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The report examines Australia's exposure to illegally harvested timber, focusing on high-risk supply chains from East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. It highlights the role of China and Vietnam as processing hubs that obscure the origin of timber from high-risk regions like the Congo Basin. The authors argue that current enforcement of the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act (ILPA) is limited and recommend increased transparency, scientific species testing, and a shift toward tracing timber back to the country of harvest rather than the country of export.

The document examines national investment laws as versatile policy instruments, tracing their shift from national development tools (1950-1979) to mechanisms for incorporating international treaty standards (1980-2010). It identifies seven primary functions of contemporary investment laws: regulating admission, administering incentives, facilitating investment, providing legal protection, managing disputes, specifying investor obligations, and supervising investments. The report argues against a 'one-size-fits-all' model, suggesting instead that laws be designed based on a country's specific policy objectives and regulatory capacity. It provides a detailed framework for policymakers to evaluate existing laws and design new ones, emphasizing the need to reduce legal risks associated with investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and inefficient tax incentives.

The report explores how repeating national climate risk assessments (CRAs) can support the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) of national adaptation efforts. While CRAs are traditionally used to inform planning, the author argues they can also track changes in vulnerability over time to assess adaptation success. Analysis of 12 countries reveals a shift toward viewing CRAs as continuous learning processes rather than static reports, with a growing consensus that updates should occur roughly every five years to align with policy cycles. However, the report finds that fully standardized approaches to repeating CRAs are often impractical due to evolving science and shifting policy priorities. Instead, it suggests a flexible approach where only specific components are standardized. Early adopters like Germany and the United Kingdom have begun using CRAs to evaluate NAP effectiveness, though they face methodological challenges, including the time lag between implementing measures and seeing tangible risk reductions.

The report explores how national climate risk assessments (CRAs) can transition from one-off planning documents to iterative tools for monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL). Based on analysis from 12 countries, it argues that while periodic CRAs are essential for evidence-based National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), a fully standardized approach is often impractical due to evolving scientific knowledge and shifting policy priorities. The document highlights that countries like Germany and the UK are beginning to use CRAs to assess whether vulnerability is decreasing, though methodological challenges remain, such as the time lag between adaptation action and observable risk reduction.

The report identifies Project GAIA as a Category I-1 private sector programme operating across multiple countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It confirms that an Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), which includes frameworks for land acquisition, resettlement, indigenous peoples, and biodiversity management, was disclosed on June 23, 2023, in English and several local languages.

The report examines the current state of mining taxation and proposes ten innovative policy ideas to increase government revenue. It highlights the shift toward critical minerals for the energy transition and the risks posed by automation and profit shifting. The proposed ideas include minimum profit sharing, production sharing contracts, state equity, state-owned enterprises, variable royalties, the 'Sixth Method' for transfer pricing, carbon pricing, development taxes for communities, competitive bidding for licenses, and remote monitoring for quarries. It also provides a framework for evaluating these reforms and discusses the legal challenges associated with fiscal stabilization clauses and international investment treaties.

The guide examines the current state of mining taxation, highlighting challenges such as base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), and proposes ten innovative policy ideas to improve revenue mobilization. These include minimum profit shares, production sharing contracts, variable royalties, and the 'Sixth Method' for transfer pricing. It also addresses the impact of the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and suggests the implementation of domestic carbon pricing and remote monitoring technologies for industrial minerals. The document emphasizes the need for transparent governance, professional board management for state-owned enterprises, and a balanced approach to fiscal stability clauses to ensure sustainable development.

This document is a list of participants for the 31st Meeting of the Executive Council to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, held on June 21, 2023, in Panama City and via videoconference.

The Regional Workshop on Climate, Environment, and Health, held in March 2023 in San Martín de los Andes, Argentina, focused on strengthening public institutional capacity to address environmental determinants of health (EDHs) in the Americas. The event convened nearly 100 experts from 20 countries to promote transdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration. Key outcomes included the development of 13 seed grant proposals addressing issues such as dengue, heatwaves, and zoonoses, and the announcement of the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA2) funding call. The workshop also highlighted local climate and health initiatives in Neuquén Province, including GHG inventory efforts in San Martín de los Andes and vector-borne disease control in Neuquén Capital.

The research identifies a significant gap between solar radiation potential and installed capacity in lower-income countries, driven by high costs of capital linked to sovereign, political, and off-taker risks. To address this, the authors propose a Global Credit Guarantee Facility (GCGF) with a suggested capitalization of USD 6.6 billion to provide partial guarantees for cross-border debt. The paper models two approaches for the GCGF's impact: one reducing overall risk premiums by an average of 6% and another reducing them by 3% by focusing solely on default rates. The facility aims to mobilize approximately USD 120 billion in debt to meet the 2030 solar targets of shortlisted emerging market and developing economy countries.

The document analyzes the lithium supply chain for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, highlighting a distributive injustice where the 'Lithium Triangle' (Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile) suffers environmental degradation and water scarcity while North America gains from reduced urban pollution. It argues that science diplomacy—integrating scientific evidence into transnational policy—can establish sustainability thresholds and geochemical tracing methods to ensure responsible sourcing. The authors recommend using sustainability science to define mining standards and employing lithium isotope analysis to verify the origin of materials, drawing parallels from successful agricultural supply chain policies.

The document analyzes how corruption facilitates environmental damage by bypassing laws and influencing resource management. Through case studies in Madagascar, Peru, and Vietnam, it finds that anti-corruption efforts often fail when they are treated as secondary project goals, rely on purely technical solutions, or ignore the complex political dynamics and power imbalances inherent in resource governance. The report recommends strengthening risk analysis, improving donor coordination, supporting civil society and indigenous defenders, and enhancing transnational data availability to combat environmental corruption.

The document analyzes corruption in renewable resource management through case studies in Madagascar, Peru, and Vietnam, arguing that technical solutions often fail because they ignore the political ecology and power dynamics of resource control. It recommends strengthening risk analysis, improving donor coordination, supporting human rights defenders, and enhancing transnational law enforcement data.

This document, prepared by the IAI Directorate, presents preliminary findings from a Regional Assessment of IAI Parties' priorities regarding global change policy. The assessment utilized surveys, listening sessions, and the analysis of 86 policy documents to map the domestic and international global change policy landscape, identifying current and emerging priorities as well as barriers to integrating scientific information into decision-making.

The report details a regional assessment conducted by the IAI to map national and international global change policies and decision-making landscapes. Using surveys, listening sessions, and policy document analysis, the assessment identifies 'Climate Action' as the top current policy priority for member parties, followed by 'Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services'. It also highlights emerging priorities related to social consequences, such as human health and poverty, and identifies intersectoral collaboration gaps as a primary barrier to integrating scientific information into policy decisions.

The IAI Executive Direction reports progress across science, capacity building, and strategic implementation between 2022 and 2023. Key achievements include the establishment of a Gender, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (GEDI) committee, the launch of the Science Diplomacy Center (SDC), and the expansion of the Science, Technology, and Policy (STeP) Fellowship program to 64 fellows from 13 countries. The IAI also advanced regional initiatives on the climate-health nexus, drought information systems in South America, and collaborative research through the Belmont Forum. Strategic partnerships were strengthened with organizations such as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to enhance climate risk assessment and science-policy interfaces in the Americas.

This briefing provides an update on the Initiative for enhancing capacity for climate risk assessment and catalyzing partnerships to inform decisions in Latin America and the Caribbean (LACI). It details the initiative's progress from a scoping and partnership building phase involving 14 countries to a pilot co-design phase featuring four specific projects aimed at strengthening climate risk assessments and data interoperability in the region.

This briefing provides an update on the Initiative for Conducting a National Climate Assessment in Support of Adaptation and Mitigation (LACI), an effort led by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) to strengthen climate risk assessments and decision-making in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The STeP Fellowship Program aims to build human and institutional capacities in IAI member states to provide expert scientific advice for public policy on global change. Between 2022 and 2023, the program expanded its cohort to 64 fellows from 13 countries, providing training in science diplomacy, communication, and leadership. Key achievements include the graduation of the first cohort of 17 alumni in February 2023 and the development of science diplomacy projects covering topics such as the lithium supply chain, circular economy, and climate justice. The program is currently seeking financial support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The report analyzes how UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (HRTBs) are increasingly integrating climate change into their oversight of State obligations. In 2022, HRTBs made 95 references to climate change in their pronouncements, reflecting a trend toward treating the climate crisis as an urgent human rights issue. Key focus areas include the obligation of developed states to mitigate emissions, the need to phase out fossil fuels, and the protection of vulnerable groups such as children, women, persons with disabilities, and Indigenous Peoples. A landmark decision by the Human Rights Committee in Billy et al. v. Australia established a State's duty to protect individuals under its jurisdiction from climate impacts and provide effective remedies. The report emphasizes the growing role of HRTBs in defining extraterritorial obligations and the duty to regulate private corporate actors contributing to environmental degradation.