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The report advocates for the reinvestment of global agricultural subsidies—which have grown to $619 billion annually—into land restoration practices such as agroforestry and silvopasture. It argues that current subsidy misallocation drives deforestation and ecosystem degradation, threatening the ability to feed a projected global population of 10 billion by 2050. By shifting these funds, governments can achieve returns of $7-30 for every $1 invested, supporting the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

The report analyzes bus system improvements across 13 cities in Latin America and Asia, highlighting the benefits of bus rapid transit (BRT) such as high usage levels and low capital investment. It identifies recurring failures in planning and implementation, including rushed launches and lack of integration with other transport modes. The document concludes with strategic recommendations for the planning and decision-making phases of urban transport reform.

The analysis of ninety-three intergovernmental initiatives reveals that while global participation appears broad, representation from the Global South is critically low in key sectors such as industry, transport, and buildings. The landscape is dominated by developed countries and the top ten emitters per sector, which limits Global South access to capacity-building and information sharing. While agriculture is the most inclusive sector, others like industry show severe gaps, with 73% of initiatives excluding Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The World Resources Report 1990-91 provides data on economic, population, and natural resource factors for 146 countries. It includes a global climate change report featuring greenhouse gas emission rankings and policy options, as well as an overview of environmental problems in Latin America such as deforestation and land degradation.

The document reports on three regional workshops held in 2012 and 2013 in Jakarta, Nairobi, and Bogota, focusing on the difficulties developing countries face in tracking climate finance. Key obstacles include the lack of a consistent global definition of climate finance, poor inter-agency coordination, and limited data on private and NGO investments. The paper recommends that countries adopt national definitions suited to their circumstances, strengthen institutional arrangements such as focal units or coordinating committees, and that development partners increase transparency and utilize recipient country systems for reporting.

The World Resources Institute introduces a framework for planning passive cooling infrastructure in cities using OpenUrban, a 1-meter resolution urban land-use and land-cover dataset. By combining OpenUrban with remotely sensed data on albedo, tree canopy, and temperature, the framework generates three implementation scenarios—technical, achievable, and program—for trees, cool roofs, reflective pavements, and shade structures. The tool is designed to be city-agnostic and low-burden, requiring no local data inputs and providing both area-wide potential indicators and spatial simulation maps to support policy and planning.

The report tracks the status of 2,900 commitments from the Our Ocean Conference, noting that as of May 2026, 41% are complete and 41% are in progress. While $26.5 billion has been delivered through completed commitments, the paper argues that implementation urgency must increase to meet 2030 global ocean conservation goals, specifically highlighting the need to address gaps in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

The document argues that carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is a critical interim technology for developing countries to decouple fossil fuel use from CO2 emissions without disrupting national development goals. However, it notes that deployment in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is hindered by high costs and insufficient financing mechanisms. The paper advocates for accelerated CCS demonstration in non-OECD contexts to reduce technology risks and costs, aligning with the IEA CCS Roadmap's goal of 50 projects over 10 to 20 years.

The report examines the role of faith communities in socio-environmental disputes across Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, highlighting their use of spiritual-symbolic strategies to defend territories and human rights. It argues that these actors are often neglected despite their influence and recommends that governments and international organizations recognize them as environmental defenders. The study specifically notes the critical but under-recognized leadership of women within these faith-based movements.

The document examines international subnational case studies to guide Vietnamese cities in creating electric mobility roadmaps. It highlights that while Vietnamese cities share contexts with other Asian cities, they are comparable to Californian cities regarding public transit usage. The paper suggests that Vietnam can move beyond narrow e-mobility uptake goals toward broader climate and air quality objectives, noting the unique presence of a local OEM, Vinfast.

The document argues that public economic incentives are essential to scale up land restoration in Latin America, as the up-front costs are otherwise prohibitive for smallholder farmers and the rural poor. It highlights that land degradation costs the region approximately US $52 billion annually, while restoring a single hectare can add $1,140 in economic value. The brief analyzes programs in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru, calculating payments per tree or hectare to help policymakers optimize these incentives for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and food security.

The paper argues that developing countries will provide approximately 80 percent of new global electric generation capacity over the next twenty years, necessitating a shift in international aid from project-specific funding to creating environments for nationwide investment. It defines 'smart renewable energy policy' as government actions that increase the share of renewables in electricity consumption cost-effectively and transparently, based on case studies from 12 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The paper analyzes 839 transport projects and 14 case studies to identify challenges in securing climate finance for low- and middle-income countries. It finds that road construction dominates funded projects, while resilience and electric mobility are underfunded. Key barriers include inadequate policy frameworks and limited project preparation capacity, with recommendations focusing on de-risking instruments and improved monitoring.

The paper examines 21 examples of locally led adaptation (LLA) across Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean and Latin America to provide strategies for financing and implementing resilience efforts. It argues that LLA redresses power imbalances by prioritizing the agency of local organizations and Indigenous peoples, who are often best positioned to identify adaptation solutions. The document recommends that funders and governments increase the volume and flexibility of climate finance, integrate social equity into standard processes, and shift governance to center local priorities.

This World Resources Institute working paper reports on three workshops held in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to identify challenges developing countries face in monitoring and tracking climate finance. It details nine primary technical, political, and capacity barriers, ranging from inconsistent definitions and lack of institutional coordination to the limited transparency of development partners and the difficulty of tracking private financial data.

The paper analyzes 170 peer-reviewed studies (2015–2025) to demonstrate that environmental human rights defenders (EHRDs)—including Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and local communities—provide essential contributions to climate action that remain largely invisible in formal UNFCCC frameworks and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). While identity groups are increasingly recognized, the authors find that the specific practice of 'defense' is overlooked, and EHRDs continue to face systemic violence and criminalization, particularly in resource-rich regions. The study advocates for a shift from identity-based recognition to practice-based inclusion to enhance the accountability and effectiveness of global climate governance.

The paper introduces 'effective impact' to measure the gap between the theoretical emissions reductions possible through behavioral change and the actual results of individual-level interventions. While sustainable shifts could theoretically offset an average person's annual emissions, real-world interventions typically achieve only 10% of this potential. The research identifies four 'Priority Shifts'—sustainable ground travel, air travel alternatives, residential solar/energy efficiency, and plant-rich meals—noting that car-free living is 78 times more impactful than composting. It concludes that systemic support is essential, as individual interventions alone are insufficient to meet climate demands.

The report provides an economic analysis of securing indigenous land rights in the Amazon basin of Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia. Using matching analysis, it finds that tenure-secure indigenous forestlands have significantly lower deforestation rates than similar non-secure lands. A benefit-cost analysis indicates that the investment is low-cost and high-benefit, with total ecosystem service benefits estimated between $679 and $1,530 billion over 20 years, while costs represent less than 1 percent of these benefits. The report argues that securing indigenous tenure is a more cost-effective carbon mitigation measure than fossil carbon capture and storage. It recommends that governments reform laws to strengthen community land rights and integrate tenure security into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Developed countries reported mobilising US$ 35 billion in Fast-Start Finance (FSF) from 2010 to 2012, exceeding the US$ 30 billion target. However, the report finds that much of this funding was not 'new and additional', often recycling existing pledges or ODA. Mitigation received the vast majority of funding (over 70%), while adaptation received only 18%. The distribution of funds closely mirrored traditional Official Development Assistance (ODA) patterns, showing weak correlations with recipient country vulnerability or greenhouse gas emission levels. The top five contributors—Japan, USA, UK, Norway, and Germany—accounted for nearly 80% of the total, with significant divergence in how they defined and reported eligible climate finance.

Ecological connectivity allows animals to move freely to find food and breed, sustaining natural processes that provide clean air, soil, and water. Human activities—including infrastructure development, deforestation, and overfishing—fragment these habitats, leading to human-wildlife conflict and ecosystem breakdown. Climate change further necessitates connectivity as species must move to adapt to shifting environments. WWF implements restoration strategies such as wildlife corridors and sustainable land-use planning, exemplified by projects in Borneo, Southern Africa, the Mekong region, and the Terai Arc. To scale these efforts, WWF co-created the Wildlife Connect initiative with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and the IUCN WCPA.