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The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) issued a statement welcoming the appointment of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on February 15, 2021.

A statement by Donald Pols of Friends of the Earth regarding a landmark Dutch court ruling that held Shell responsible for oil spills in the Niger Delta, emphasizing the need for stronger European corporate due diligence legislation to prevent decade-long legal battles for victims.

A statement by Donald Pols of Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands regarding a Dutch court ruling on 29 January 2021 that held Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary accountable for oil spills in the Niger Delta.

A statement by Donald Pols of Friends of the Earth regarding a Dutch court ruling that holds Shell responsible for oil spills in the Niger Delta, emphasizing the need for stronger European corporate due diligence laws to prevent decade-long legal battles for victims.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) proposes a standardized Cooling Investment Tracking Framework to address significant data gaps in global cooling finance. The authors argue that current datasets focus too narrowly on equipment sales and lack the transaction-level granularity needed for governments and investors to align capital with sustainable cooling needs.

This 2021 report by FSD Africa, prepared in collaboration with Impact Value, defines the concept of 'sustainable futures' and outlines how it is operationalised and measured across FSD Africa's projects. The framework emphasizes a 'just transition' and the preservation of five types of capital—financial, manufactured, human, social, and natural—to ensure that current interventions do not compromise the needs of future generations.

This report examines the acceleration of e-governance and the use of social media by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a specific focus on South Africa's digital innovations and the broader challenges facing the African continent.

This report by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) outlines a strategic framework to increase electrification and localize the upstream solar value chain in Nigeria. It focuses on supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria's (FGN) Solar Power Naija programme through a phased approach: accelerated importation, local assembly, and eventually local manufacturing. The document provides an economic model demonstrating how policy enablers—such as tariff waivers, low-cost financing, and subsidies—can make locally assembled solar home systems (SHS) price-competitive and create significant employment and greenhouse gas savings.

This research paper by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) identifies key strategies to accelerate climate change adaptation across Africa. Based on interviews with African scientists and practitioners, the paper advocates for a shift toward locally-led, inclusive solutions that integrate indigenous knowledge with scientific projections. It proposes three primary investment pillars: enhancing people's skills and knowledge, building climate-resilient economies, and investing in nature-based solutions.

This report by the Climate Bonds Initiative analyzes the issuance of labeled sovereign bonds (green, social, and sustainability) based on a survey of 19 issuers. It finds that while these bonds are primarily driven by climate goals and the desire to stimulate local markets, they are typically used to fund existing budget items rather than new projects. The report highlights the critical role of ministers and inter-departmental working groups in the issuance process and emphasizes that labeled sovereign bonds can increase transparency, diversify investor bases, and catalyze private investment in sustainable assets.

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute maps the green bond landscape in Africa as of January 2021. It identifies the market as nascent and underdeveloped, dominated by a few states and entities, and outlines the structural barriers and opportunities for scaling up green finance to meet climate mitigation and adaptation needs across the continent.

This practical guide by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) provides a framework for integrating gender-responsive approaches into climate change adaptation and mitigation projects. It emphasizes that gender-blind approaches risk exacerbating inequalities and undermining climate resilience, while intentional gender-responsive designs lead to more sustainable and effective outcomes. The guide outlines a project cycle involving the understanding of people's needs, assessing solutions, and implementing a Monitoring, Evaluating and Learning (MEL) system with sex-disaggregated indicators.

This report synthesises 50 'Voices from the Frontline' stories from June 2020 to October 2021, documenting how local communities in Asia and the Pacific, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean coped with the compounding effects of Covid-19, climate change, and socioeconomic vulnerability. It examines these experiences through the lens of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), highlighting grassroots resilience and the need for external actors to support locally-led solutions.

The 2021 report 'Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape' analyzes finance commitments for electricity and clean cooking in 20 high-impact countries (HICs) based on 2019 data. It finds that investment levels for both sectors fall critically short of the requirements to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), with electricity finance declining in 2019 and clean cooking investment remaining stagnant.

This annex to the 2021 NYDF Goal 7 Progress Report provides technical and economic mitigation potential estimates for forest-related activities, analyzes the ambition of forest targets in National Determined Contributions (NDCs), and estimates the global finance needs and public finance flows for forest mitigation.

The NAP Global Network 2020–2021 Progress Report details the activities of a network dedicated to supporting developing countries in formulating and implementing National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). During the reporting period (December 2020 to November 2021), the Network shifted toward providing rapid, short-term technical assistance via its Country Support Hub and focused on integrating gender, health, and finance into adaptation planning to accelerate climate-resilient recovery.

This policy brief by the Institute for Security Studies examines the divergent approaches to migration between Africa and Europe, arguing for a shift from securitised responses toward a collaborative partnership focused on development, legal labour pathways, and the regularisation of remittances.

The African Environmental Defenders Fund (AED Fund), launched in 2019 by Natural Justice and the International Land Coalition, provides emergency financial assistance to land and environmental defenders across Africa facing imminent threats. Between March 2020 and October 2021, the fund processed 45 applications, approving 27 for support including legal representation, relocation, and medical aid. The report highlights a significant volume of applications from Uganda and a particular vulnerability of female defenders to gender-based violence.

This report analyzes regional trends in cooling access gaps for 2021, focusing on high-impact countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It highlights an overall increase in populations at highest risk—specifically the rural and urban poor—across all regions, with the COVID-19 pandemic cited as a contributing factor to rising poverty and cooling access challenges.

This policy brief explores green growth financing mechanisms to support Africa's economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that the 'twin COVID–climate crisis' provides an opportunity to 'build back better' by integrating sustainable investment into stimulus packages, leveraging private capital through green bonds, and reforming fiscal and financial regulations to increase climate resilience.