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The paper examines Senegal's vulnerability to climate change, its existing national adaptation frameworks, and the systemic gaps that hinder effective local implementation. It highlights the disconnect between high-level policy design and the actual needs of local actors, advocating for a bottom-up approach to climate resilience.

The document examines the drivers of debt distress in developing countries, particularly in Africa, and critiques the inadequacy of current G7 and G20 relief mechanisms. It highlights how a shift toward private creditors and the failure of the G20 Common Framework to enforce private sector participation have hindered debt restructuring. The text advocates for a total dismantling of the current global financial architecture in favor of innovative domestic financing, increased transparency, and the establishment of an International Developing Country Debt Authority.

The document examines how the war in Ukraine disrupted global supply chains, leading to a sharp increase in fertilizer prices across Africa. It notes that these price hikes, combined with high input costs for natural gas and coal, threaten crop yields and increase food prices. While short-term input subsidies are common, the brief advocates for industrialization and the utilization of Africa's natural gas, coal, and phosphate rock reserves to build domestic fertilizer production capacity.

WRI identifies six critical objectives for COP27: establishing a loss and damage financing mechanism, scaling adaptation support, strengthening national emissions targets (NDCs), ensuring the $100 billion climate finance goal is met, advancing the Global Stocktake, and converting previous Glasgow commitments into tangible actions.

The 2022 Forest Declaration Assessment finds that global forest governance is currently insufficient to meet 2030 targets. While some countries have successfully reduced deforestation through moratoria and strengthened enforcement, these gains are often fragile or being reversed by legislative rollbacks. The report highlights persistent tenure insecurity for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, widespread corruption in the timber trade, and significant gaps in the implementation of demand-side regulations in importing nations.

The project aimed to advance long-term finance (LTF) in Sub-Saharan Africa by creating an LTF scoreboard and website to close information gaps for investors and policymakers. Key outputs included the finalisation of the scoreboard, hosted by the African Development Bank, and the completion of LTF landscape diagnostics for Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

CaVEx is a digital marketplace using distributed ledger technology to allow small-scale climate projects to collect data, convert it into carbon credits, and sell them to buyers via mobile payments. Developed by 4R Digital with funding from FSD Africa, the platform aims to lower barriers for projects that lack the resources for traditional expert evaluation. Current development includes testing use cases in Kenya and Senegal, with a minimum viable product planned for September 2022 and long-term goals of onboarding over 50 projects and accessing over $100m in climate finance.

The paper examines how multilateral development banks (MDBs) use policy-based operations (PBOs)—unearmarked budget support provided in exchange for policy reforms—and finds that current risk screening is insufficient to prevent these operations from undermining climate goals. Through an analysis of 126 PBOs and six case studies, the authors argue that policy actions can create path dependence in fossil-fuel-reliant activities and delay urgent climate spending. The document recommends that MDBs integrate long-term climate risks into macro-fiscal assessments, include at least one climate results indicator in every PBO, and provide more concessional finance, such as grants, to support ambitious climate action in vulnerable countries.

The report identifies a significant gap between the climate goals of WAEMU member states and their financial capacity to implement them. While there is interest in green bonds, the market is hindered by underdeveloped regional financial infrastructure, a lack of technical expertise in green eligibility and reporting, and a dominance of sovereign debt that crowds out corporate issuers. The document recommends strengthening regulatory frameworks, providing technical assistance for project pipeline development, and utilizing risk-mitigation tools like guarantees to attract a more diverse investor base beyond commercial banks.

The report finds that while there is interest in Green Bonds in the WAEMU region, the market is in a nascent stage due to underdeveloped financial infrastructure, a lack of government focus on climate regulatory frameworks, and limited technical capacity among stakeholders. It identifies energy, agriculture, and clean transportation as priority sectors and recommends sustained capacity building, the development of regional guidelines, and the use of technical assistance and risk-transfer instruments to attract investors.

The report highlights the high energy and feedstock intensity of the EU's plastic production industry, noting its significant reliance on Russian fossil fuels. It argues that reducing plastic production, particularly packaging, is a critical but overlooked lever for enhancing EU energy security and meeting climate goals.

The report finds a massive gap between Africa's annual climate finance needs (USD 277 billion) and actual flows (USD 29.5 billion). While international public finance dominates, private sector contribution is low at 14%. Finance is heavily concentrated in a few countries and sectors, with energy receiving the most investment, while agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) remains underfunded. The report recommends scaling up concessional finance, improving data tracking, and catalyzing private investment to meet 2030 goals.

The report identifies a significant global MSME finance gap, estimated at USD 5.2 trillion in 2017, which is exacerbated for green enterprises in developing economies. Key barriers include high informality, inappropriate collateral requirements (favoring fixed over movable assets), and information gaps regarding ESG criteria. The authors recommend establishing green taxonomies, improving credit guarantee schemes, and creating a global green MSME financing facility to leverage Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).

The document analyzes China's strategic efforts to increase its presence in West Africa, contrasting the deep, multi-sectoral engagement in Ghana with the more recent and technology-focused growth in Senegal. It attributes these differences to the length of diplomatic relations and the lingering influence of former colonial powers, particularly France.

The briefing examines the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on global food security, noting that the two nations provide 12% of global calories. It highlights how port blockades and fertiliser export suspensions have driven up prices and hunger, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. The document warns that protectionist export bans by countries like India and Argentina are exacerbating the crisis, and argues that increasing cropland to compensate is problematic due to the associated fossil fuel and fertiliser requirements.

The report examines the 'Black Friday' tragedy at the Melilla border, where at least 23 migrants died during an attempted crossing from Morocco to Spain. It contrasts official government claims that the event was caused by criminal trafficking networks with testimonies from survivors and human rights organisations, who describe illegal push-backs and coordinated violence by Spanish and Moroccan security forces. The text further analyzes the geopolitical relationship between Spain and Morocco, highlighting how financial aid and diplomatic agreements regarding Western Sahara are used to secure Morocco's role as a 'border guardian' for Europe, which the author contends leads to systemic human rights violations.

The document examines Russia's increasing diplomatic and military push into Africa, highlighted by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's July 2022 visits to Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Ethiopia. It notes that while Russia was the largest arms supplier to Africa in 2021 (44% of imports) and a critical wheat provider, African states remain divided in their response to the invasion of Ukraine, with 48% abstaining from a UN General Assembly resolution. The author contends that Africa's collective GDP of $2.7 trillion in 2021 exceeds Russia's $1.7 trillion, suggesting that a unified approach via the African Union's Partnership Management and Coordination Division and the African Continental Free Trade Area would increase the continent's agency and bargaining power.

The Russia-Ukraine war has worsened systemic weaknesses in the international food system, disproportionately affecting African countries due to their high reliance on food, fuel, and fertiliser imports from Russia and Ukraine. This vulnerability is compounded by climate-induced weather events, internal conflicts, and structural infrastructure deficits. The report highlights that food price shocks have already triggered protests in countries like Uganda, Malawi, Senegal, and Sudan. To mitigate these risks, the authors recommend that private companies support the diversification of food sources and local agribusiness capacity, while African governments should reduce regulation and leverage regional integration platforms like the AfCFTA.

The document examines the tension between Africa's significant natural gas resources and the global shift toward net-zero emissions. It argues that while gas provides short-term revenue and energy security, long-term investments face high risks of becoming stranded assets due to declining global demand and the falling costs of renewable energy. The paper advocates for leveraging climate finance to scale up renewables and green hydrogen, which it presents as more sustainable pathways for economic diversification and energy access.

The document discusses the integration of biodiversity protections into mining policy in Senegal and Turkey, emphasizing the use of the mitigation hierarchy to minimize ecological damage. It highlights that while mining activities—from exploration to post-mining—can cause deforestation, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, collaborative planning can aim for no net loss or a net gain for nature.