Search Climate Insights Directory

This document is an atlas published by the World Health Organization (WHO) that examines the impact of environmental hazards on children's health. It categorizes risks into 'traditional' hazards, such as air pollution and poor water and sanitation, and 'emerging' hazards, including chemical exposures, e-waste, and climate change. The report aligns these challenges with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and advocates for multisectoral cooperation to reduce preventable child mortality and lifelong disease risks.

The policy brief outlines strategies to ensure the 'widest and most effective participation possible' in the negotiations for a global treaty to end plastic pollution. It identifies systemic barriers in current UN processes—such as restrictive accreditation, limited speaking rights, language gaps, and lack of funding—and recommends adopting more open models (like the Escazú Agreement) to include frontline stakeholders, including waste pickers, Indigenous Peoples, and youth.

The Center for International Environmental Law and other organizations argue against launching multilateral investment negotiations at the WTO. They contend that such an agreement would restrict the policy space of developing countries, be driven by the interests of industrialized nations, and utilize an inappropriate dispute settlement mechanism that favors investors over sustainable development and public health.

This research paper examines the push by developing countries to incorporate a mandatory disclosure of origin for biological resources and traditional knowledge into the TRIPS Agreement. This effort aims to prevent the misappropriation of genetic resources and ensure compatibility with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB). While there is growing consensus among many developing nations and some support from the European Union and Switzerland, opposition remains from the United States and Japan.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) provides a critical analysis of the UNEP 'Options for Elements' Paper prepared for the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2). The document evaluates the proposed core obligations and control measures for a new legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, highlighting gaps where the Options Paper fails to reflect the ambition of Member State submissions, particularly regarding upstream production limits, chemical safety, and the protection of human health.

This research paper examines the intersection of international intellectual property (IP) rights, global trade, economic development, and environmental protection. It analyzes how IP regimes—specifically patents, copyrights, and trademarks—impact the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and the conservation of biological diversity, focusing on the tensions between industrialized nations (led by the US) and developing countries within frameworks like GATT, NAFTA, and the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) provides observations on the first draft of the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) response to a request from the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). CIEL argues that WIPO must recognize the CBD's leading role in biodiversity issues and ensure that international intellectual property rules are modified to prevent the misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge through mandatory disclosure requirements.

This briefing by the Climate Bonds Initiative, produced for COP22, analyzes the growth and governance of the green bond market. It highlights the shift toward private sector issuance, the increasing role of emerging markets like China, and the necessity of reaching USD 1 trillion in annual green emissions by 2020 to support Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

The Climate Bonds Initiative provides capacity building programmes and training courses designed to accelerate the shift of capital toward climate-aligned investment through interactive, practical, and tailored learning.

This guide from the Climate Policy Initiative explains parametric insurance, a financial tool that provides rapid, fixed payouts based on predetermined triggers (such as wind speed or rainfall) rather than assessed losses. It details the instrument's role in maintaining fiscal liquidity and debt sustainability, the capacity requirements for governments to implement it, and the various commercial and concessional providers available globally.

This guide explains the mechanics, applications, and implementation requirements of securitization as a tool for climate finance. It details how pooling fragmented green assets into tradable securities can mobilize institutional capital, recycle balance sheets for originators, and manage credit risk through tranching. The document provides a framework for assessing financial market readiness across shallow, emerging, and mature markets, and outlines the specific capacity needs for ministries of finance and regulators to support these instruments.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) declares its institutional opposition to REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), arguing that it commodifies forests, undermines the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and allows industrialized nations to avoid their responsibility to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

The FSD Africa Supplier and Grantee Code of Conduct establishes ethical, environmental, and social standards for all entities providing goods or services to FSD Africa. The document defines a tiered compliance system based on contract value, with more stringent requirements and monitoring for higher-value partners, focusing on value for money, human rights, and climate risk management.

The FSD Africa Strategy 2025-2030 outlines a five-year plan to transform African financial markets to better support sustainable economic growth and climate resilience. The agency aims to mobilise domestic private capital—estimated at $2.4 trillion—to address systemic gaps in green economy investment, sovereign debt distress, and gender disparities through catalytic interventions, policy reform, and targeted investments via its arm, FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi).

This case study describes how Saglan Wajee General Hospital, a private facility in Holeta Town, Ethiopia, is transitioning into the country's first full-fledged health insurance company after participating in FSD Africa’s BimaLab Insurtech Accelerator Program. The hospital developed the 'Efoy' micro-health insurance product to improve healthcare access for low and middle-income families and is now establishing the Family Medical Network insurance company.

The Africa Green Bond Toolkit is a practical guide developed by FSD Africa and the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to assist African capital markets in issuing green bonds according to international standards. It outlines the structural differences between green and vanilla bonds, provides a step-by-step issuance process, and details the requirements for creating a Green Bond Framework. The guide emphasizes the role of external verification and certification to ensure transparency and attract institutional investors to climate-resilient projects across the continent.

The Africa Pensions Supervisors’ Network Programme, supported by FSD Africa (2021-2025), aims to increase pension coverage and assets in Sub-Saharan Africa, where coverage is currently only 9.6%. The initiative focuses on creating regulatory environments that encourage long-term savings and the investment of pension assets into the real sector, including collaboration with the Africa Pensions Supervisors Forum (APSF).

This report by the CIFAR Alliance Investors Working Group explores how fintech innovations—specifically in data and digital infrastructure, online marketplaces, and insurtech—can scale climate resilience solutions for vulnerable communities in emerging markets. It presents 11 case studies of ventures that address both acute weather-related disasters and chronic long-term climate changes affecting livelihoods.

This case study describes how the BimaLab insurtech accelerator, initiated by FSD Africa in partnership with the Swiss Re Foundation and Nigeria’s National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), supported Soso Care, a health micro-insurance startup in Nigeria. Soso Care provides health insurance to low-income earners who pay premiums using recyclable waste.

This case study describes a pilot fish cage aquaculture project by Wezesha Aqua Farms in Mwanza, Tanzania, supported by FSD Africa and BFA Global. The initiative aims to increase the resilience of fishing communities against climate change and declining fish stocks in Lake Victoria by providing cages for tilapia rearing under a lease model.