Search Climate Insights Directory

This 2015 fact sheet by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) compiles employment data for the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors in the United States and globally. It highlights significant job growth in U.S. green building and solar sectors, while identifying China as the global leader in renewable energy employment. The report notes challenges in data consistency due to varying methodologies and the cessation of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Green Careers program.

This technical annex assesses progress toward Goal 10 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which focuses on strengthening forest governance, transparency, the rule of law, and the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs). The report utilizes three primary indicators: the strength of institutions and policies in producer and consumer countries, the prevalence of illegal logging and related violence, and the formal recognition of land and forest rights for IPLCs.

This technical annex assesses progress toward Goal 2 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which aims to eliminate deforestation from the production of agricultural commodities—specifically palm oil, soy, paper, and beef—by 2020. The report uses market share of certified commodities and the number of corporate and governmental commitments as proxy indicators for progress, noting significant data gaps and varying levels of ambition across different sectors.

This technical annex evaluates progress toward Goal 3 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which targets the reduction of deforestation from non-agricultural sectors. It identifies infrastructure, human settlements, and mining as the primary non-agricultural drivers, with logging as the main cause of forest degradation. The report highlights a significant lack of disaggregated data, making it impossible to establish quantitative indicators for progress. It reviews public policy tools such as import bans on illegal timber in the US, EU, and Australia, and the use of Strategic Environmental Impact Assessments (SEA) by the World Bank. Private sector efforts include FSC and PEFC certifications, though certified forest land has plateaued at 10% since 2008, and emerging responsible mining initiatives like the Oro Verde program in Colombia.

This technical annex report assesses progress toward Goal 8 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which focuses on providing support for the development and implementation of strategies to reduce forest emissions. The document analyzes financial flows from international public donors, domestic public spending, private sector investments, and contributions from civil society and indigenous peoples, while highlighting significant data gaps in non-ODA funding.

This report examines the financial subsidies and externalities associated with coal use in China and evaluates how these subsidies hinder the growth of renewable energy.

This policy brief examines whether South Africa can utilize its role as co-chair of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to advance its global governance reform agenda. While South Africa seeks to align FOCAC with its broader goals of a just and equitable international order, the author argues that FOCAC is primarily a tool for Sino-African development diplomacy and is unlikely to replace or exceed the strategic global governance role of the BRICS bloc.

This briefing by the World Resources Institute outlines the critical objectives for climate negotiations in Bonn as a prelude to COP21 in Paris. It evaluates the current state of national climate plans and identifies key areas in the co-chairs' draft agreement—including improvement cycles, long-term goals, transparency, finance, and adaptation—that require further clarity and ambition to ensure a strong global agreement.

A statement from World Resources Institute President and CEO Dr. Andrew Steer regarding an OECD report that found climate finance commitments from developed countries and multilateral banks rose to $62 billion in 2014, indicating progress toward the $100 billion annual goal for 2020.

The report "ENERGY POLICY SOLUTIONS" by Energy Innovation proposes a cost-effective package of 15 policies designed to help the United States meet its 2025 carbon targets and save approximately $840 billion between 2016 and 2030. These policies were identified using the Energy Policy Simulator, an open-source tool peer-reviewed by institutions including MIT and Stanford University, to analyze thousands of policy combinations across various energy sectors.

This insight brief by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) provides a systemic framework for understanding sustainable finance, specifically focusing on the global energy transition to a low-carbon future. It decomposes financial transactions into five core elements and identifies three primary categories of barriers—risk/return, information, and scale—that impede the flow of capital into sustainability initiatives. The document proposes a matrix of 26 broad strategies, utilizing both policy and non-policy approaches, and applies this framework to case studies on U.S. residential solar and electric vehicles (EVs).

This briefing analyzes the UN Sustainable Development Summit, which focused on the adoption of the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It examines the successful negotiation process led by the Open Working Group (OWG), initial national commitments to implementation, and outstanding requirements such as the development of indicators and the outcome of the Paris Climate Change Conference.

The World Resources Institute praises a joint U.S.-China climate announcement, highlighting China's 2017 emissions trading system launch, a $3.1 billion climate finance pledge, and U.S. implementation of the Clean Power Plan as key steps toward a strong global agreement in Paris.

This policy brief from the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the evolving security relationship between China and Africa. It analyzes how China is shifting from a strict policy of non-interference toward deeper engagement in both traditional military security and non-traditional threats, including the protection of its citizens, pandemic response, and environmental conservation, increasingly through multilateral frameworks.

The document outlines the progress of President Obama's Climate Action Plan (CAP) between June 2013 and August 2015. The plan focuses on three goals: cutting U.S. carbon pollution (including the Clean Power Plan and targets to reduce GHG emissions by 26-28% by 2025), preparing the U.S. for climate impacts through local and tribal leadership task forces, and leading international efforts via bilateral agreements with China, India, and Brazil.

This technical note describes the methodology used by the World Resources Institute to create country-level projections of water stress for 2020, 2030, and 2040. By aggregating sub-catchment data using spatially weighted water-withdrawal grids, the tool provides rankings across three IPCC-based scenarios (optimistic, business-as-usual, and pessimistic). The results identify countries at extreme risk, while the authors caution that national averages can mask significant sub-national variations and do not reflect the impact of local water governance.

A joint statement from eleven environmental organizations urging conferees to reject a provision in the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act of 2015 (H.R. 644) that would restrict the ability of the United States to address climate change in trade agreements.

This research paper analyzes South Africa's engagement with the BRICS bloc ahead of the Ufa summit, highlighting the lack of a concrete strategy to translate the grouping's general economic goals into tangible benefits for South African business and infrastructure.

This policy brief examines South Africa's two terms as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in 2007–2008 and 2011–2012. It focuses on South Africa's efforts to strengthen the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) by formalising institutional links between the UNSC and the African Union (AU), advocating for predictable financial resources, and promoting the role of regional organisations in security management under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter.

This statement from the Climate Bonds Initiative responds to a European Union consultation on the Capital Markets Union, arguing that the EU must take active steps beyond supporting market guidelines to scale the green bond market. The document outlines how existing EU tools and priority areas—such as SME financing, securitisation, and the European Fund for Strategic Investments—can be leveraged to close significant low-carbon investment gaps in the EU and globally.