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The report outlines the Green Guarantee Company's (GGC) framework for integrating gender equality and women's empowerment into its credit guarantee operations for green bonds and loans. It assesses gender vulnerabilities in five key sectors—energy, transport, buildings/cities, health/food/water security, and infrastructure—and provides high-level profiles for eight target countries. The document details a seven-step Transaction Selection Process (TSP) designed to ensure that guaranteed projects are gender-responsive, including rigorous due diligence, remediation strategies, and the use of a multidisciplinary 'line of defence' consisting of internal and external gender specialists.

The document examines the drivers of debt distress in developing countries, particularly in Africa, and critiques the inadequacy of current G7 and G20 relief mechanisms. It highlights how a shift toward private creditors and the failure of the G20 Common Framework to enforce private sector participation have hindered debt restructuring. The text advocates for a total dismantling of the current global financial architecture in favor of innovative domestic financing, increased transparency, and the establishment of an International Developing Country Debt Authority.

The report evaluates the voluntary carbon offsetting practices of eight major European airlines, including easyJet, Ryanair, and Lufthansa. It finds that while some airlines like easyJet have high volumes of offsets, the overall quality of credits is often low due to a reliance on cheap forestry projects in developing countries. The study highlights a significant lack of transparency in reporting and warns that promoting 'carbon neutral' flying may encourage air traffic growth, contradicting the need for sector decarbonization through sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

The report finds that global forest finance is not on track to meet 2030 goals, with current mitigation finance averaging USD 2.3 billion per year—less than 1 percent of the estimated USD 460 billion annual requirement. It highlights a stark imbalance where 'grey finance' (harmful investments) significantly outweighs 'green finance,' and notes that Indigenous Peoples and local communities remain severely underfunded. While 2021 pledges could quadruple annual finance to USD 9.5 billion, this remains insufficient. The report also analyzes the limited impact of voluntary and compliance carbon markets and the slow progress of REDD+ frameworks.

The Rabobank Acorn Agroforestry Carbon Programme supports smallholder farmers in Zambia, Nigeria, and Kenya in transitioning to sustainable agricultural production through a technology-enabled carbon sequestration marketplace. By utilizing Payment for Ecological Services (PES) via carbon credits, the program aims to monetize natural capital, increase food security, and create green jobs. The pilot phase is currently underway, with carbon loans already disbursed and technical training provided to farmers. The first carbon credits trading cycle is expected to take place in three years.

The Africa Private Equity and Debt Programme (2020-2025) focuses on developing private capital markets across Africa to complement public markets. It seeks to increase the participation of local institutional investors, particularly pension funds, through regulatory reform, capacity building, and the creation of demonstration transactions. Key achievements include supporting Kenya's policy framework for private equity and venture capital, launching the AVCA Training Academy, and conducting market studies on private debt and pension fund investments in Southern Africa.

The Climate Finance Training Programme, running from November 2020 to March 2025, aims to establish a twinning arrangement between UK and African academic institutions to enhance climate finance capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme seeks to increase investments in climate-resilient projects and create a regional centre of excellence in green finance. As of October 2022, two cohorts of 22 participants each had completed the Africa Climate Finance Leadership Programme, with a third cohort scheduled for the final quarter of 2022.

FSD Africa is supporting the creation of the Kenya Credit Enhancement Facility (KCEF), a non-bank financial institution designed to provide 100% irrevocable and unconditional credit guarantees for infrastructure-related corporate debt in Kenya. The facility aims to reduce risk for institutional investors, thereby increasing the availability of long-term capital for sustainable infrastructure and expanding the domestic fixed-income market.

The Kenya Green Bond Programme (2017-2021) focused on developing the green bond market in Kenya through policy reform, capacity building, and the creation of supportive regulatory frameworks. Key outcomes include the development of NSE Green Bond Listing Rules, the passage of tax incentives by parliament, and the mobilization of GBP 64.95 million in private finance for climate purposes, including Kenya's first green bond. The programme also trained over 20,000 bank employees via e-learning and provided training to 16 Kenyan verifiers.

The project aimed to advance long-term finance (LTF) in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating an LTF scoreboard and website to close information gaps for investors and policymakers. Key outputs included the finalisation of the scoreboard, hosted by the African Development Bank, and the completion of LTF landscape diagnostics for Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

The project aims to establish the EABX OTC Exchange in Kenya, serving as both a trading platform and a market regulator to improve liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in bond, money, foreign exchange, and derivative markets. Key objectives include reducing funding costs for debt capital market issuances by supporting a credible benchmark yield curve and enhancing investor confidence in public debt. As of October 2022, the EABX CEO was onboarded, and recruitment for other key executive roles is ongoing.

CaVEx is a digital marketplace using distributed ledger technology to allow small-scale climate projects to collect data, convert it into carbon credits, and sell them to buyers via mobile payments. Developed by 4R Digital with funding from FSD Africa, the platform aims to lower barriers for projects that lack the resources for traditional expert evaluation. Current development includes testing use cases in Kenya and Senegal, with a minimum viable product planned for September 2022 and long-term goals of onboarding over 50 projects and accessing over $100m in climate finance.

The Digital Financial Innovation Platform is a 'one-stop innovation shop' designed to support the development of scalable and regionally replicable insurtech use cases in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project includes a digital BimaLab incubation program to connect startups with regulators, investors, and incumbents. The initiative aims to create economic opportunities and address fragility by prioritizing insurance products based on social impact and commercial scalability.

The Geothermal Risk Transfer Facility aims to catalyse private investment in African green energy by establishing a joint underwriting facility backed by local insurers to cover early-stage geothermal drilling risks. In Kenya, four insurance companies (Sanlam, APA, ICEA Lion, and Mayfair) have committed as founding members, and engagement with the regulator is positive. In Ethiopia, the programme has engaged with 13 of 18 insurance companies and plans a gap analysis with the national regulator.

The Risk, Resilience and Regulatory Lab (R3LAB) is a collaborative platform for African insurance regulators aimed at improving supervisory skills and fostering innovation. It provides capacity-building programs, peer exchange, and learning toolkits to address regulatory gaps. A key output includes 'insurance innovation portraits' for eight countries, which identify barriers to innovation and propose action plans based on six assessment areas, including infrastructure, finance, and the regulatory environment.

The report assesses the South African tourism sector's employment landscape, highlighting the severe job losses caused by Covid-19 and the systemic barriers to inclusive growth. It argues that the sector is dominated by small, often informal businesses and white-owned enterprises, leading to precarious working conditions for the predominantly Black, female, and youth workforce. The document critiques the government's recovery efforts, such as the Tourism Relief Fund and the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan, for lacking a 'decent work' framing and insufficient fiscal support. It recommends a 'whole of government' approach, including visa reform, domestic market stimulation, and a just transition to a green economy, to ensure a more sustainable and inclusive recovery.

The report examines how the rise of the Indo-Pacific strategic framework and intensifying competition between traditional powers (US, UK, France) and emerging powers (China, India) affect African maritime security and development. It highlights the critical importance of Indian Ocean trade routes, the proliferation of foreign military bases in the region, and the risk of African states being drawn into proxy wars. The author emphasizes that while great power competition is a long-term risk, immediate threats include piracy, illegal fishing, and climate change. The paper recommends that African states and the African Union develop a unified conception of their maritime interests and leverage multilateral organizations to protect their sovereignty and blue economy goals.

The document outlines Africa's objectives for COP27, focusing on the African Group of Negotiators' (AGN) demands for increased climate finance and the recognition of the continent's special circumstances. It highlights a tension between the African Union's (AU) support for natural gas as a transition fuel and the goals of renewable energy activists. The brief also details the roles of specific 'climate champion' countries and the impact of global geopolitical tensions, such as the US-China standoff and the Russia-Ukraine war, on climate negotiations.

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.

Global Witness reports that 1,733 land and environmental defenders were killed between 2012 and 2021, with 200 deaths recorded in 2021 alone. The report highlights a disproportionate impact on indigenous peoples, who represent over 40% of fatal attacks despite being only 5% of the global population. Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia are identified as the most dangerous countries, where extractivism, land inequality, and corporate impunity drive violence. The document calls for the implementation of the Escazú Agreement and stricter mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence for companies, particularly within the European Union.