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The report finds that by 2025, fossil fuel power generation fell below its peak in all 38 OECD member countries, driven by the rapid scaling of solar and wind energy. This trend is extending to emerging markets, with 2025 marking the first year this century (excluding 2020) that non-OECD fossil generation fell, specifically in China and India. The transition is increasingly driven by economic imperatives, as the levelized cost of solar and onshore wind is now 60% lower than combined cycle gas turbines.

The paper analyzes water injustice across OECD countries, finding a primary focus on water scarcity and identifying distributive, procedural, and recognitional injustices. It argues that current responses are insufficient to address root causes and recommends a systems perspective and local context focus for future governance.

The report evaluates the climate transition of 594 OECD pension funds using Net Zero Finance Tracker data. While target-setting is improving, significant exposure to expansionist fossil fuel companies remains. The analysis finds that funds with formal climate targets and transition plans hold higher shares of clean energy and that robust regulatory frameworks in countries like the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands correlate with stronger climate action.

The report finds that while OECD pension funds have significantly increased their climate target-setting and risk management since 2020, their portfolios remain heavily exposed to fossil fuel expansion. Pension funds often outperform other financial institutions in areas like policy engagement and emissions disclosure once climate goals are embedded in their governance. The analysis highlights that robust regulatory frameworks in countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, and the UK drive higher adoption of targets, and suggests that the relationship between asset owners and asset managers is a critical lever for driving decarbonization.

The report finds that while OECD pension funds are increasing their climate target-setting and internal governance, their portfolios remain heavily exposed to expansionist fossil fuels. Progress is strongly linked to national regulatory environments, with the Netherlands, Denmark, and the UK leading. A critical lever for future impact is the governance of the asset owner–asset manager relationship, where leading funds are moving toward more active mandates, stricter stewardship oversight, and in some cases, the internalization of asset management to ensure alignment with net-zero goals.

The Climate Bonds Initiative's guide outlines a comprehensive framework for bank transition disclosures, focusing on the decarbonisation of banking books. It establishes best practices across six key areas: commitment, baselines and targets, delivery strategy, aspects beyond emissions, governance, and reporting. The guidance emphasizes the need for banks to disclose both financed and facilitated emissions, benchmark trajectories against credible sectoral pathways, and implement specific phase-out dates for misaligned activities like unabated coal and new oil and gas exploration. It also integrates requirements for just transition principles and climate resilience, while urging alignment between transition plans and formal financial reporting to ensure credibility.

In 2024, the world commissioned the lowest amount of new coal power capacity in twenty years (44 GW), yet the global fleet still grew by 18.8 GW because additions exceeded retirements. While OECD countries and the EU are accelerating phaseouts—with the UK becoming the sixth country to eliminate coal entirely—China and India continue to drive global expansion. China saw its highest construction starts since 2015 (94 GW), and India recorded its highest year for new proposals (38.4 GW). Outside these two nations, coal development has declined for ten consecutive years. However, the report notes that current retirement rates in OECD countries must more than triple to meet 1.5°C warming targets.

Reclaim Finance outlines a comprehensive framework for asset managers to drive real-economy decarbonization. It advocates for the adoption of robust transition plans based on five steps: decarbonization targets, strategy, engagement, reporting/governance, and just transition/biodiversity. The report sets specific phase-out dates for fossil fuel assets—including coal by 2030 in OECD/European countries and 2040 globally—and demands that asset managers use specific databases like the Global Coal Exit List (GCEL) and Global Oil & Gas Exit List (GOGEL) to implement restrictions. It further details an escalation strategy for engagement and strict voting principles, recommending that asset managers vote against director re-elections and executive remuneration if companies fail to publish science-based transition plans or continue fossil fuel expansion.

The report outlines a comprehensive framework for (re)insurers to decarbonize their business models. It advocates for the adoption of Net Zero Transition Plans (NZTP) based on 1.5°C scenarios and establishes specific restrictions for the coal, oil and gas, and power sectors. Key demands include the immediate cessation of support for fossil fuel expansion, the implementation of time-bound phase-out dates for unsustainable power and hydrocarbons, and the use of rigorous engagement and voting policies to hold portfolio companies accountable.

The report establishes a comprehensive framework for banks, investors, and insurers to create climate transition plans aligned with the 1.5°C goal. It details requirements for decarbonization targets, action plans, and engagement strategies, while providing 'red flag' indicators to identify greenwashing. The authors argue that current regulations are too vague and call for mandatory, standardized plans that include an immediate end to financing new fossil fuel production.

The document establishes a reference framework for financial actors to evaluate power utility transition plans across four categories: emissions reduction, energy planning, capital expenditure (CAPEX), and climate planning. It argues that for a plan to be 1.5°C-aligned, utilities must commit to a carbon-neutral power sector by 2035 in Europe and OECD countries (2040 elsewhere), implement plant-by-plant closure plans for fossil fuels without sales or conversions, and dedicate over 86% of CAPEX to sustainable technologies by 2030. The guide also recommends that financial institutions implement sectoral exclusion policies for fossil gas and achieve a 6:1 financing ratio in favor of sustainable power over fossil fuels by 2030.

National renewable energy targets for 2030 currently aim for a collective doubling of capacity rather than the tripling agreed upon at COP28, despite market forecasts suggesting such a goal is achievable, particularly for solar and battery storage.

Reclaim Finance identifies persistent problematic financing of the coal sector by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale, and BPCE/Natixis between 2021 and 2023. Despite overall funding decreases, the report finds that these banks supported 26 problematic groups, including coal developers and companies without climate-aligned exit dates. The analysis highlights four major policy loopholes—exclusion at the subsidiary level rather than the group level, minority ownership thresholds, the treatment of 'captive' industrial power plants, and reliance on confidential internal documents—which the report argues may constitute greenwashing and financial risk mismanagement.

Reclaim Finance analyzed transactions from 2021 to 2023 and found that four major French banks supported 26 problematic coal groups despite having policies to exit the sector. The report identifies four primary loopholes: exclusion only at the subsidiary level, lack of exclusion for minority stakes under 50%, exclusion of 'captive' coal plants at industrial sites, and reliance on confidential internal documents to justify financing companies without public exit dates. The author argues these practices are misleading to investors and regulators, urging the AMF and ACPR to sanction such 'greenwashing' and demand full transparency.

The policy brief contends that despite France's diplomatic leadership and the Paris Place's 2019 commitment to phase out coal, French financial institutions continue to fund coal development. It highlights the severe health and climate impacts of coal, the failure of voluntary commitments—specifically among four major French banks—and calls for a national legal ban on financial services for coal projects to ensure a credible transition.

Reclaim Finance, BankTrack, SteelWatch, and the Fair Steel Coalition have sent a letter to 21 banks that finance ArcelorMittal, the world's second-largest steel company. The coalition alerts these financiers to risks and adverse impacts documented in two reports: 'The Real Co$t of Steel', which details violence against environmental defenders and neglect of worker health in South Africa, Liberia, Mexico, and Brazil, and the 'ArcelorMittal Corporate Climate Assessment 2024', which finds the company is not aligned with a 1.5C scenario and is investing in coal-based steel production. The letter demands that banks require ArcelorMittal to publish concrete action plans, adopt a 1.5-aligned Climate Action Plan, and perform enhanced due diligence. Additionally, the coalition calls on banks to adopt sectoral policies to restrict financing for coal-based steelmaking, specifically ending services for new blast furnaces and the relining of existing ones.

The G7 is urged to set a goal to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030, as current collective targets only aim for a doubling. This alignment is presented as necessary to meet the global goal agreed upon at COP28 and to keep the 1.5C temperature goal within reach.

The policy brief asserts that for the global goal of tripling renewable capacity to be met, G7 nations must collectively increase their capacity from 0.9 TW in 2022 to 2.7 TW by 2030. Current G7 targets only amount to 2 TW, representing a doubling rather than a tripling, and leaving a 0.7 TW gap. While Germany and the UK have targets reaching at least 80% of a tripling, France and Japan are lagging, and the US and Canada lack official targets.

Reclaim Finance establishes a comprehensive framework to identify insufficient or greenwashed corporate climate transition plans. The report outlines five essential steps for a robust plan: setting science-based absolute emission targets, developing a detailed decarbonization strategy (including financial alignment and fossil fuel phase-outs), implementing a value-chain engagement strategy, integrating reporting and governance, and addressing just transition and biodiversity. It further maps these criteria to the EU's European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and the European Central Bank's (ECB) supervisory expectations to help companies and financial institutions meet regulatory obligations.

The policy brief argues that existing coal retirement mechanisms (CRMs) in Asia and Africa are failing to translate pledges into funding and effective plant closures. It identifies barriers such as the prevalence of non-concessional loans, the risk of 'emission leakage,' and the moral hazard of incentivizing new coal build-out. To address these, Reclaim Finance and 11 partner organizations propose ten principles, which include an immediate stop to coal expansion finance, the replacement of coal with renewables rather than gas, the prohibition of tradeable carbon offsets, and the requirement for transparent, auction-based retirement processes.