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The briefing warns that Pacific SIDS are facing a convergence of geopolitical and climatic crises. The war in Iran is driving up fuel and food prices due to shipping disruptions and import dependence, leading to states of emergency in Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands. This economic strain is expected to be compounded by a strong El Niño in the second half of 2026, which threatens tuna stocks, freshwater access, and agricultural productivity. The document recommends immediate anticipatory action, such as pre-positioning supplies and expanding early warning systems, alongside long-term investments in regenerative agriculture and regional fisheries management.

The Tassiriki Call, adopted in April 2026, outlines a vision for a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific based on 100% renewable energy and the 1.5°C temperature limit. It advocates for a global Fossil Fuel Treaty, scaled-up grant-based finance, and the creation of an Inter-Governmental Taskforce for a Just Transition to a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific. The statement emphasizes the need for a managed decline of fossil fuel production and warns against the use of carbon capture and geoengineering to justify continued production.

The Community Energy Toolkit (COMET) uses participatory workshops and simulations to help communities in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific plan for the productive use of energy (PUE). By allowing households and micro-enterprises to trial appliances and tariffs, COMET provides developers with demand-side intelligence—such as demand curves and willingness-to-pay—to reduce the risk of under-utilisation and under-recovery of revenues. A deployment in Pos Titom, Malaysia, demonstrated how testing specific enterprise options like grinders and ice-making can create concrete income pathways and decision-ready inputs for implementers. Across 110 communities in six countries, this co-creation approach has been linked to higher early-life utilisation and improved billed revenue.

The briefing paper advocates for a legally binding international instrument to end corporate impunity regarding environmental and human rights abuses. It highlights the insufficiency of voluntary frameworks and argues that the LBI can operationalize the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment by establishing mandatory due diligence, extraterritorial jurisdiction, and strict liability for parent companies across global value chains.

The text emphasizes that Brazil's vast size and climatic diversity require detailed observational studies to distinguish between natural variability and long-term climate change. It highlights that interannual variability, driven largely by El Niño and La Niña, can alter seasonal rainfall in the Amazon by a factor of more than four. The author cautions that most precipitation trends in Brazil are linked to interdecadal oscillations—such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO)—rather than global warming. Additionally, the document notes a trend of increasing air temperatures in the tropics of South America since 1948, contrasting with a negative trend in the subtropics since the mid-1990s, and mentions the influence of land-use change and biomass burning on air temperature in the Amazon and Cerrado.

The author asserts that the 'Yes to Yasuní' victory in Ecuador demonstrates the power of civil society to pressure governments to end fossil fuel extraction. The document links this local success to the broader goals of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, emphasizing the need for an international legal framework that replaces the 'extractivist economic matrix' with global cooperation and financial compensation from the Global North to support a just energy transition.

The GRP 2024–2029 Strategy focuses on three transformative opportunities: regenerative food systems, reimagined finance flows, and community-led resilience. The partnership aims to scale locally-led innovations and bridge the adaptation finance gap, which is currently five to ten times lower than required for developing countries. Key goals include transforming food and financial systems, scaling formal-informal collaborations, increasing transdisciplinary learning, and embedding resilience in the private sector. Geographically, the strategy prioritises sub-Saharan Africa, South and South East Asia, and Small Island Developing States in the Pacific and Caribbean.

The report examines the role of voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) in South-South trade, noting that trade between developing countries grew from USD 600 billion in 1995 to USD 5.3 trillion in 2021. It highlights five examples of VSS integration in the Global South, including organic certification agreements between Chile and Brazil and regional standards in East Africa and the Pacific. The report concludes that integrating VSSs into trade policy can lower compliance costs, reduce trade barriers for smallholders and SMEs, and increase demand for sustainable products.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) provides free technical advice, seminars, and training to developing countries to ensure foreign investments support equitable and sustainable development. Their expertise covers the entire investment lifecycle—from promotion and facilitation to dispute resolution—with a focus on reforming investment treaties, aligning national instruments with modern practices, and strengthening governance coordination. IISD operates across sectors including energy, mining, and agriculture, and supports government officials in navigating multilateral forums such as UNCTAD, the WTO, and the AfCFTA.

A collection of statements from global civil society organisations criticizing the Bonn climate conference for the failure of developed nations to provide loss and damage finance, their continued reliance on fossil fuels, and the promotion of 'false solutions' like geoengineering and carbon markets.

The 2021 Climate, Environmental, and Energy Congressional Hearings Tracker catalogs a wide array of legislative inquiries across both the House and Senate. The hearings covered a diverse range of subjects, including the 'Clean Future Act', the 'American Jobs Plan', the impact of PFAS 'forever chemicals', and the resilience of the electric grid following the 2021 Texas grid failure. Significant attention was given to environmental justice, the role of the Department of Energy in innovation, and international climate strategies leading up to COP26. The tracker organizes these hearings by committee, detailing the specific focus of each session, from sustainable aviation and offshore wind to the management of public lands and the risks of climate change in the Arctic.

A coalition of organizations urges the U.S. government to oppose deep seabed mining, citing grave risks to biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the rights of Pacific Indigenous communities. The authors call for a moratorium on mining in the U.S. EEZ and international waters, arguing that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) lacks transparent governance and that critical mineral needs should be met through a circular economy rather than seabed extraction.

The report examines the nexus between international trade and climate adaptation, arguing that trade can be a vehicle for developing countries to access necessary goods, services, and financing. It identifies three pathways for this: domestic trade policy measures, trade-related financing mechanisms, and international collaborative frameworks. Using case studies from Fiji, Kiribati, and Tonga, the report demonstrates how National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) can be used to identify specific adaptation needs—such as hydrometeorological equipment or rainwater harvesting systems—and map them to trade policy instruments like tariff reductions or Aid for Trade (A4T) funding.

The document examines the existential threats faced by small island developing states (SIDS), highlighting their extreme vulnerability to sea-level rise and economic shocks despite contributing less than 1% of global carbon emissions. It advocates for a transition from seeing themselves as 'small islands' to 'large ocean states' by leveraging their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) through the 'blue economy.' The brief emphasizes the need for innovative financing, such as blue bonds and debt-for-climate swaps, and the urgent transition to domestic renewable energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports.

The report advocates for the establishment of a UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change to address the holistic impact of the climate crisis on human rights. Based on consultations with 157 participants across 55 countries, it argues that a dedicated mandate would ensure consistency in how the Human Rights Council addresses climate change, increase accountability for state and non-state actors, and protect vulnerable groups, including Indigenous Peoples and environmental defenders. The document outlines regional priorities—such as addressing climate debt in Africa and climate displacement in Asia and the Pacific—and emphasizes the need for the role to be supported by sufficient financial resources and political will from Member States.

The report advocates for a UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and climate change, detailing regional priorities and global consensus on the need for a rights-based approach to climate action.

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are prolonged extreme warm water events, defined as temperatures above the 90th percentile for at least five consecutive days. These events have increased since the early twentieth century, driven by a 2.3°F (1.3°C) rise in sea surface temperatures over the last 100 years. MHWs cause severe ecological damage, including coral bleaching, kelp forest collapses, and sea bird die-offs, and can disrupt industries through fishery closures. A notable example is "the Blob" in the Pacific Ocean (2013), which lasted 226 days and was 4.5°F (2.5°C) warmer than average.

The Trump administration is accused of rolling back protections for ocean sanctuaries, including the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, to benefit corporate interests like StarKist Tuna. The author asserts that these sanctuaries are essential for climate resiliency, mitigating risks such as rising sea levels, and allowing fish populations to rebuild, which ultimately supports the seafood industry and vulnerable coastal communities.

The report addresses the vulnerability of energy infrastructure in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to extreme weather, arguing that while solar PV is a cost-effective alternative to imported fossil fuels, it requires specific engineering and policy standards to survive Category 5 hurricanes. Based on field analyses of failures from 2017–2019, the authors recommend moving away from shared top-down clips toward through-bolting and dual post piers for ground systems, and prohibiting ballasted-only rooftop systems. Implementing these resilience measures is estimated to increase engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) costs by approximately 5%, a cost offset by avoiding total system rebuilds. The report emphasizes multi-stakeholder collaboration and the integration of high-wind standards into local building codes to ensure long-term energy security.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was predicted to be more active than normal due to warmer-than-average water temperatures in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico and ENSO-neutral conditions. While climate change may not increase hurricane frequency, it is linked to a 25-30% increase in Category 4 and 5 storms per degree Celsius of warming, more rapid intensification, increased rainfall, and higher storm surges driven by rising sea levels.