Search Climate Insights Directory

This report section analyzes the middle-income population at risk due to a lack of access to sustainable cooling in 2022, focusing on high-impact countries. It details a global decline in this demographic, driven largely by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides regional and country-specific breakdowns of population shifts.

The document highlights that 13% of all food production is lost due to a lack of cold chains, amounting to 526 million tonnes annually. This deficiency disproportionately affects low-income countries, with Asia holding the highest share of food loss at 48%. The report argues that expanding sustainable cooling can reduce food losses by 55% and cold chain emissions by 55%, while improving incomes for smallholder farmers. It identifies 54 high-impact countries, noting that while China and India have the highest volumes of loss, several African nations exhibit the highest energy inefficiency in food production. Proposed solutions include National Cooling Action Plans, Cooling as a Service (CaaS) models, and Community Cooling Hubs.

This report section analyzes the growth of the rural poor population lacking access to cooling across 54 high-impact countries in 2022, highlighting the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in increasing extreme poverty despite improvements in electricity access.

The FIP Traceability Toolkit by WWF International provides a framework for implementing seafood traceability in the 'first mile'—the span from catch to first sale. It emphasizes the adoption of Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standards to ensure interoperability across supply chains. The document outlines the importance of traceability for various stakeholders, evaluates monitoring tools such as e-logbooks and VMS, and provides a step-by-step toolkit consisting of a Traceability Gap Analysis and a Workplan Template. Case studies from the Philippines and Peru illustrate the application of electronic catch documentation and traceability (eCDT) systems in small-scale fisheries.

WWF aims to leverage the coastal tourism sector's dependency on nature to drive sustainable development and blue economic growth. The strategy combines a global science-based roadmap, based on the Nature Positive Framework for Oceans, with place-based conservation in the Western and Eastern Pacific Seascapes. Key actions include supporting marine protected areas through innovative finance, improving local seafood sourcing, and collaborating with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, financial institutions, and industry associations to integrate ESG criteria and science-based targets into the sector.

The report argues that whales are sentinel species for ocean health and critical for climate regulation, but face imminent extinction risks from cumulative threats. It advocates for 'connectivity conservation' through the establishment of blue corridors and networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to safeguard migratory routes across national and international waters.

The document compares the Rwanda-Peru (RP) and Japan (JP) draft resolutions for UNEA 5.2, highlighting that while both seek a global legally binding instrument and an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC), they differ significantly in scope and mandate. The RP resolution adopts a broad 'plastic pollution' scope across all environments using a full lifecycle approach (upstream production to downstream waste), whereas the JP resolution focuses specifically on 'marine plastic pollution' with a stronger emphasis on downstream interventions and a goal to reduce additional marine plastic pollution to zero by 2050. Additionally, the RP resolution proposes an 'open mandate' for the INC and a stronger institutional framework, including a financial mechanism and a scientific and socio-economic body, which are absent or more limited in the JP draft.

The report finds that the vast majority of analyzed coal companies have failed to implement credible phase-out plans, with only 6% meeting basic criteria. Many companies continue to expand coal capacity, set exit dates beyond 2040, or use 'greenwashing' tactics such as selling assets to other owners or converting coal plants to gas and biomass. The authors argue that current 'soft' engagement by financial institutions is ineffective due to a lack of strong sanctions, and they call for robust coal exit policies that condition financial services on Paris-aligned plans.

The report argues that achieving Paris Agreement goals in Latin America requires comprehensive policy frameworks and long-term visions to provide the planning certainty necessary to mobilise private capital for decarbonisation.

This document is a participant list for the 52nd Meeting of the Executive Council to the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, held on 18 November 2021. It lists representatives from member countries (including Canada, Chile, the US, and Panama), observer parties (Argentina, Colombia, and Peru), and various advisory and observer organizations.

The report outlines findings from several IAI Small Grants Programme projects. Key highlights include the loss of carbon retention in the Amazon due to deforestation, the identification of a complex 'water crisis' in border regions of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the development of predictive models for the Paraná River basin to balance hydroelectric energy needs with ecosystem services. It also emphasizes the role of co-production of knowledge and participatory governance in enhancing community adaptation to global environmental change across countries including Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay.

The 'Resilient Puna' project aims to protect 120,000 hectares of puna ecosystems in the Southern High Andes of Peru (SHAP) to secure water and livelihoods for approximately 583,000 direct beneficiaries. The initiative focuses on restoring peatlands, wetlands, and grasslands using ancestral techniques like qochas and amunas, while transitioning subsistence farmers toward sustainable agribusinesses. It establishes a 'Puna Facility' to leverage public and private finance, including Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and carbon credits, to ensure long-term sustainability. The project is led by GIZ and Profonanpe, with strong institutional support from Peru's Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI).

The report evaluates zero-emission alternatives to natural gas-driven pneumatic controllers, which are known to release methane. It focuses on electric controllers and solar-powered instrument air systems, finding that both are cost-effective compared to the social cost of methane. The analysis highlights that electric controllers generally offer the lowest abatement costs and that recent technological advancements, such as vertical solar panel stacking and new failsafe systems for Emergency Shut Down (ESD), have expanded the viability of these technologies.

The report finds that European retailers are failing to perform adequate due diligence on their farmed fish supply chains, with 76% landing in a 'red zone' of poor performance. No surveyed retailer has a clear target to eliminate wild-caught fish in feed, and none have policies to blacklist farms with high mortality rates. While some UK retailers show progress in transparency through the Ocean Disclosure Project, overall industry standards for fish welfare and labelling remain inadequate, often relying on insufficient third-party certifications.

The analysis reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has widened the climate finance gap in developing countries, leading to domestic budget reallocations away from climate projects toward health and economic recovery. International climate finance has also decreased, with a higher reliance on loans that increase national debt burdens. The report highlights that climate-finance needs, estimated at $4.6 trillion based on a sample of NDCs, far exceed current flows, and that pandemic-related restrictions have delayed the approval and execution of critical climate projects.

The document outlines the Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) model, a holistic approach designed to secure policy changes and full funding for large-scale conservation goals over a long-term timeframe. It details a five-phase development process—identification, assessment, readiness, design, and implementation—and emphasizes the necessity of a shared vision, a robust financial model, and independent fund administration. The guide provides specific case studies from Brazil (ARPA for Life), Colombia (Heritage Colombia), and Peru (Peru’s Natural Legacy), illustrating how transition funds and sustainable financing mechanisms are used to move from donor dependency to national financial sustainability.

The document outlines the Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) model, a holistic approach to securing long-term ecological, social, political, organizational, and financial sustainability for conservation areas. It details a five-phase process—identification, evaluation, preparation, design, and implementation—and emphasizes the need for a shared vision, a robust financial model, and independent fund management. The guide provides specific case studies from the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program, including ARPA for Life in Brazil, Herencia Colombia, and Patrimonio Natural del Perú, illustrating how these frameworks are applied to protect millions of hectares of biodiversity.

The document argues that infrastructure corruption, particularly 'grand corruption' occurring early in the project lifecycle, leads to oversized or unnecessary projects that cause irreversible ecological damage. It distinguishes between petty corruption, which typically has indirect conservation impacts, and grand corruption, which influences project scope and design for private gain. Using a lifecycle analysis (origination, feasibility/design, contracting/implementation, operation/maintenance, and evaluation/audit), the briefing identifies specific risks such as bribed environmental impact assessments and the circumvention of protections. It proposes anti-corruption strategies based on integrity, transparency, and accountability, recommending risk assessments and a combination of advocacy and direct action to improve conservation outcomes.

The document outlines five primary concerns regarding Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: the lack of buyer demand compared to sellers, the prevalence of unregulated private sector greenwashing, the oversupply of low-quality credits, the struggle to find high-integrity removal credits, and the risk of legacy credits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) undermining new climate targets.

The document examines the transition of Latin America and the Caribbean from experimenting with nature-based solutions (NBS) to wider adoption. Based on a dataset of 156 projects identified in 2020, it highlights that while NBS can provide sustainable alternatives to carbon-intensive 'gray' infrastructure, many projects remain in the preparation stage and lack sufficient funding. The review focuses on sectors such as water, sanitation, housing, energy, and transportation, noting a concentration of projects in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.