Search Climate Insights Directory

The report 'Auge y caída del carbón 2025' by Global Energy Monitor analyzes global coal power trends in 2024, highlighting a record low in new capacity additions globally, despite significant construction surges in China and new proposals in India. It details the acceleration of coal phase-outs in the EU and the UK, while examining the persistence of coal subsidies in Brazil and the challenges of transitioning in other regions like Colombia and Southeast Asia.

The report argues that the European Union's 2020 hydrogen strategy was overly ambitious and requires recalibration to align with market realities. It advocates for a pragmatic, implementation-focused approach that prioritizes 'hard-to-electrify' sectors—such as steel, maritime, and fertilizers—while utilizing a combination of mandates ('sticks') and targeted funding ('carrots') to bridge the cost gap between renewable hydrogen and fossil-based alternatives.

A statement by Trend Asia and a global coalition of civil society organizations arguing that large-scale forest biomass combustion for energy is not carbon neutral, harms biodiversity, violates community rights, and obstructs the transition to clean energy. The signatories call for the cessation of forest biomass expansion and the removal of related subsidies.

This report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the necessity of reforming investment treaties and the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system. It argues that traditional treaties, which prioritize investor protection, often conflict with sustainable development goals, create significant financial burdens for states, and discourage necessary public interest regulations, particularly regarding the energy transition.

This research paper examines the influence of subsidies and renewable energy costs on the competitiveness of low-carbon steelmaking in the United States and the European Union, analyzing the tension between industrial policy and climate action.

The Ember report '2024 at a glance' details the EU power sector's performance in 2024, highlighting a record decline in fossil fuel generation and a record high for clean energy sources, which reached 71% of the power mix.

This research paper examines how irrigation efficiency and water savings can lead to unintended consequences—categorized as paradoxes—that may impair river basin resilience and negatively impact ecological flows and non-irrigation water uses.

This research paper analyzes territorial planning (Ordenamiento Territorial or OT) across five Ibero-American countries—Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, and Uruguay—focusing on administrative management levels and related regulations to improve future planning processes.

The Sevilla Commitment is an outcome document from the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Spain from June 30 to July 3, 2025. It establishes a renewed global financing framework to close an estimated annual financing gap of 4 trillion US dollars for sustainable development, particularly in developing countries. The document outlines comprehensive actions across domestic public resources, private business and finance, international development cooperation, international trade, debt sustainability, and the international financial architecture, with a strong emphasis on reforming global economic governance to be more inclusive and representative of developing nations.

The report "Resilience Science Must-Knows" provides a science-based framework for decision-makers to build systemic resilience. It distills decades of research into nine core principles, emphasizing that resilience is not merely "bouncing back" but the capacity to cope, adapt, and transform. The document highlights the urgency of this approach as the Earth enters the Anthropocene, where human activity pushes planetary boundaries and creates cascading risks across interconnected global systems.

Zero Carbon Analytics reports on the economic benefits of rooftop solar for households, specifically simulating potential savings for Japanese homes in FY 2020. The report argues that while Japan has the lowest clean energy share among G7 nations, it has significant untapped potential for residential solar to reduce electricity costs and carbon emissions.

This report analyzes the legal and institutional frameworks for protecting traditional knowledge (TK) in Mozambique, focusing on biodiversity, cultural heritage, and traditional medicine. It identifies a significant gap in functional regulatory frameworks specifically for TK associated with biological resources, though it highlights ongoing efforts to review access and benefit-sharing (ABS) regulations and develop a national TK database.

This report analyzes the impact of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) on coffee production in the East African Community (EAC) and its role in accessing the EU market. Meta-analysis shows that mulching, organic manure, and irrigation significantly increase yields, while agroforestry substantially boosts carbon sequestration. The EU is a primary export destination, accounting for 60.1% of EAC coffee exports in 2021, but access requires compliance with strict sustainability, deforestation, and phytosanitary regulations.

The report by Ember argues that the European Union must rapidly scale up 'clean flexibility' solutions, particularly battery storage, to complement the fast growth of wind and solar power. It highlights that without such flexibility, the EU will fail to capture abundant renewable energy, leading to higher reliance on fossil fuels and increased costs. The document provides evidence of current solar dominance in several Member States and simulates the potential for batteries to reduce fossil fuel imports and costs by 2030.

This policy brief examines the global race to secure critical minerals for green and digital industrial revolutions, detailing the strategies of the US, EU, UK, Canada, and China. It argues that African countries can leverage their mineral wealth through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) by adopting a 'climate-resilient developmental regionalism' approach to build regional value chains and achieve sustainable structural transformation.

This policy note by Daniel Bradlow of the South African Institute of International Affairs outlines how South Africa can leverage its 2025 G20 presidency to advance reforms in International Monetary Fund (IMF) governance and sovereign debt restructuring. The author argues that while South Africa inherits a complex portfolio of existing G20 issues, it has a realistic opportunity to push for more transparent IMF operating procedures regarding 'new' issues like climate change and to address the inefficiencies of the G20's Common Framework for Debt Treatment.

This report by Ember examines the potential for agrivoltaics (agri-PV)—the simultaneous use of land for solar electricity and food production—in Central Europe, specifically Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. It argues that agri-PV can enhance farmer profits, increase certain crop yields, and significantly boost renewable energy production without compromising food security.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) analyzes the 2023 activities of UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies (HRTBs) regarding states' human rights obligations in the context of climate change. It tracks the increasing frequency of climate-related references in state reporting procedures and examines specific themes such as fossil fuel extraction, the right to a healthy environment, loss and damage, and intergenerational equity.

In the first half of 2024, wind and solar power generated 30% of the European Union's electricity, surpassing fossil fuels (27%) for the first time. This shift occurred despite a 0.7% rebound in electricity demand, driven by structural capacity growth and favorable weather conditions, leading to a 17% decline in fossil fuel generation and a 31% drop in power sector emissions compared to the first half of 2022.

This report by Ember advocates for the implementation of transparent grid hosting capacity maps to accelerate the energy transition in Europe. It outlines how such maps can reduce grid connection queues and optimize network use, discusses new EU legislative requirements for TSOs and DSOs, and proposes a framework for an "ideal" map including substation-level granularity and open-source data access.