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The author argues that the European radical right is moving toward becoming a dominant political force by utilizing a 'common political playbook' of delegitimizing institutions and reforming state architecture to maintain power. This movement is characterized by opposition to minorities, migration, European integration, and 'gender ideology', with Russia and Turkey serving as strategic reference points. To counter this, the author proposes a three-part Green strategy: exposing the hypocrisy and foreign ties of nationalist movements, 'Europeanising' the Green movement to coordinate support across borders, and addressing the root causes of radical right popularity by championing progressive cultural identities and combating neoliberal economic precarity.

One year after the Paris Agreement's adoption, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) finds that national climate policies have made little progress. If NDCs are fully implemented, global warming by 2100 is estimated at 2.8°C, while current policies would lead to 3.6°C. A significant emissions gap remains for 2025 and 2030. The report highlights specific national trajectories, noting that most assessed NDCs are inadequate or medium in ambition, with particular concerns regarding the US, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, while noting positive renewable energy growth in India.

The study evaluates the Arctic Council's ability to function as a learning organization. It finds that while the Council successfully bridged local and global policy on persistent organic pollutants (POPs), it has struggled to reframe its role and structure to effectively address climate change and the social impacts of extractive industries. The authors argue that 'governance fit' should be viewed as an organization's capacity for learning and adaptation rather than a fixed match between the scale of a problem and the scope of the governing body.

The report identifies polar bears as highly vulnerable to climate change due to their extreme dependence on sea ice for hunting, mating, and traveling. While the species possesses some genetic diversity and mobility, these are offset by a low reproductive rate, long generation time, and the rapid decline of Arctic sea ice, which is projected to be nearly ice-free in the summer before mid-century. Key recommendations include protecting the "last ice areas" in northern Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago, increasing population monitoring, and managing rising human-wildlife conflict as bears spend more time on land.

The report highlights that while global wild tiger populations increased to approximately 3,890 by 2016, this progress is threatened by an estimated 11,000 kilometres of planned roads and railways across tiger landscapes. Linear infrastructure causes habitat fragmentation, increases human-tiger conflict, and facilitates poaching. Through case studies in the Dawna Tenasserim Landscape, the Terai Arc Landscape, and Sumatra, the document demonstrates how infrastructure projects can isolate populations and degrade ecosystems. WWF calls on governments and investors to adopt long-term spatial plans, protect critical habitats as inviolate areas, and implement wildlife crossings to maintain connectivity.

The document examines the push for BRICS institutionalisation under Indian leadership, arguing that while creating formal mechanisms like the New Development Bank (NDB) can strengthen cooperation, the group faces significant hurdles. These include China's perceived preference for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) over the NDB, a lack of consensus on security and domestic politics, and severe domestic economic and political instability across member states.

The text advocates for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Svetlana Alekseevna Gannushkina, highlighting her work with the Civic Assistance Committee and her efforts to protect refugees and migrants in Russia. It details her role in providing legal support to over 50,000 individuals and her activism in the North Caucasus and Nagorno-Karabakh. The author asserts that such an award would signal international disapproval of President Putin's undermining of human rights and civil society in Russia.

The WWF-Mondi Wetlands Programme (WWF-MWP), established in 1991, has spent 25 years catalysing wetland conservation in South Africa. The programme evolved from a local project in KwaZulu-Natal to a national initiative, and eventually part of a global partnership between WWF and Mondi. Key achievements include the development of a scientifically defensible wetland delineation method adopted by the forestry industry and government, the creation of the SUSFARMS® sustainable sugarcane management system, and the catalysing of the state-run Working for Wetlands programme. The programme has shifted its focus from specific wetland sites to a broader 'landscape approach' to water stewardship, engaging dairy, sugar, and forestry sectors to improve water security and ecosystem resilience.

The document describes how nuclear weapons generate energy through fission (splitting heavy nuclei) and fusion (combining light nuclei). It details the transition from early 'gun-type' fission weapons to modern thermonuclear weapons that use a primary fission stage to trigger a secondary fusion stage. It also outlines the technical challenges of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing, and provides estimated warhead counts for nuclear-armed states as of 2025.

The document advocates for a regional phase-out of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) in the Arctic, noting that 96 percent of large ships in the region use this toxic fuel. It highlights the role of black carbon emissions in accelerating Arctic ice melt and the extreme difficulty of cleaning up HFO spills in remote, cold environments. The author calls on the Obama administration to use the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to address these risks, specifically by submitting a comment paper by September 2, 2016.

The analysis contends that global coal import markets are declining, specifically in Asia and Europe, which undermines the claim that new South African coal reserves are necessary to meet international demand. It highlights India's intent to phase out thermal coal imports and Europe's shift toward renewable energy and natural gas, while noting that China has ceased importing South African coal since 2014.

The author contends that Africa should actively influence the New Development Bank (NDB) during its early implementation to overcome the slow pace of traditional multilateral development bank financing. The NDB is highlighted for its agility, equal voting rights among founding members, and potential to lend in domestic currencies to mitigate exchange-rate risks. The paper emphasizes the role of the NDB's Africa Regional Centre in South Africa to address the shortage of bankable projects and suggests integrating poverty alleviation and women's empowerment indicators into project preparation.

An open letter from a group of British scientists and engineers calling for the cancellation of the Trident successor programme and the adoption of nuclear disarmament policies to mitigate global security and climate risks.

The author argues that pro-Kremlin media systematically misrepresent the European Union as a weak entity failing to manage 'multiculturalism' and the migrant crisis. This narrative is often amplified by EU-based media and xenophobic political rhetoric within EU Member States, such as in Poland and the Czech Republic. The document suggests that relying on government-run communication agencies like East StratCom is insufficient and instead recommends investing in independent Russian-language media and promoting nuanced, fact-based reporting within the EU to counter these narratives.

The text examines the synergy between Russian state-sponsored disinformation and rising xenophobic rhetoric within EU member states. It highlights how pro-Kremlin outlets frame the EU as weak and 'multiculturalism' as a disease to fuel anti-EU sentiment. The author argues that relying solely on official strategic communication agencies is insufficient and instead advocates for supporting independent Russian-language journalism and promoting nuanced, fact-based discourse within the EU to counter these narratives.

The research analyzes how climate finance investments generate economic value added not only in recipient countries but also in third countries through international trade, termed 'spill-overs'. Using a GMRIO model, the study finds that on average 28.6% of the total economic impact spills over to other countries. The ability to retain value added varies by country, with India and Brazil retaining around 80%, while Mexico and Indonesia retain no more than two thirds. The EU is the primary beneficiary of these spill-overs. The study also identifies that different types of climate actions produce varying levels of spill-overs: renewable energy technologies often generate high spill-overs (exceeding 35% for some), whereas forestry and coastal protection generate fewer than 20%. The authors suggest that donor countries may be influenced by these spill-over prospects when allocating funds, and recipient countries should improve industrial competitiveness to retain more economic gains.

The document argues that a general trend in Brazilian transport regulation seeks to reduce the economic profits of private concessionaires, which is being offset by hidden subsidies from the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). This shift is claimed to erode incentives for private operators to select the most efficient projects and maintain high quality, thereby increasing costs for the agricultural sector. While highways and railways are seen as suffering from increasing regulatory complexity and unbundling, the port sector is highlighted as a relative success due to the deregulation of private usage terminals (TUPs), although the authors suggest further deregulation of public ports is needed.

The document examines how shifting regulatory environments in Brazil since the late 1990s have created market uncertainty and diminished the quality of transport infrastructure. It highlights that high transportation costs—such as soybean transport being nearly three times more expensive than in the U.S.—hinder agricultural productivity. The authors recommend realigning auction processes for highways, returning to a vertical integration framework for railways, and deregulating public ports to restore market incentives and improve infrastructure quality.

The report details the technical specifications, deployment history, and systemic failures of the US Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) and its associated kill vehicles. It highlights a pattern of deploying hardware and software before adequate flight testing, resulting in numerous design flaws, manufacturing errors, and failed intercept tests across multiple versions of the kill vehicle (CE-I, CE-II, and CE-II Block 1). The document also outlines future development plans for the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) and Multi-Object Kill Vehicles (MOKV), while discussing the kinematics of SM-3 interceptors as potential alternatives.

The Union of Concerned Scientists reports that the US Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, costing over $40 billion, lacks demonstrated real-world capability because it was exempted from standard military acquisition and oversight rules. The report finds that most interceptors were fielded before successful testing and that current tests are overly simplified, leading to a system that is not on a credible path to operational utility.