Search Climate Insights Directory

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) synthesizes the activities of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) regarding climate change during 2020 and 2021. It details the Committee's use of the State reporting procedure to address mitigation, adaptation, extractive activities, and climate finance, while also reviewing the Committee's General Comments on science and land rights.

This document provides detailed appendices for the proposed Estonian Hydrogen Roadmap 2021–2050. It outlines a phased transition toward a hydrogen economy, focusing on decarbonizing transport, industry, buildings, and the energy sector through the adoption of green hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

The 'Eesti Vesiniku Teekaart' (Estonian Hydrogen Roadmap 2021–2050) outlines a strategic framework to integrate green hydrogen into Estonia's industry, energy, and transport sectors to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The roadmap is divided into three phases: immediate piloting (2021–2025), scaling (2025–2030), and wide-scale adoption (2030–2050), focusing on leveraging Estonia's offshore wind potential and strategic location to build a sustainable hydrogen value chain.

This report summarizes a 2019 policy dialogue in Tallinn, Estonia, focused on establishing a sustainable bioeconomy in the Baltic Sea region by 2050. Key findings highlight energy as the primary driving sector and identify five essential enabling factors: clear policy goals, innovation support, demand generation, cross-sector cooperation, and circularity. The report also notes regional differences in policy implementation, with Estonia and Latvia using national strategies while Poland and Lithuania use sectoral policies. Finally, it reflects on the pilot methodology, suggesting that future workshops should use more tailored visions and group participants by economic sector rather than organization type.

This document summarizes a practitioners' workshop held on December 6, 2019, in Madrid during COP25. The event, organized by the EU REDD Facility, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), and UNDP, focused on the tools, methodologies, and challenges associated with mapping and tracking domestic climate finance to support national climate strategies and Paris Agreement objectives.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) provides updated estimates of global climate finance flows for 2015 and 2016, incorporating new data on electric vehicle sales and national development finance institutions. It analyzes the distribution of these flows by actor, sector, and region, while discussing the challenges of tracking adaptation and energy efficiency investments and the operationalization of Article 2.1(c) of the Paris Agreement.

This briefing by the Climate Bonds Initiative explores the critical role of climate adaptation and resilience in infrastructure investments to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights the current investment gap in the green bond market, where adaptation is significantly underfunded compared to mitigation, and proposes principles for improving definitions and disclosure to scale capital mobilization.

The report evaluates ten climate solutions for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, finding a combined abatement potential of 149 Mt CO2 eq by 2030. Energy efficiency in buildings and industry are identified as the most impactful and cost-effective measures, offering net financial savings. While Poland and Ukraine provide the largest absolute reductions, the Baltic states see a higher relative impact on their total emissions.

This research paper by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the role of infrastructure banks in closing the global infrastructure financing gap. It analyzes best practices from various international institutions and provides eight strategic recommendations for countries establishing their own infrastructure banks to mobilize private capital and promote sustainable development.

The report 'Nordic Green to Scale for countries' evaluates the potential for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine to reduce emissions by scaling up 10 proven climate solutions. It finds that these measures could cut 2030 emissions by 149 Mt (13%), with the highest relative impacts in the Baltic States. Energy efficiency in buildings and industry offer the greatest reduction potential and are cost-effective, potentially saving the five countries 1.2 billion euros by 2030. The report identifies barriers such as high investment costs and fossil fuel subsidies, recommending ambitious targets and stable legal frameworks to accelerate implementation.

The 'Green Bonds Highlights 2016' fact sheet by the Climate Bonds Initiative reports that 2016 was a record-breaking year for the green bond market, with annual issuance aligned with international definitions reaching USD 81 billion. The document highlights the market's diversification across countries, issuer types, and sectors, noting the significant rise of China as a leading issuer and the emergence of sovereign green bonds, starting with Poland.

This 2017 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) assesses the life-cycle carbon footprint of a proposed wood biorefinery in Estonia. The study concludes that the facility would be climate-neutral and would positively contribute to Estonia's climate goals by replacing oil shale electricity with renewable energy and sequestering biogenic carbon in products.

This report by the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) evaluates the preliminary implementation of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across 11 countries in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). It synthesizes data from OECD, UN ECE, and other expert reviews to identify regional strengths, weaknesses, and organizational challenges in governance and monitoring.

This technical report by the Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre, commissioned by Nordic Energy Research, analyzes the potential for Estonia to transition to a carbon-neutral power sector by 2050. It evaluates the current state of Estonia's energy system—which is heavily dependent on oil shale—and uses three quantitative models (LEAP, Balmorel, and EMPS) to simulate various low-carbon scenarios, including the impacts of electrification in transport and heating and the necessary developments in transmission grids and international interconnections.

The 2015 Green Bond Market Roundup by the Climate Bonds Initiative reports that $41.8 billion in labelled green bonds were issued in 2015. The document highlights growth in market supply driven by policy support, the entry of more corporate and municipal issuers, and expanding investor demand from institutional entities. It also notes an evolution in standards, such as the launch of Climate Bond Standard V2, and an increasing emphasis on reporting and third-party assurance to validate green credentials.

This report outlines a strategy to halve the European Union's dependence on imported natural gas by 2030 through cost-effective energy efficiency measures and accelerated renewable energy deployment. By targeting the buildings, industry, and energy production sectors, the EU could reduce its net natural gas imports by more than half and decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 49% relative to 1990 levels, exceeding the targets set in the EU's 2030 Framework.

This policy brief describes the results of the GES-REG project (2011-2013), which aimed to harmonize the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) among Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Sweden. The document focuses on improving socio-economic analysis (SEA) capabilities and regional cooperation to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) in the Baltic Sea by 2020.

This policy brief examines the intersection of bioenergy market development and climate change adaptation in the Nordic region, specifically focusing on Denmark, Finland, and Sweden. It analyzes how globalization and climate-driven shifts in productivity and logistics affect the supply chains of bioethanol, biodiesel, wood pellets, and wood chips.

This policy brief summarizes the findings of the GES-REG project, which aimed to harmonize the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) in the central and north-eastern Baltic Sea. The project focused on improving Economic and Social Analysis (ESA) to help Estonia, Finland, Latvia, and Sweden develop cost-effective Programmes of Measures to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) by 2020.

This research paper examines the environmental and socio-economic impacts of pig farming in the Neman/Nemunas river basin, spanning Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Russia's Kaliningrad region. It finds a strong trend toward large-scale industrial farming, which has increased nutrient pollution and eutrophication in the Baltic Sea. The report highlights a lack of transboundary coordination and a disconnect between manure-producing pig farms and crop farms that need fertilizer. It recommends promoting nutrient reuse, improving manure handling through technologies like biogas plants, and strengthening regional regulatory frameworks to ensure corporate accountability of foreign investors.