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The document argues that predictions of a dramatic wave of migration to Europe driven by food insecurity following the invasion of Ukraine are not supported by data from the first eight months of 2022. It explains that migration drivers are complex and that severe food insecurity can actually decrease the ability of the poorest people to migrate due to the high costs of travel. While the invasion has directly displaced foreign students in Ukraine and may indirectly shift migration patterns toward oil-rich economies in the Global South, it is unlikely to have significantly increased irregular migration to Europe or decreased global remittance flows.

Transparent 2022 reports on the plastic footprints of ReSource: Plastic members, highlighting a rise in recycled content to 10.2% of the aggregate portfolio and a slight decrease in problematic plastics to 1.3%. The report emphasizes the need for systemic change and policy advocacy, such as the UN global instrument to address plastic pollution, to overcome barriers like the low availability of food-grade recycled content. It details individual company progress, including significant rPET transitions by The Coca-Cola Company and Keurig Dr Pepper, and identifies North America as the region with the highest landfill rates for member portfolios.

This brief report by the Climate Policy Initiative presents preliminary findings from a study on global climate finance for agriculture, forestry, other land uses, and fisheries (AFOLU). It highlights a significant funding gap, noting that AFOLU receives only a small fraction of total climate finance despite the sectors' high emissions and economic importance, particularly in low-income countries.

IDFC members reported a record $224 billion in green finance commitments in 2021, with climate finance accounting for 95% of the total. Mitigation finance reached $186.6 billion, while adaptation finance decreased by 24% to $20.9 billion. Biodiversity finance grew by 31% to $18.4 billion. The majority of climate finance was provided by non-OECD institutions and directed toward the East Asia and Pacific region.

The Climate Finance Training Programme, running from November 2020 to March 2025, aims to establish a twinning arrangement between UK and African academic institutions to enhance climate finance capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme seeks to increase investments in climate-resilient projects and create a regional centre of excellence in green finance. As of October 2022, two cohorts of 22 participants each had completed the Africa Climate Finance Leadership Programme, with a third cohort scheduled for the final quarter of 2022.

The document describes a project aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for capital market intermediaries and self-regulatory organisations in Ethiopia to enhance investor confidence and economic growth.

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.

FSD Africa co-funded the incubation and subsequent growth of the Digital Frontiers Institute (DFI) between 2016 and 2022. This support facilitated the training of over 3,500 professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa, the development of 26 digital financial services (DFS) courses, and the establishment of 10 registered professional country digital finance associations in Africa. Key achievements include a 78% increase in institutional capacity for DFS regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa and the creation of the Alliance for Digital Finance Associations (ADFA) in 2021.

The Digital Financial Innovation Platform is a 'one-stop innovation shop' designed to support the development of scalable and regionally replicable insurtech use cases in Sub-Saharan Africa. The project includes a digital BimaLab incubation program to connect startups with regulators, investors, and incumbents. The initiative aims to create economic opportunities and address fragility by prioritizing insurance products based on social impact and commercial scalability.

The project focuses on integrating African perspectives into the TNFD framework through three workstreams: developing academic justifications for natural capital protection, piloting the TNFD framework with African financial institutions, and launching the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA). Initial efforts have included quantifying the impact of nature on loan book values to understand how physical and transition risks affect profits, noting that 23% of Africa's GDP depends on nature.

The waste sector is responsible for approximately 20% of human-driven methane emissions globally, primarily from the anaerobic breakdown of organic waste in landfills and dumps. With global waste generation projected to increase by 73% by 2050, the document argues that reducing methane is critical for slowing global warming and meeting Paris Agreement goals. It proposes a modified waste hierarchy focusing on food waste prevention, organic waste diversion (via composting and anaerobic digestion), and improved landfill design and dump rehabilitation. The brief highlights successful regional policies, such as South Korea's weight-based food waste collection and India's waste segregation rules, while noting that up to 60% of mitigation measures have low or negative costs.

The report examines the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of beef production, highlighting that emissions vary drastically by region and production system, ranging from 16 to 360 kg CO2e/kg edible meat. It identifies enteric fermentation, feed production, and land-use change as the primary emission drivers, while noting that well-managed grazing lands can act as carbon sinks. The document outlines mitigation strategies including improved feed digestibility, rotational grazing, and feed additives, estimating a total global mitigation potential between 0.67 and 2.55 GtCO2e/yr.

The document analyzes the GHG emissions of chicken production, noting that cradle-to-retail meat averages 7–10 kgCO2e/kg edible weight (EW). Feed, particularly land-use change (LUC) from soy and oil palm, is the primary emission driver. The report compares broiler, layer, and backyard systems, highlighting that conventional industrial farming generally has lower emissions than organic systems due to better feed conversion and bird performance. Mitigation focuses on deforestation-free feed, optimized diets, and improved manure management.

The Green Affordable Housing Finance instrument uses a two-pronged approach—a Guarantee Facility and an Enabling Environment Facility—to unlock local private finance for sustainable housing. It addresses the 'chicken-and-egg' problem where a lack of mortgage finance for low-income households disincentivizes developers from building affordable homes. The instrument will be piloted in Kenya in 2023, targeting the mobilization of USD 48 million in local loans during the pilot and over USD 400 million long-term. It requires all supported homes to be IFC EDGE certified, ensuring at least 20% reductions in embodied energy, energy use, and water use.

The report examines how global shocks have exacerbated chronic fiscal and current account imbalances in five Sub-Saharan African nations. It highlights severe liquidity and solvency risks, particularly regarding external debt in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya. The authors argue that while some countries used debt monetization and financial repression to manage short-term costs, these practices inhibit long-term financial market development and fuel inflation. The document recommends strengthening public debt management, diversifying funding sources, and transitioning toward market-conform policies to avoid debt distress and encourage private sector credit.

Global Energy Monitor reports that 24,166 km of oil pipelines are in development worldwide, with an estimated cost of USD 75.4 billion. This expansion, led by the United States, India, China, and Russia, is projected to add approximately 30.1 million barrels per day of transmission capacity, potentially generating 4.61 billion tonnes of CO2 annually. The report argues that this buildout creates significant stranded asset risks and contradicts the IEA's Net Zero by 2050 scenario, which states that no new oil fields are necessary to meet Paris Agreement goals.

The document argues that agroforestry can mitigate the vulnerabilities faced by young rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa—including unemployment, food insecurity, and climate change—by creating resilient livelihood opportunities and increasing youth participation in food system decision-making.

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 SAIIA Young Leaders Declaration 2022 outlines youth-led demands for climate justice and sustainable development, specifically targeting South Africa's energy transition and the Global South's vulnerabilities. It calls for the urgent implementation of the Just Transition Framework, the removal of the 100MW limit for renewable energy supply from Independent Power Producers, and the integration of youth and marginalized genders into policy writing. Beyond climate, the declaration advocates for the decolonization of African educational curricula, the protection of informal workers, and the eradication of the 'pink tax'. It concludes with pledges from both youth and educators to foster leadership and civic engagement to achieve a more equitable society.