Search Climate Insights Directory

The document argues that the Adaptation Fund is a unique and essential part of the international climate finance architecture that requires improved operating modalities to enhance climate resilience. It specifically highlights the insufficiency of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a funding source and recommends exploring links to Article 6 of the Paris Agreement alongside diverse new revenue streams like national ETSs and carbon taxes.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) faces a crisis of confidence as it nears the end of its first funding period. The World Resources Institute outlines five key priorities for the GCF Board's final 2018 meeting in Bahrain: approving a record 20 funding proposals worth $1.1 billion, accrediting 16 new partners while managing capacity constraints, establishing a process for the fund's first replenishment, reforming decision-making to move beyond a strict unanimity-based consensus model, and conducting a comprehensive performance review of its portfolio.

The BONUS RETURN project focuses on the implementation of eco-technologies in three river basins: Vantaanjoki (Finland), Słupia (Poland), and Fyrisån (Sweden). During its first year, the project established a broad definition of 'eco-technologies' as "human interventions in social- ecological systems in the form of practices and/or biological, physical, and chemical processes designed to minimise harm to the environment and provide services of value to society." Key activities included a systematic review of 77 articles to define the term, a search of nearly 35,000 records to identify existing technologies in agriculture and wastewater treatment, and the establishment of stakeholder platforms in the three catchment areas. Additionally, the project launched the 'Nutrients and Carbon Reuse Challenge', attracting 15 European applicants and selecting three winning innovations for pre-commercialization planning. Technical work included collecting data for SWAT modelling to establish baseline phosphorus (Ptot) and nitrogen (Ntot) loadings in the case study areas.

The Bangkok Climate Change Conference focused on operationalizing the Paris Agreement through the PAWP, covering mitigation, adaptation, finance, and transparency. While some technical progress was made in streamlining negotiating texts, overall progress was characterized as "uneven," with significant deadlocks remaining over climate finance (Article 9.5) and the principle of differentiation in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

The report argues that coal transitions are already underway due to economic shifts, the falling cost of renewables, and environmental concerns, independent of climate policy. Through analysis of China, India, South Africa, Poland, Germany, and Australia, it concludes that phasing out coal is technically feasible and cost-neutral or advantageous for consumers. It emphasizes that a 'just transition' for workers and communities is possible through early stakeholder consultation, tailored workforce programs, and regional economic diversification. The document also warns coal exporters of the risks of stranded assets and the potential for abrupt declines in global demand.

The 2018 Talanoa Dialogue, facilitated by the Fijian and Polish presidencies, aims to raise climate ambition by taking stock of progress toward the Paris Agreement and informing 2020 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The process uses a non-adversarial, story-based methodology to foster consensus. NHRIs and civil society are encouraged to provide actionable, positive inputs that link climate action to human rights, including gender equality, indigenous peoples' rights, and just transitions. The dialogue consists of preparatory phases (online submissions and in-session dialogues) and a final political phase at COP-24 in Katowice, Poland.

The report details a growing movement across Europe to replace the 'war on drugs' with policies based on harm reduction, public health, and human rights. It provides country-specific accounts from Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the UK, highlighting a tension between restrictive national laws and progressive proposals for decriminalisation, legalisation of cannabis, and the implementation of safe consumption rooms.

The author examines the tension between maintaining the US-led 'nuclear sharing' system and pursuing European strategic autonomy. While some propose a Franco-German nuclear cooperation to replace the US umbrella, the author warns against European militarism and instead advocates for a diplomatic strategy of preventive denuclearization, drawing on the Rapacki Plan to reduce nuclear stockpiles in Europe and move toward a world without nuclear weapons.

The document examines how green bonds support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically highlighting six goals that receive direct benefits from green investment. It emphasizes that climate action is a crosscutting theme necessary for the success of all SDGs and calls for increased climate risk disclosure across all thematic bond labels to ensure long-term sustainability.

The document details the growth of sovereign green bonds, the introduction of national guidelines in Latin America, and the implementation of targeted incentives in Hong Kong. It also covers the European Commission's progress on a sustainable finance taxonomy, Luxembourg's pioneering law for renewable energy covered bonds, and the increasing role of central banks, such as the People's Bank of China, in integrating green assets into financial stability frameworks.

ClientEarth argues that the post-2020 EMFF must avoid capacity-enhancing subsidies and instead prioritize marine biodiversity restoration, data collection, and fisheries control. The briefing criticizes the European Commission's proposal for reducing prescriptive eligibility rules and reintroducing harmful subsidies for vessel renewal and cessation schemes, which contradicts EU international commitments under UN SDG 14 and WTO negotiations. Key recommendations include ring-fencing 25% of budgets for biodiversity and control, strengthening conditionality to include environmental law violations, and limiting funding to SMEs and low-impact aquaculture.

The document advocates for the European Union to lead the 'Mission 2020' initiative, which aims to bend the global emissions curve by 2020 to stay within the 2-degree Celsius limit of the Paris Agreement. It argues that the EU can use its existing institutional frameworks, specifically regional cohesion and structural funds, to support a just transition toward low-carbon economies. The text emphasizes a shift from centralized energy production to decentralized, community-based renewable energy systems to empower local actors and counteract populist movements. It cites historical industrial transitions in regions like the Ruhr Area as evidence that such structural changes can be managed. Additionally, it highlights the role of bottom-up movements, such as the Transition Town Movement and the fossil fuel divestment movement, in driving decarbonization.

The BONUS RETURN project launched the Nutrients and Carbon Reuse Challenge in December 2017 to identify eco-technologies capable of transforming nutrients and carbon into benefits. Out of 13 applications, three winners—Biophree, TerraNovaUltra, and Ravita—were selected based on criteria including relevance, sustainability, and market potential. These technologies focus on recovering phosphorus and carbon from wastewater and agricultural sectors to support the Baltic Sea Region's environmental goals.

The report examines the transition from linear to circular resource use in wastewater management, focusing on the socio-cultural barriers to recycling sewage sludge as fertilizer. It analyzes historical practices in the EU and provides detailed case studies from three river basins in Sweden, Poland, and Finland, highlighting how perceptions of risk and regulatory gaps hinder the adoption of eco-technologies.

The document examines how green bonds support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically identifying SDGs 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 as those receiving the most direct benefit from green investment. It highlights that while clean energy (SDG7) remains the largest market share at 40%, other sectors like low carbon buildings (24%) and transport (15%) are significant. The author argues that climate change is a crosscutting threat to all SDGs and calls for the application of 'green' definitions and climate risk disclosure across all thematic bonds—including social and sustainability bonds—to avoid short-term gains that fail long-term climate targets. The briefing concludes that annual green bond issuance must scale to USD1 trillion by 2020 to meet these goals.

Carbon Market Watch outlines critical issues facing the development of the Paris Agreement rulebook, specifically regarding carbon markets. The author emphasizes the need to prevent double counting between the UNFCCC and CORSIA, ensure additionality by requiring reductions to exceed national pledges, and protect indigenous rights through mandatory consultations. Furthermore, it warns against the trading of 'hot air' under cooperative approaches and advocates for the Sustainable Development Mechanism to function as a results-based finance scheme rather than an offsetting tool.

Paula Caballero of the World Resources Institute states that while negotiators maintained a good pace in Bonn, significant work remains before COP24 in Katowice. She identifies three critical success factors for the upcoming summit: finalizing Paris Agreement implementation guidelines, committing to strengthened national climate plans by 2020, and increasing support for developing countries.

The briefing emphasizes that the Paris Agreement requires a strong 'rulebook' of implementing guidelines to turn the pact into a functioning regime. It highlights the upcoming April 2018 negotiations in Bonn, Germany, as a critical step toward finalizing these rules by December 2018 at COP24 in Katowice, Poland. Key areas of negotiation include transparency, the global stocktake, NDC communication, market approaches, and finance predictability. The author stresses that the rulebook must balance universal frameworks with flexibility for developing countries based on their capacities to ensure equity and durability.

The policy brief contends that climate risks are often 'borderless' and that treating adaptation as a local problem hinders global ambition. It advocates for a shared terminology and a transboundary framing of risk—recognizing how impacts in one country create risks in others via trade, migration, and ecosystems—to better utilize the Paris Agreement's mechanisms, such as the global stocktake and National Adaptation Plans, for collective resilience.

The author argues that opposition to immigration is a pervasive popular movement across Europe, regardless of a country's ethnic homogeneity or immigration policy. This trend is contributing to political polarization and a potential 'de-democratization' process, particularly as it aligns with skepticism toward supranational solutions like the EU. The text highlights a divide between 'new' and 'old' Europe, noting that some Eastern European countries lack the same norms of tolerance as Western Europe, which influences their resistance to EU refugee quotas.