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A coalition of 98 global entities argues that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) fails to comply with international human rights obligations, specifically those recognized in the 2010 Cancun Agreements. The letter calls for the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism, the adoption of international sustainable development safeguards, and the implementation of improved stakeholder consultation processes to prevent environmental and social harms.

In 2014, Lockheed Martin completed an ESPC at the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, achieving a 54 percent energy reduction across nine buildings. The project integrated a 956 kW solar PV system—the State Department's largest overseas—which is projected to offset 37% of the site's energy consumption. Key measures included LED replacements, chiller-plant optimization, and HVAC upgrades. To overcome challenges such as a lack of local utility incentives and frequent staff turnover, the project utilized third-party expertise from LBNL and the DOE, and implemented a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to ensure continuity of project knowledge.

The report analyzes Costa Rica's transition from an agricultural to an export-led economy, highlighting successes in biodiversity and renewable energy alongside critical failures in wastewater management and public transport. It argues that a lack of sustainable public infrastructure and a mismatch in workforce skills hinder the country's goal of carbon neutrality by 2021. The authors recommend streamlining public procurement, diversifying the energy mix beyond hydropower, and implementing a green industrial policy to reduce economic vulnerability to external shocks.

The report analyzes eight case studies—seven federal and one municipal—that utilized Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to achieve deep energy retrofits. These projects cumulatively exceeded 600 billion BTUs in energy savings with an average energy use reduction of 58%. The document identifies six overarching best practices: setting aggressive long-term goals, engaging diverse stakeholders, establishing strong support systems, adopting a 'clean sheet' design mindset, using iterative and holistic design processes, and incorporating ongoing feedback and occupant involvement.

The document examines how La Mesa, a Salvadoran coalition, used amicus curiae submissions in the Pac Rim arbitration to bring community concerns regarding metals mining and sustainable development to an international tribunal. It highlights the importance of alliance building between local groups and international legal experts to navigate technical arbitration processes and argues that such interventions provide essential public interest context that disputing parties may omit.

The report examines how the Mesa Nacional Frente a la Minería Metálica de El Salvador (MNFM), supported by CIEL and FESPAD, used amicus curiae submissions in the Pac Rim investor-state arbitration to highlight environmental and human rights concerns. It details the legal requirements for such interventions, the strategic importance of technical legal expertise combined with community grounding, and the outcomes of the jurisdictional phase of the arbitration. The document concludes with lessons for other civil society organizations on navigating the technical nature of international investment law to protect public interest and democratic decision-making.

The report examines how international law can address the systemic discrimination women face in forest tenure, which risks being exacerbated by REDD+. It provides a typology of relevant rights—including land tenure, gender-specific, procedural, FPIC, and environmental rights—and analyzes how these can be leveraged within the UNFCCC and World Bank's FCPF frameworks to ensure women are recognized as key stakeholders and rights-holders.

The report examines Energy Savings Insurance (ESI), an instrument developed by the Inter-American Development Bank and BASE to unlock energy efficiency investments for SMEs by insuring against the risk that projected energy savings are not met. ESI can absorb up to 80% of underperformance risk and is being piloted or replicated across several countries, including Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador. If scaled globally, the instrument is estimated to drive USD 10-100 billion in investment and reduce annual emissions by 27-234 MtCO2 by 2030.

The Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) instrument is designed to stimulate energy efficiency investments by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by mitigating the risk that actual energy savings fall below projections. A pilot in Mexico's agro-industry sector targets 10 fast-track projects valued at USD 2.14 million, utilizing a package of surety insurance, credit lines from FIRA, and third-party verification by ANCE. Financial modeling indicates that the ESI package can absorb 60-80% of the impact of underperformance on debt service repayments, significantly reducing risk for both equity investors and loan providers. The report proposes scaling the initiative to 6-14 additional Latin American and Caribbean countries through a regional facility, with further replication planned for China, India, Indonesia, and Africa, aiming for a global potential of USD 10-100 billion in investments by 2030.

The Climate Development and Finance Facility (the Facility) is a proposed investment structure designed to overcome financing barriers for renewable energy projects in developing countries. It integrates three stages of support: a Development Fund for early-stage due diligence, a Construction Fund that uses equity to finance construction costs and avoid expensive early-stage debt, and a Refinancing Fund to attract institutional investors once projects are operational. The pilot targets projects between 25-75 MW in specific low- and lower-middle income countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. To launch, the Facility requires USD 150 million in donor capital, which is projected to mobilize USD 2 billion in private capital, install approximately 300 MW of clean energy, and reduce annual CO2 emissions by around 600 kt.

The document examines the use of improved cookstoves in Central America, noting that while many models meet WHO emission targets in labs, they often fail to significantly reduce personal pollutant exposure in the field due to 'stove stacking' and improper use. It identifies the 'plancha' as the most common model and highlights that successful adoption depends on user-centered design, training, and cost-sharing. The report calls for standardized performance measures and national certification bodies to ensure health benefits are actually realized.

Between 1986 and 2005, Costa Rica increased its forest area by 394,000 hectares, primarily through passive restoration on abandoned pastures. This success is attributed to a combination of crisis-driven motivation, ecological viability, and market shifts—specifically the decline of the cattle industry and the rise of eco-tourism. While the Pago de Servicios Ambientales (PSA) system is a well-known financial incentive, the document argues that structural economic changes and restrictive forestry laws were equally or more critical to the country's reforestation outcomes.

The document argues that traditional food security monitoring focuses too heavily on outputs and outcomes, which are often difficult to attribute to specific actions. It proposes 'process-based indicators' as proxies to measure the quality of decision-making, institutional capacity, and inclusivity. Using the FIPAT tool in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, the authors identify key indicators across six areas: policy vulnerability, system resilience, decision-making transparency, multistakeholder participation, lessons learned, and decentralization. The briefing emphasizes that effective food security policies require inclusive participation of vulnerable groups, empowered local decision-makers, and a shift in institutional culture to view policy review as a dynamic, non-punitive process.

The Agricultural Supply Chain Adaptation Facility (ASCAF) is a proposed financing mechanism to help small- and medium-sized farmers in the Latin America and Caribbean region invest in climate-resilient agricultural measures. By using donor-backed first-loss guarantees and technical assistance provided through Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), ASCAF aims to enable agribusiness corporations to extend medium- to long-term loans (5-7 years) to their suppliers. The facility targets 'tight' value chains for high-value crops like coffee, sugarcane, and cocoa to reduce credit risks and capacity gaps. If scaled, the facility could potentially protect or increase the revenues of 63,000 to 420,000 farming households by 2030, with a total market investment potential estimated between USD 2.5 billion and USD 4.4 billion for four sample crops.

The document outlines a systems-based approach to measuring food system resilience, moving beyond narrow food availability metrics to include supporting infrastructure and governance. Using the CRiSTAL Food Security tool across 20 communities in Honduras and Nicaragua, the authors identify key resilience drivers such as storage, energy, transport, and water management. It argues that participatory, iterative processes for developing indicators are essential for community buy-in and that these broad indicators should complement existing food security monitoring schemes.

A coalition of social movements and NGOs argues that the FAO's current forest definition is reductionist and primarily benefits industrial timber, pulp, paper, and rubber companies. The authors contend that by defining forests simply as land with a certain percentage of tree cover, the FAO erroneously classifies large-scale monoculture plantations as 'reforestation' and ignores the structural and cultural importance of forests to the 300 million people who depend on them for their livelihoods. The letter calls for a new, community-led definition process that recognizes the role of forests in food sovereignty and biological diversity.

The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 User’s Manual describes a Microsoft Excel-based tool used to systematically assess risks to food security posed by climate variability and change. The tool employs a food systems and resilience approach, analyzing five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, food access, food availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. It guides users through a six-module process—Introduction, Context, Food System, Resilience, Indicators, and Reports—combining participatory community consultations with secondary research to identify vulnerabilities and develop SMART resilience indicators.

The CRiSTAL Food Security 2.0 tool is a decision-support system implemented via Microsoft Excel to analyze the resilience of community food systems against climate threats. It employs a holistic 'food system wheel' framework consisting of five dimensions: food utilization and consumption, access, availability, supporting resources and services, and supporting organizations and policies. The tool guides users through a six-module process: introduction, context analysis (community and climate), food system analysis, resilience analysis, selection of SMART indicators, and automatic report generation. It emphasizes the use of participatory rural appraisal methods, such as livelihood strategies, threat and resource mapping, and vulnerability matrices, to gather primary data from local communities, which is then triangulated with secondary scientific data. The tool aims to identify specific climate vulnerabilities and develop measurable indicators to monitor food system resilience over time.

The document outlines SEI's approach to climate adaptation, emphasizing that vulnerability is driven more by socioeconomic conditions than by climate exposure. It argues that adaptation and development are inextricably linked and that adaptation has inherent limits, meaning it cannot replace mitigation. The briefing also details SEI's global initiatives, such as the weADAPT platform and the Asia Adaptation Knowledge Platform, and identifies future research priorities including the role of gender, culture, and the private sector in adaptation.

The document argues that women's disproportionate vulnerability to climate change and environmental stress is driven by social constraints and unequal power relations rather than inherent traits. It highlights that gender-blind policies in sectors such as fisheries, disaster risk reduction, and sanitation often disadvantage women or widen existing gender gaps. The briefing emphasizes that gender intersects with age and class, meaning vulnerability is multi-dimensional. To be effective, the document asserts that interventions must move beyond simple legal changes or stereotypes and instead adopt multi-faceted strategies across household, community, and national levels.