trade, technological transfer, and green energy. Key outcomes include a USD 1 billion deal to rehabilitate the Tazara railway and a strategic increase in Chinese security assistance via the Global Security Initiative. The summit highlights a growing ideological and geopolitical divide, as China offers an alternative governance model to Western liberal democracy and aggressively pursues the African EV and digital markets.

A policy brief evaluating the sustainability of water infrastructure projects funded by the County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) in five Kenyan arid and semi-arid counties. While initially successful, many investments saw a decline in functionality by 2023 due to poor maintenance budgets, insufficient climate data for siting, and governance gaps. The brief recommends dedicated O&M budgets, the integration of Indigenous knowledge, and a landscape-based approach to water management.

This report describes the development and pilot testing of the Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) Tool for Agribusiness, a management instrument designed to help agricultural value chain actors (AVCAs) align their operations with international standards like the CFS-RAI Principles and IFC Performance Standards. The report synthesizes results from five case studies of agribusinesses in Africa, analyzing how company strategy, management systems, and external business conditions influence their compliance with responsible investment practices.

The November 2024 Warming Projections Global Update by the NewClimate Institute reports that global warming projections for 2100 have stagnated over the last three years. Current policies set the world on a path toward 2.7°C of warming, while the most optimistic scenario, assuming full implementation of all announced targets, projects 1.9°C. The report highlights a critical disconnect between the escalating climate crisis and the urgency of government policy implementation, noting that while renewable energy growth is record-breaking, it is being offset by all-time high fossil fuel subsidies.

The 'SEI strategy 2025–29' outlines the Stockholm Environment Institute's strategic framework to address global environmental and sustainable development challenges. The strategy focuses on three primary impact areas—climate transitions, nature and resources, and health and wellbeing—while introducing 'accelerating implementation' as a new strategic outcome to move from policy goals to on-the-ground action.

The AfCFTA Digital Trade Protocol (AfCFTA DTP), adopted in February 2024, is a comprehensive framework designed to facilitate digital trade across Africa. It aims to create an enabling regulatory environment by addressing market access, data governance, and digital inclusion, while bridging infrastructure and regulatory gaps to unlock the continent's digital economy potential.

This research paper by Shamika N. Sirimanne of the International Institute for Sustainable Development examines the environmental footprint of the rapidly growing e-commerce sector. It identifies key drivers of environmental degradation—including warehousing, packaging, and high return rates—and proposes a multi-stakeholder agenda for action involving governments, the private sector, consumers, and international organizations to balance economic growth with sustainability.

A statement by the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) criticizing the 2024 Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank, arguing that the global financial architecture and debt relief mechanisms favor rich creditor nations while imposing austerity on developing African countries.

This report by the Nature-Based Infrastructure Global Resource Centre evaluates the economic and environmental benefits of nature-based infrastructure (NBI) within the Integrated Natural Resources Management Programme (INReMP) in Kenya, focusing on water scarcity and sustainable agriculture.

This report summary outlines how climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices like agroforestry and mulching can help coffee producers in the East African Community (EAC) increase yields and meet the strict sustainability and certification requirements of the EU market, where exports from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda have grown by 60% over the last decade.

This case study describes the collaboration between the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Kenyan women leaders to address food loss and waste. The efforts have focused on influencing national policy through a new post-harvest management strategy and developing redistribution guidelines for retailers to combat food insecurity and malnutrition.