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The report evaluates the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) against the objectives of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF). It finds that while the SDGs include a highly ambitious, quantifiable target to halt deforestation by 2020, they lack quantifiable targets for forest restoration and reforestation. The document notes that the absence of specific indicators for measuring these goals may hinder the translation of the targets into action.

The report evaluates the early progress of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4.5 to 8.8 billion tonnes by 2030. While it notes positive trends such as the inclusion of deforestation targets in the Sustainable Development Goals and increased funding for clean cookstoves, it highlights that overall progress remains slow. Key challenges include the lack of a coordinated effort to reduce non-agricultural deforestation, slow disbursement of REDD+ funds, and ongoing violence against forest-dependent communities.

The report assesses the early progress of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), noting that while new initiatives and commitments have emerged, overall progress remains slow. It highlights a lack of coordinated tracking for non-agricultural deforestation drivers and significant gaps in meeting restoration targets. Key achievements include the inclusion of a deforestation target in the Sustainable Development Goals and increased finance for clean cookstoves and REDD+ payments, though the latter's disbursements lag behind commitments.

The document serves as a practical toolkit for LDCs and SIDS to formulate INDCs, offering a modular template that covers national context, mitigation, adaptation, planning processes, and implementation means. It emphasizes the flexibility allowed for these nations under the Lima Call for Climate Action, suggesting both measure-based and outcome-based approaches to mitigation. The guide highlights the importance of identifying synergies between adaptation and mitigation to attract international support and demonstrate political ambition ahead of the 2015 Paris COP.

The document defines a net phase out of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as reducing anthropogenic emissions to a level equal to or smaller than anthropogenic removals. To maintain a likely chance of meeting the 2°C target, global GHG emissions must be net zero by 2100, while CO2 emissions specifically should reach net zero around 2070. If action is delayed until 2020, these deadlines accelerate to 2080 for all GHGs and 2065 for CO2. The briefing notes that technological options already exist for approximately 90% of current GHG sources, though the remaining 10% require further innovation or offsetting. It highlights the critical role of bio-energy and carbon capture and storage (CCS) for achieving these targets, noting that limiting bio-energy significantly increases mitigation costs and reduces the number of models that find the 2°C target feasible.

The document argues that removing global fossil-fuel subsidies, which total $543 billion annually, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6 to 13 per cent by 2050 and save governments between 5 and 30 per cent of expenditure for reallocation toward low-carbon energy and households. It suggests that parties to the UNFCCC can use the Global Subsidies Initiative – Integrated Fiscal model (GSI–IF model) to estimate these reductions for their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions.

The document argues that the 2015 climate change agreement requires a new mitigation architecture that balances national ownership with multilateral coherence to keep global temperature rise below 2°C. It suggests a system of "levels" of guidance for emission reduction offers, starting with simple common parameters and increasing in complexity, alongside a systematic and frequent approach to submitting and reviewing offers to drive necessary reductions.

The document assesses how city-level interventions in sectors like urban planning and public transport can significantly lower global GHG emissions. It finds that urban actions could reduce emissions by 3.7 Gt CO2e by 2030 and 8.0 Gt CO2e by 2050, primarily through residential building energy efficiency and a shift to efficient public transport. The authors suggest these actions could increase the ambition of national climate pledges, provided there is sufficient national policy support and new financing.

The document evaluates three global mitigation pathways against IPCC carbon budgets to determine their probability of limiting global surface temperature increases. The 1.5°C marker pathway, with emissions peaking in 2014 and declining by 7.1% annually, has a greater than 66% probability of staying below 2°C. The 2°C marker pathway, with a 3.4% annual decline from a 2014 peak, has a less than 50% chance of holding warming below 2°C. The G8 pathway, based on a 2008 declaration with emissions peaking in 2021, has a chance of staying below 2°C that is far less than 33%.

The executive summary of 'The Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2013' reports that global climate finance flows have plateaued at USD 359 billion, a figure significantly lower than estimated investment needs. The document emphasizes that public policies and resources act as the 'engine room' of the system, necessary to reduce risks and costs to attract private capital, which is essential for scaling low-carbon and climate-resilient growth.

The article examines the persistence of the 'women-environment' linkage in global policy, noting that women are frequently framed as both primary victims of climate change and essential agents of change. It argues that this discourse persists because it provides a strategic entry point for feminist advocacy, relies on fixed projections of women's identities to gain political access, and is reinforced by the inertia of previous environmental project frameworks.

The report examines how institutional investors—such as pension funds and insurance companies—can bridge the financing gap for renewable energy. It identifies three investment channels: corporate investment, direct project investment, and pooled vehicles. While corporate investment is easiest, direct investment offers the most potential to lower the cost of capital, though it is constrained by liquidity needs, lack of specialist expertise, and policy inconsistencies. The authors suggest five steps to unlock this potential, including fixing policy barriers and improving investor practices.

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the intersection of global ageing and environmental change, arguing that social dimensions must be integrated into adaptation planning to address the unique challenges older people face due to variable climate and weather patterns.

The document identifies significant gaps in risk coverage for green investments, particularly regarding policy and financing risks, across both developed and developing markets. It argues that while public sector instruments like first-loss protection and policy risk insurance can alleviate these bottlenecks, their effectiveness is often limited by complexity, high transaction costs, and uncertainties regarding remedy timing. The report emphasizes that 'retroactive policy risk' is a primary threat to investor confidence and suggests that streamlining procedures and reducing costs are essential for scaling up private investment in climate-friendly infrastructure.

Chapter 16 of the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5) focuses on identifying unsustainable trends by applying goals and thresholds from international agreements. It concludes by detailing the measures required to transition society toward a more sustainable path.

The report analyzes how public resources and well-articulated policies can mitigate risks and costs to attract private capital for green investments. Using case studies from Tunisia, the UK, and Morocco, it demonstrates that targeted public interventions—such as credit guarantees, feed-in tariffs, and concessional lending—can overcome market inertia and perceived risks. It highlights the importance of emerging economies, particularly the role of National Development Banks in China and Brazil, and suggests innovative risk mitigation tools like policy risk insurance and first-loss protection to address gaps in the current financial landscape.

The document argues that while a sustainable global energy transformation is technologically and economically achievable, it faces significant governance challenges. It proposes a transition based on an integrated approach, high energy efficiency, and increased investment in research, development, and demonstration (RD&D).

The authors develop a hybrid "EZ-DICE" model that replaces the standard constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility with Epstein-Zin utility, allowing for the independent calibration of risk aversion and time preference. Using a five-state model of uncertainty regarding climate sensitivity, the study finds that EZ-DICE results in a significantly higher social cost of carbon and more rapid carbon emission abatement compared to the standard DICE model. However, the results are remarkably insensitive to the level of risk aversion, which the authors attribute to DICE's optimistic assumptions that allow for the certain and low-cost prevention of the worst climate outcomes through immediate 100-percent abatement.

The authors identified 14 emission control measures targeting methane and black carbon that could reduce projected global mean warming by approximately 0.5°C by 2050. These measures are estimated to prevent 0.7 to 4.7 million premature deaths annually from outdoor air pollution and increase annual crop yields by 30 to 135 million metric tons from 2030 onwards. The economic benefits of methane reductions (USD 700 to USD 5,000 per metric ton) significantly exceed their marginal abatement costs (under USD 250). Combining these short-term pollutant controls with carbon dioxide reduction measures substantially lowers the risk of exceeding the 2°C warming threshold.

The Maastricht Principles define the scope and nature of State responsibilities regarding human rights beyond their own borders, emphasizing that economic globalization requires States to ensure their acts and omissions do not impair the rights of people worldwide. It outlines specific obligations to avoid direct and indirect interference, regulate non-State actors like corporations, and cooperate internationally to create an enabling environment for the universal realization of economic, social and cultural rights, while providing frameworks for accountability and remedy.