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This policy brief argues that South Africa has experienced a 'de-norming' of human rights in its foreign policy, moving from its 1994 commitment to be a human rights promoter to a position of inconsistency and 'normative backsliding' in multilateral forums.

The Cooling for All Policy Review, published by Sustainable Energy for All in March 2018, examines the global landscape of cooling policies, focusing on Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for air conditioners and refrigerators, building efficiency codes, urban heat island mitigation, and cold chain infrastructure.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law reviews the status of human rights, gender equality, and other social considerations within the negotiations for the Paris Agreement's implementation guidelines as of February 2018. It analyzes four key agenda items—Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Adaptation Communications, the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), and the Global Stocktake (GST)—detailing the proposals made by various countries and the extent to which these social dimensions were reflected in the co-facilitators' notes following COP-23.

This fact sheet by the Climate Bonds Initiative outlines key public sector green bond policy developments in 2017 and projections for 2018. It highlights the rise of sovereign green bonds, the establishment of regional and national guidelines in Asia and Africa, the growth of the green sukuk market in Malaysia, and various financial incentives provided by governments to lower issuance costs and accelerate the transition to low-carbon infrastructure.

This executive summary from the 2018 'Brown to Green' report analyzes the progress of G20 countries toward a low-carbon economy. It highlights a significant gap between current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the goals of the Paris Agreement, noting that G20 energy-related CO2 emissions began increasing again in 2017 and that 82% of the G20 energy supply remains dependent on fossil fuels.

This 2018 report by the Climate Bonds Initiative and IFC provides a comprehensive guide for emerging markets to develop green bond markets. It emphasizes the necessity of national guidance to ensure market integrity and alignment with climate goals, while highlighting the success of China's regulatory approach and the innovation of green sukuk in Malaysia and Indonesia. The report introduces a 'Green Bond Market Development Toolkit' to help regulators move from nascent to robust markets through structured milestones and capacity building.

The 2018 New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF) Progress Assessment Goals Summary reports that the world is not on track to meet Goal 1, which aims to halve the rate of natural forest loss globally by 2020 and end it by 2030. While net forest loss has declined when accounting for regrowth, gross tree cover loss has increased, and tropical deforestation emissions have risen, peaking in 2016.

The 2018 NYDF Progress Assessment finds that while corporate commitments to deforestation-free supply chains are increasing—particularly in palm oil and timber—they remain highly variable in ambition and scope. Traceability systems are improving, and new jurisdictional initiatives in Brazil and Indonesia show promise, but financial institutions lag in addressing portfolio risks. Direct data on deforestation reduction is currently lacking, though new tools like Trase and Global Forest Watch–Commodities are being developed to fill this gap.

This report assesses progress toward Goal 3 of the New York Declaration on Forests: significantly reducing deforestation derived from economic sectors other than agriculture by 2020. It highlights the roles of infrastructure and mining as primary drivers of forest loss and identifies critical data gaps that prevent a global aggregate assessment of these impacts.

This report assesses progress toward Goal 4 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which focuses on supporting alternatives to deforestation driven by basic needs, such as subsistence farming and fuelwood collection. The document highlights a significant lack of aggregate global data to measure progress, relying instead on proxy indicators like the distribution of clean cookstoves and related financial funding.

This report assesses progress toward Goal 5 of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), which aims to restore 150 million hectares of degraded landscapes and forestlands by 2020 and an additional 200 million hectares by 2030. The assessment focuses on pledges made under the Bonn Challenge and commitments within Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the UNFCCC.

This report assesses progress toward Goal 8 of the New York Declaration on Forests, which focuses on providing support for strategies to reduce forest emissions. The assessment highlights a significant imbalance between 'green' finance aligned with forest goals and 'grey' finance that potentially drives deforestation, noting that international public and private investments in sustainable forestry remain insufficient compared to the scale of the challenge.

This report summarizes progress toward Goal 9 of the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), which focuses on rewarding countries and jurisdictions that reduce forest emissions through public policies, results-based payments, and private-sector commodity sourcing.

The 2018 Progress Assessment Goal 4 Update evaluates efforts to support alternatives to deforestation driven by basic human needs, such as subsistence farming and woodfuel use. While the distribution of clean cookstoves has increased significantly, financial support for woodfuel interventions has declined. The report highlights various regional case studies in the Amazon, West Africa, and Southeast Asia that employ sustainable landscape approaches and community-based management to alleviate poverty and protect forests.

The 2018 Progress Assessment Goal 5 Update evaluates global efforts to restore degraded landscapes and forestlands under the Bonn Challenge and the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the Paris Agreement. It reports that Bonn Challenge pledges have reached 168.9 million hectares, surpassing the initial 2020 milestone of 150 million hectares, although measuring actual implementation remains a significant challenge.

This report documents an expert meeting held in Ottawa on June 13, 2018, hosted by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). The meeting brought together Canadian government officials, academics, and civil society representatives to discuss the reform of international investment law and the development of a progressive agenda for Canada, specifically regarding the revision of its Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) model.

The 2018 Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE) report provides a global inventory of policies and regulations supporting Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), focusing on electricity access, clean cooking, energy efficiency, and renewable energy across 133 economies from 2010 to 2017.

The 2018 Energy Progress Report, a joint publication by five custodian agencies, evaluates global progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7). It concludes that the world is not on track to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030, as current progress falls short across all four SDG7 targets: electricity access, clean cooking, energy efficiency, and the share of renewable energy.

The Carbon-Free City Handbook: Biological Resources is a guide by RMI that outlines three primary actions for cities to manage biological resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: organic waste diversion, urban forestry, and the promotion of plant-based diets.

A notification from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) announcing that the Belmont Forum Executive Council has accepted an Expression of Interest for the IAI Directorate to host the Belmont Forum Secretariat in Montevideo, Uruguay.