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The report advocates for a paradigm shift in sanitation and wastewater management, moving from a 'waste disposal' model to a 'resource recovery' model. It details how the safe recovery of water, nutrients, organic matter, and energy from human excreta and wastewater can improve public health, enhance agricultural productivity, and mitigate climate change. The text provides a comprehensive framework for sustainable systems, covering technical design, health risk management, environmental protection, institutional governance, and financial models. It emphasizes that sustainability depends on adapting technologies to local geographic, social, and economic contexts rather than applying universal solutions. The report includes diverse global case studies—ranging from potable water reuse in Namibia to biogas production in China and fuel briquettes in Kenya—to demonstrate the practical viability of these systems.

The document provides a comprehensive synthesis of the 2018 Global Sustainable Blue Economy Conference's Science and Research Symposium. It argues that a sustainable blue economy—defined as the productive and sustainable use of oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers—must be grounded in multidisciplinary science and public-private partnerships. Key focus areas include the sustainable extraction of deep-sea minerals, the mitigation of climate change through blue carbon ecosystems (mangroves, seagrasses, and seaweed), and the modernization of maritime transport through AI and robotics. The report emphasizes the need for capacity building in the Global South, particularly in Africa, and proposes the establishment of a Global Blue Economy Investment Facility to mobilize finance and technology transfer.

Urban air pollution in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) poses a severe risk to children's health and development, with significant burdens found in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Children are more vulnerable due to their developing bodies and higher inhalation rates per unit of body weight. Key pollution sources include inefficient biomass combustion for cooking and heating, vehicle emissions, and waste burning, with residents of informal settlements facing the highest risks. The document advocates for integrating air quality management into climate change commitments (NDCs), investing in monitoring infrastructure—including citizen science—and adopting multi-sectoral interventions that target pollution sources rather than just symptoms.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) reported total revenue of $193,968,394 and total expenses of $183,476,237 for the 2021 tax year. The organization operates several global programs focused on food, forests, water, ocean, cities, climate, and energy, with significant grantmaking and operational activities across North America, South America, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and Africa.

The document argues that while renewable energy technology is cost-competitive, private investment is hindered by inadequate policy frameworks, community opposition, and outdated grid infrastructure. It recommends that governments establish binding long-term targets, streamline permitting through inclusive planning, and invest in grid flexibility and storage to unlock the $131 trillion needed by 2050 for a clean energy transition.

The document details 15 on-the-ground projects in Brazil, Guatemala, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. These initiatives focus on improving water security through rainwater harvesting and irrigation, enhancing food security via conservation agriculture and school gardens, and diversifying livelihoods to reduce pressure on natural ecosystems. The projects are co-designed with local communities based on data collected through key informant surveys to address specific threats such as drought, erratic rainfall, and soil degradation.

The report highlights 10 specific rivers globally that are threatened by hydropower development, arguing that such projects are based on outdated 20th-century thinking. It asserts that the 'renewable revolution'—specifically the falling costs of solar and wind power—allows the world to meet climate and energy goals without damming remaining free-flowing rivers. The document advocates for a 'LowCx3' (low-cost, low-carbon, low-conflict) approach to energy grids and calls for the protection and restoration of river systems to maintain biodiversity and climate resilience.

The report highlights that while Africa currently produces and consumes a small fraction of global plastics, a 'business as usual' trajectory could lead to a 375% increase in consumption by 2060. It identifies systemic failures across the plastics life cycle—from production to secondary markets—and argues that existing policy frameworks are fragmented and overly focused on end-of-life waste management. The document advocates for a comprehensive, life-cycle approach, the integration of the informal waste sector, and the development of a new legally binding global treaty to combat plastic pollution.

The document examines the systemic failure of plastic recycling and the environmental and health impacts of plastic pollution. It evaluates the potential for a new global treaty versus voluntary measures and highlights the link between plastic production and fossil fuel demand.

The document argues that African nations should leverage the post-COVID-19 recovery to 'build back better' by adopting green finance mechanisms. It identifies green bonds as a primary tool for raising large-scale capital and emphasizes the need for targeted public finance to de-risk investments and attract private capital. The briefing details several pathways for a green transition, including the establishment of environmental funds, the deployment of renewable energy as an economic stimulus, and the implementation of green fiscal reforms such as carbon taxes. It also highlights the critical role of central banks in 'greening' the financial sector through macroprudential regulation and the development of green taxonomies to reduce information asymmetries.

The document argues that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed structural weaknesses in global health security and created a 'triple burden' for LMICs, who must manage pre-existing noncommunicable diseases, endemic infections, and the pandemic response. It advocates for a shift from 'vertical' disease-specific funding to a 'whole systems approach' to avoid zero-sum resource shifts. The author emphasizes that domestic resource mobilisation (DRM), including tax reforms and 'best buy' spending efficiency, is the only sustainable path for healthcare strengthening, as official development assistance (ODA) is prone to a 'panic-neglect' cycle. The briefing also calls for a temporary waiver of TRIPS intellectual property provisions to ensure equitable vaccine and medicine access, drawing lessons from the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa.

The document examines the two-wave economic impact of COVID-19 in Africa, highlighting the first wave's disruption of trade, commodity prices, and remittances, and the second wave's risk of sovereign credit downgrades and debt defaults. It argues that limited fiscal space and high debt-to-GDP ratios leave many African nations unable to fund recovery, suggesting that central banks use monetised interventions and governments leverage digital technologies to maintain financial stability.

The document argues that 'neutral' macroeconomic policies in Nigeria and Uganda have exacerbated inequalities by primarily benefiting the formal sector while excluding the urban poor, women, youth, and informal workers. It highlights failures in cash transfer coverage, the lack of impact of monetary easing on high-risk borrowers, and the regressive nature of budget restructuring. The brief recommends leveraging electronic platforms for aid distribution, improving tax capacity, and promoting renewable energy for low-income households to ensure a more inclusive recovery.

The document examines how Covid-19 restrictions in Kenya disproportionately affected the informal sector, which comprises 83.6% of the employed population. It argues that a compromised fiscal social contract—characterized by poor healthcare delivery, corruption, and limited transparency—discourages tax compliance among informal workers. While the government implemented some tax reliefs, the authors contend that true fiscal legitimacy requires systemic reforms in accountability, access to fiscal information, and sustainable debt management to ensure an inclusive system.

The analysis examines the declining value of Uganda's oil reserves in the Albertine Basin, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, and the Hoima oil refinery. It finds that the value of these reserves has already decreased by over $40 billion since 2013, with further declines expected under a Paris Agreement-aligned low-carbon transition.

The document analyzes COVID-19 recovery funding for cities, noting that while USD 1.1 trillion was pledged, the vast majority (USD 916 billion) targeted short-term liquidity rather than long-term climate resilience. It identifies gaps in funding programming and recommends that funders structure instruments for direct city access, utilize project preparation facilities, and leverage city networks to bridge the investment gap for green infrastructure.

The report argues that while carbon markets were originally designed for zero-sum offsetting, they can be repurposed for results-based climate finance (RBCF) to quantify and verify mitigation impacts. It identifies a specific 'niche' for RBCF: supporting technologies that have passed the R&D stage but are not yet market-mature. The authors highlight several limitations, including a bias toward the cheapest mitigation options, high transaction costs for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), and a lack of effectiveness in least developed countries (LDCs) where emissions are low. To maximize impact, the report suggests shifting from rewarding to enabling through host-country policy commitments, reducing MRV stringency when credits are not used for offsetting, and complementing RBCF with upfront grants or loans.

The document argues that the food, agriculture, and land use (FALU) sector is a primary driver of climate change, contributing approximately 24% of global emissions. It details strategies for reducing emissions—such as improving ruminant livestock management, rice cultivation, and fertilizer use—and explores the potential of 'regenerative agriculture' to sequester carbon in biomass and soils. While acknowledging the potential for biosequestration, the report cautions that these sinks are temporary, subject to 'slowdown' as they reach equilibrium, and vulnerable to reversal through land-use changes or climate disasters.

The report by Friends of the Earth International critiques 'false solutions' to biodiversity loss and climate change, which it defines as market-based mechanisms that commodify nature. It argues that these solutions—such as carbon credits and biodiversity offsets—allow corporations to continue polluting through 'compensation' while stripping local and indigenous communities of their land rights. The document details a four-phase process of commodification where nature is redefined as 'natural capital' and 'ecosystem services.' It concludes that true solutions must address the root causes of ecological destruction by challenging capitalist accumulation and prioritizing social, gender, and environmental justice.

The report argues that 'false solutions' to environmental crises are characterized by the financialisation of nature, where ecosystems are treated as 'natural capital' and traded as commodities. These mechanisms, such as carbon credits and biodiversity offsets, allow corporations to continue polluting by paying for compensation elsewhere, often leading to the violation of Indigenous and local community rights. The document contrasts these with 'real solutions' based on grassroots power, social and gender justice, and the dismantling of capitalist accumulation.