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The report finds that while 98% of analyzed NAPs reference education, there is a significant gap in systemic integration. Only 40% include the education sector in impact, risk, and vulnerability assessments, and only 16% address all three components of a climate-resilient education system: curriculum change, resilient infrastructure, and educational continuity. While 84% of NAPs include education-related priorities, only 27% provide cost estimates for these actions. Institutional gaps are prominent, with only 11% of NAPs showing evidence that education ministries were consulted during the design process. The report also notes that while 94% of NAPs mention children and youth, only 23% reference their rights.

The briefing examines the 'Middle East Paradoxon,' where Israel faces increased internal instability and lost soft power despite a lack of immediate military threats from its Arab neighbors. It analyzes the fallout from a September 9, 2025, Israeli strike in Doha, which triggered rare Arab unity and accelerated a strategic realignment away from the United States. The author discusses the 'Trump Peace Plan' for Gaza as a rupture that may bring hostages home but faces significant risks of derailment due to its vague nature and opposition from Israeli ultranationalists. Additionally, the text highlights a new nuclear shield agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and the potential for Syria to become a site of power struggle between Turkey and Israel following the toppling of Bashar al-Asad.

The authors propose a 'strategic resilience' framework to elevate climate change adaptation from 'low politics' in environment ministries to the heart of government. Using a UK case study, the paper highlights the failure of traditional territorial adaptation to address cross-border risks—which propagate via trade, finance, people, and biophysical routes. It warns against the 'securitization' of adaptation by defence ministries and suggests three pathways for reform: empowering environment ministries, establishing central coordinators, or creating dedicated ministries of resilience.

The document describes a high-intensity confrontation between India and Pakistan on May 10, which involved air incursions, missile strikes, and drone battles, nearly escalating to nuclear war. It argues that the reliance on tactical nuclear weapons acts as a critical accelerant in the rapid transition from limited conventional conflict to nuclear signaling.

The report examines the risks associated with the renewed interest in tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) among global powers. It details three plausible use scenarios—targeting facilities, military forces in the field, or demonstration shots—and models the direct physical effects of a 20-kiloton blast. The authors argue that TNW use would trigger unpredictable international crises, erode the long-standing norm of nuclear non-use, and potentially lead to uncontrolled escalation. The paper recommends reinforcing the non-use norm and implementing risk-reduction measures to prevent the normalization of nuclear warfighting.

The briefing criticizes multilateral development banks (MDBs) for continuing to fund large-scale, centralized energy projects that the authors categorize as 'false solutions,' such as nuclear, carbon capture, and fossil gas. It argues these investments undermine equity and delay the transition to sustainable energy. Using case studies from Africa and Asia, the document recommends that MDBs prioritize decentralized renewable energy, reform climate finance frameworks, and ensure the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous peoples.

In the first half of 2025, global solar and wind generation grew sufficiently to meet and exceed total electricity demand growth, leading to renewables overtaking coal in the global electricity mix for the first time. Solar generation saw record absolute growth, while total fossil fuel generation declined slightly. Consequently, global CO2 emissions from the power sector fell marginally by 0.2%, although results varied by region, with emissions decreasing in China and India but increasing in the US and EU.

In the first half of 2025, global solar and wind generation grew sufficiently to exceed total electricity demand growth, leading to renewables overtaking coal's share of the global electricity mix for the first time on record. While China and India saw declines in fossil fuel generation and emissions, the US and EU experienced increases due to demand growth outpacing clean energy in the US and unfavorable weather affecting wind and hydro in the EU.

Climate finance for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) surpassed USD 1 trillion in 2023, with 80% mobilized domestically. Mitigation finance dominates, accounting for 92% of flows (USD 979 billion), while adaptation finance reached USD 48 billion. China is the primary driver, providing 64% of total EMDE flows. Significant gaps remain, with annual mitigation needs estimated at USD 3.86 trillion. The report recommends strengthening domestic enabling environments, improving the quality of international finance, and increasing data transparency to scale investment.

Friends of the Earth International argues that environmental rights are human rights and should form an autonomous basis for corporate liability in the UN Legally Binding Instrument. The document provides textual suggestions to ensure TNCs are obligated to prevent environmental harm, phase out emissions, and provide full ecological restoration, moving beyond voluntary due diligence and ESG frameworks.

The policy brief by Friends of the Earth International advocates for the integration of explicit environmental and climate obligations for transnational corporations (TNCs) into the UN's legally binding instrument. It argues that the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a recognized human right, as established by UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/76/300 and various regional courts. The document provides specific text proposals to ensure TNCs are held legally accountable for environmental damage, biodiversity loss, and climate change, moving beyond procedural due diligence to substantive obligations of result, including the total elimination of climate emissions across value chains and full ecological restoration.

The report critiques 'coal transition offsets' (CTOs), specifically those promoted by the Rockefeller Foundation's Coal-to-Clean-Credit Initiative (CCCI) and Singapore's Traction Coalition. It argues that CTOs inherit the systemic failures of the broader carbon offset market, including non-additionality and over-crediting. Through analysis of pilot projects in the Philippines, the document demonstrates how CTOs may not actually accelerate plant closures and can create perverse incentives for policymakers to avoid mandating coal phaseouts. The author recommends shifting focus from individual plant buyouts to systemic energy reforms, such as grid modernization and the renegotiation of power purchase agreements (PPAs) to reduce the financial burden of retiring coal assets.

Between June and August 2025, human-induced climate change significantly increased global temperatures, with at least 22% of the global population experiencing temperatures at Climate Shift Index (CSI) level 2 or higher every day. Nearly 955 million people faced 30 or more 'risky heat days' added by climate change, with the highest impact seen in Asia. The report also documents severe climate-driven events, including record rainfall and flooding in China, India, Pakistan, and the U.S., as well as historic wildfires in Europe and Canada.

China's massive scale in producing solar, wind, batteries, and electric vehicles has significantly lowered global costs, with solar module prices falling over 70% between 2022 and mid-2025. This manufacturing capacity allows China to potentially supply the entire world's solar needs for 2030 as defined by the IEA. These affordable technologies are facilitating an 'energy leapfrog' in emerging markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where some countries now have higher solar shares in power generation than the US. Consequently, China's own fossil fuel demand is approaching a plateau, and the global demand for fossil fuels is projected to be in structural decline by 2030.

The report identifies a significant 'take-off' in solar panel imports to Africa, with imports from China rising 60% to 15,032 MW in the 12 months to June 2025. This growth is widespread, with 20 countries setting new import records and 25 countries importing at least 100 MW. The report suggests this surge may be driven by distributed solar, potentially replacing expensive diesel generation and significantly increasing electricity supply in several countries, such as Sierra Leone and Chad.

The document argues that Africa's energy transition is occurring along two simultaneous tracks: centralised infrastructure and decentralised, bottom-up systems. It contends that current climate finance is too narrow, focusing almost exclusively on sovereign borrowers and large projects while ignoring the retail layer of the transition. To address this, the author proposes a dual mandate that combines infrastructure finance with consumer and trade finance. The document suggests that National Development Banks (NDBs) should act as refinancers and risk aggregators to provide local-currency credit, blended guarantees, and capital recycling mechanisms to support households, MSMEs, and informal trade networks.

The paper examines the impact of generative AI on journalism and politics in Australia and New Zealand, highlighting a gap between technological adoption and regulatory oversight. It advocates for a shift from piecemeal digital literacy efforts to mandatory curricula and the adoption of AI labelling standards, drawing on OSINT transparency models and industry-academic collaborations to ensure information integrity.

A Global Witness investigation reveals that 17 of the world's least developed countries and largest US aid recipients have signed lobbying contracts worth over $21 million since November 2024. The report highlights a trend where nations facing humanitarian crises and aid freezes—such as Pakistan, the DRC, and Somalia—are bartering preferential access to critical minerals, oil, gas, and strategic ports for US political or military assistance. Many of these deals involve firms and individuals closely linked to Donald Trump's inner circle, creating a transactional 'America First' dynamic that Global Witness argues risks resource exploitation in fragile, conflict-affected states.

An event attribution study by World Weather Attribution found that human-induced climate change, primarily from fossil fuel combustion and deforestation, has increased the intensity of 30-day maximum rainfall in northern Pakistan by approximately 15%. The study highlights that while the event had a return period of about five years, the resulting high death toll—300 fatalities nationwide as of August 3, 2025, including 140 children—was exacerbated by rapid urbanization, informal settlements, and poor building code enforcement. The report emphasizes a significant funding gap for adaptation, noting that Pakistan requires US$152 billion for adaptation between 2023 and 2030, much of which remains unfinanced.

The document outlines the existential risk posed by the approximately 12,000 nuclear warheads held by nine nations. It explains the physics of fission and fusion weapons and analyzes the catastrophic effects of detonations, ranging from immediate blast and radiation deaths in urban centers to global climate disruption. The guide highlights the instability of 'launch on warning' postures and the potential for 'nuclear winter' and ozone depletion, arguing that even regional conflicts would cause global famine and societal collapse.