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This report by Ember analyzes global electricity trends in 2021, tracking progress against the IEA's Net Zero by 2050 pathway. While wind and solar reached a historic milestone of over 10% of global electricity, an unprecedented surge in electricity demand led to record-breaking coal generation and the largest absolute rise in power sector CO2 emissions ever recorded.

This case study describes a legal challenge brought by NGOs against the company Total, alleging that the company's vigilance plan for the Tilenga oil project in Uganda and Tanzania violated France's 2017 Duty of Vigilance Law by failing to adequately assess human rights and environmental impacts.

A letter from the Life after Coal Campaign (LAC) and the Fair Finance Coalition South Africa (FFCSA) to the South African government requesting transparency and civil society involvement in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) and the work of the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team.

An open letter from a coalition of civil society organisations to the European Commission expressing concerns over the revision process and potential outcomes of the definition of "nanomaterial".

This report by Ember analyzes electricity trends in the European Union during 2021, focusing on the impact of the fossil gas crisis, the growth of solar power, and the effect of declining nuclear output on decarbonization.

This report by Ember analyzes the trends in the EU-27 power sector for 2021, focusing on electricity demand, the shift in fuel sources, the growth of renewables, and the resulting impact on greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Electricity Review 2022 by Ember analyzes EU-27 electricity generation data for 2021, highlighting a 'paradigm shift' where new renewable energy replaced expensive fossil gas instead of coal due to a price crisis. While wind and solar reached record generation, the report warns that the EU's power sector emissions are declining at less than half the rate required to meet 1.5°C targets, partly because renewables are replacing gas and declining nuclear capacity rather than coal.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) synthesizes the activities of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) regarding climate change during 2020 and 2021. It details the CRC's increasing focus on state obligations to mitigate climate change, the role of financial and business actors in environmental harm, and the development of a forthcoming General Comment on children's rights and the environment.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) synthesizes the activities of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) regarding climate change during 2020 and 2021. It details the Committee's use of the State reporting procedure to address mitigation, adaptation, extractive activities, and climate finance, while also reviewing the Committee's General Comments on science and land rights.

This 2022 report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) analyzes the activities of United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies (HRTBs) regarding climate change during 2020 and 2021. It details how these expert bodies use state review processes, general comments, and individual communications to define and monitor states' human rights obligations to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis.

The COP27 Resilience Hub Synthesis Report outlines the outcomes and key messages from the Resilience Hub at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. The Hub serves as a physical and virtual space to mobilise ambition and investment for climate resilience, acting as the home for the UN-backed Race to Resilience campaign. The report synthesises findings across nine thematic areas and four regional hubs, emphasizing the need for locally-led adaptation, increased and diversified finance, and the integration of arts and culture into resilience strategies.

This fact sheet by the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) provides an initial analysis of South Africa's Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET-IP), released on 4 November 2022. The IEJ argues that the plan relies too heavily on private finance and loans, which risks increasing national debt, exacerbating energy poverty through 'cost reflective' tariffs, and failing to provide adequate social security for workers in the coal sector.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) describes COP26 in Glasgow as a failure that prioritized 'false solutions' and corporate interests over the immediate action required to limit global warming to 1.5°C. The statement highlights the exclusion of civil society and Indigenous Peoples, the inadequacy of climate finance for the global South, and the failure of negotiated texts to commit to a full phase-out of fossil fuels, despite groundbreaking side-initiatives.

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework's 'Two-Pillar Solution' to address tax avoidance and the digitalisation of the economy. It argues that the current global taxation framework is fragmented, allowing multinational corporations to avoid taxes through profit shifting and the lack of physical presence. The document highlights that developing countries, particularly in Africa, suffer disproportionate revenue losses as a share of GDP and are underrepresented in the negotiations of the global tax deal. It calls for greater transparency, fairer thresholds for profit reallocation, and the potential move of negotiations to a neutral body like the United Nations to ensure equitable outcomes for poorer nations.

This briefing by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) proposes a methodology to track incremental energy efficiency investments in certified green buildings. Using a global database of over 16,000 certifications from 2019-2020, the report argues that current green certifications are often inconsistent indicators of actual energy performance and that energy efficiency investments represent only a small fraction of total building construction costs.

A case study on the legal challenge Neubauer et al. v. Germany, in which the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that parts of the Federal Climate Protection Act were incompatible with fundamental rights because they failed to specify sufficient emission cuts beyond 2030.

This policy briefing by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework's 'Two-Pillar Solution' to address tax avoidance and the digitalisation of the economy. It argues that the current global taxation framework is fragmented, allowing multinational corporations to avoid taxes, and highlights how developing countries, particularly in Africa, suffer disproportionate revenue losses. The document criticizes the Inclusive Framework for the underrepresentation of African nations and the potential for the agreement to favor wealthy nations, recommending a shift toward more inclusive, transparent, and equitable negotiations, possibly under the UN.

This briefing from the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues that the European Union's upcoming methane regulation must encompass the petrochemical sector and the entire supply chain of fossil fuel imports. The document highlights a growing trade in natural gas liquids (NGLs), specifically ethane and propane, from the United States to Europe to fuel plastics production, which the author contends undermines EU climate goals and bypasses domestic fracking bans.

This policy brief by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) argues that the increasing import of fracked natural gas liquids (NGLs)—specifically ethane and propane—from the United States to Europe is undermining the European Union's climate and plastics reduction goals. The document details the supply chain from US fracking basins to European petrochemical plants and contends that current EU regulations, such as the Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), contain loopholes that allow the plastics industry to offshore emissions and avoid carbon pricing.

This research paper explores the intersection of trade policy and the transition to a low-carbon circular economy, arguing that circular solutions are indispensable for achieving global decarbonization goals. The authors advocate for government incentives to prioritize secondary materials over primary resources, the scaling of business models focused on product longevity and reuse, and the use of bilateral and regional trade agreements to eliminate barriers to circular goods and services.