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The document examines the rising debt accumulation in Africa since 2010, noting a shift from traditional creditors to emerging economies like China and private bondholders. It analyzes how the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated vulnerabilities, and argues that existing relief initiatives like the DSSI and Common Framework are insufficient because they often exclude private creditors and lack binding legal frameworks. The authors advocate for a statutory Sovereign Debt Restructuring mechanism and the adoption of UN-led principles to ensure transparency and fairness.

The AfCFTA is currently stuck between its negotiation and implementation phases, with substantive trade failing to take off as of February 2022. While 44 AU member states have ratified the agreement, progress is blocked by the delayed conclusion of vital technical components, most notably the rules of origin. Although the Council of Ministers decided in January 2022 to proceed with rules of origin for 87.7% of product lines, the remaining gaps have led to a low number of full tariff offers from member states. The authors argue that regional economic powers, such as Kenya and South Africa, must move past negotiating brinkmanship toward concessions and collaboration to generate the momentum necessary for African industrialization and economic transformation.

The report analyzes how insurance regulators in 31 sub-Saharan African countries responded to COVID-19, proposing a four-phase framework (Identify, Implement, Monitor, Adapt) to handle systemic risks. Key findings highlight the importance of risk-based supervision (RBS), proactive digital communication, and the need for real-time data via Suptech. It also identifies emerging future risks, including climate change, cyber-security, and political unrest.

The report finds that global gas-fired power capacity in development (615 GW) now exceeds that of coal (457 GW), representing an estimated US$509 billion in capital expenditure. This expansion is described as ubiquitous across all continents, directly conflicting with the IEA's 1.5°C net-zero pathway. The authors argue that these investments face significant stranded asset risks as clean energy portfolios (CEPs) increasingly outcompete gas on cost, particularly in the US and Australia.

The report examines the erosion of socio-economic resilience in the Lake Chad Basin due to the Boko Haram conflict. It details the disruption of fishing, agriculture, and livestock trade, the negative impact of state-imposed trade bans and extortion, and the specific vulnerabilities of women. It argues that the lack of state development presence pushes communities toward 'perverse social contracts' with violent extremist groups for survival.

The document examines Russia's soft-power strategy in Africa, noting that while Russia is primarily associated with hard power, it leverages Soviet-era legacies, education, and anti-Western narratives to attract African elites and populations. It identifies key strengths in the promotion of multipolarity and traditional values, while highlighting limitations such as insufficient financial resources and the mixed results of vaccine diplomacy.

The document provides a detailed table and supplementary notes on fossil fuel companies, tracking their emissions intensity pathways against 1.5°C and 2°C targets. It highlights that many major companies, including BP, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco, have emissions intensity pathways outside the 2°C target. The report also identifies companies with interests in tar sands, such as ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, and notes that the SBTi stopped accepting commitments from fossil fuel companies in March 2022. Additionally, it documents environmental disasters, corruption allegations, and disinformation campaigns linked to these entities.

The document examines the shift from physical to digital public spaces, highlighting the rise of 'surveillance capitalism' and 'data colonization' by tech giants and states. It defines 'democratic public communication spaces' as those that strengthen excluded voices and guarantee data sovereignty. The authors warn of 'voice poverty' and the erasure of linguistic diversity, noting that only 7% of the world's languages appear online. To combat these injustices, the paper recommends revitalizing public interest media, supporting community-managed infrastructure, and implementing comprehensive media literacy training.

Nigeria faces severe developmental challenges including endemic corruption, insecurity, and an overdependence on oil exports. Projections indicate that without intervention, Nigeria will have the highest number of poor people globally by 2050. The report proposes a 'Super Nigeria' scenario combining improvements in governance, human capital, infrastructure, agriculture, and economic diversification to potentially make Nigeria the fifth largest economy globally by 2050.

The Mokoloki undergrid minigrid project in Ogun State, Nigeria, has demonstrated the feasibility of providing reliable solar power to communities that are connected to the national grid but suffer from unreliable supply. Through a tripartite partnership between the Mokoloki community, Nayo Tropical Technology, and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), the project has achieved 100% collection rates and doubled its revenue within 18 months. The system, comprising 100 kWp solar PV and battery storage, has significantly improved energy reliability compared to the previous utility service and is driving local economic growth by supporting productive uses of electricity for commercial customers.

The paper assesses how the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and the sustainability movement shape the industrialisation trajectory of the SADC region. It argues that while 4IR technologies offer opportunities for leapfrogging legacy industries and formalising the informal sector, they also risk creating high-tech enclaves, global monopolies, and 'gig-economy sweatshops'. The authors propose a reimagined strategy that integrates 4IR and green economy goals to achieve broad economic wellbeing rather than focusing solely on job creation.

The Stockholm Environment Institute argues that current global efforts are inadequate, highlighting a significant 'production gap' where fossil fuel plans exceed 1.5°C limits. The report emphasizes the need for 'just resilience' in adaptation, the urgent requirement for dedicated loss and damage financing, and the necessity of aligning financial flows with low-emission pathways while ensuring equity for developing nations.

The document explores strategic litigation as a tool to bridge the gap between state-led anti-corruption efforts and environmental governance. It identifies three main trends: targeting corruption enforcement, improving NRM governance, and addressing transnational sustainability. While it can drive transparency and accountability, the author warns of risks including high costs, potential for abuse via SLAPP suits, and the challenge of enforcing court rulings in weak institutional settings.

The document traces the history of international efforts to combat land degradation, from the 1972 Stockholm Conference to the establishment of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It details the shift toward 'land degradation neutrality' (LDN), a goal integrated into SDG target 15.3, which aims to balance productive land loss with recovery. The paper identifies critical barriers to LDN implementation, including insecure land tenure, gender inequality in land ownership, lack of national coordination, and insufficient funding, while highlighting initiatives like the Great Green Wall and the LDN Fund.

The document presents Project Drawdown's 'Health and Education' solution, which advocates for universal education for girls and boys and voluntary family planning for women and couples. It argues that these interventions reduce greenhouse gas emissions by slowing population growth and improving individual decision-making agency. The brief estimates that adopting this solution could avoid roughly 70 gigatons of CO2-equivalent by 2050, with significant impacts in both low- and high-income countries. It calls for the integration of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and education into national climate strategies and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The report argues that African states must transition from being 'junior partners' in global cyber diplomacy to active participants by developing common continental positions and leveraging their demographic position as a future technology market. It highlights the risks of 'norm colonisation' from cyber superpowers and the vulnerability of fragile democracies to information warfare. The author recommends that the African Union recruit 'cyber champions' from digitally mature states and uncouple trade negotiations from cyber diplomacy to ensure a unified approach to digital governance and security.

The document examines the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Africa, highlighting a tension between the continent's role as a provider of raw materials and labour and its dependence on foreign AI technologies from the Global North and China. It identifies significant risks associated with AI adoption, including the misuse of biometric digital IDs in Namibia and South Africa, the deployment of facial recognition for surveillance in Uganda and South Africa, and the exploitation of vulnerable populations through 'click work' in Kenyan refugee camps. The author analyses emerging national AI strategies in Egypt, Mauritius, and Rwanda, as well as the SMARTAfrica Blueprint, noting that while these frameworks address infrastructure and talent, they often overlook the labour rights of gig workers and the specific impact of automation on women. The brief evaluates the potential for policy transfer from the EU, specifically the AI Act and GDPR, warning that such frameworks may not account for African socio-economic rights or the technical constraints of local start-ups. It concludes by recommending that African policymakers focus on building inclusive digital infrastructure, fostering regional cooperation for data sharing, and implementing beneficiation frameworks to ensure local communities profit from the data used to train AI systems.

The document examines the intersection of debt, capitalism, and patriarchy in Africa, arguing that neoliberal debt architectures and austerity measures externalise the costs of social reproduction onto women. It highlights how sovereign debt crises lead to cuts in public services, which in turn drives households toward predatory private lending and microfinance. The author calls for a systemic reform of the global financial architecture, including debt relief without conditionalities, progressive domestic resource mobilisation, and stricter regulation of predatory lending to protect vulnerable populations.

West Africa has experienced warming of 1–3°C since the mid-1970s, leading to increased heatwaves, variable rainfall, and widespread losses in GDP and food productivity. Future projections indicate severe risks, including a potential 30% decline in marine fisheries catch and significant population exposure to sea level rise, particularly in coastal cities like Lagos and Abidjan. Adaptation requires transformative, ecosystem-based approaches and a significant increase in climate finance, as current funding is insufficient and heavily skewed toward non-African institutions.

The report presents survey data from 108,946 Facebook users worldwide, revealing high global levels of worry and belief that climate change is happening, though perceptions of its causes and the responsibility for action vary significantly by region. While there is widespread support for renewable energy and the belief that climate action will not harm economic growth, willingness to engage in organized climate activism remains low in most regions, with a notable exception in Sub-Saharan Africa.