Search Climate Insights Directory

This report analyzes the effectiveness of peer learning and peer pressure within three Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs): the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). It evaluates how these initiatives use mutual dialogue, best practices, and sanctions to improve governance, transparency, and accountability among member states.

This briefing by the Climate Bonds Initiative explains how green securitisation—the process of creating asset-backed securities (ABS) from low-carbon assets—can unlock finance for small-scale projects. It details various structures including synthetic ABS, PACE ABS, solar ABS, and green mortgage-backed securities, highlighting how aggregating small assets allows institutional investors to provide capital to SMEs and urban infrastructure.

This RMI insight brief argues that the global climate finance system must evolve from a focus on 'direct access' to multilateral funds toward establishing national institutions, specifically Green Investment Banks (GIBs), to ensure true country ownership. The authors posit that for large emerging markets, national GIBs can better mobilize domestic private capital and coordinate financial flows to achieve nationally determined commitments (NDCs) than current international structures.

This briefing argues that without a carbon intensity limit of 550gCO2/kWh for capacity payments, Europe's coal plants could be 'supercharged,' extending their operational lives and crowding out cleaner energy alternatives. The document outlines existing EU policy gaps that favor coal and details how specific capacity market designs risk subsidizing fossil fuels over modern technologies like batteries and demand-side response.

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.

The Green Economy Barometer 2017 by the Green Economy Coalition analyzes the global transition toward sustainability, noting a contrast between booming green markets and persistent reliance on fossil fuels and systemic socio-economic gaps.

This research paper by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines the role of infrastructure banks in closing the global infrastructure financing gap. It analyzes best practices from various international institutions and provides eight strategic recommendations for countries establishing their own infrastructure banks to mobilize private capital and promote sustainable development.

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 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 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.

This briefing by WWF South Africa examines the urban and environmental impacts of parking infrastructure, specifically focusing on the transition from minimum to maximum parking requirements. It argues that oversupplying parking incentivizes private car use and increases greenhouse gas emissions, while providing case studies from the USA and UK to suggest policy reforms for developing countries like South Africa.

This report by Ember examines the use of biomass co-firing in several European countries, detailing the subsidies that support the practice and its impact on the transition away from fossil fuels.

This discussion paper examines the European Union's role in climate leadership following the United States' decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU.

A statement by Friends of the Earth International calling for a global, people-led transition away from 'dirty energy'—including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and large-scale hydroelectric projects—to combat the planetary emergency of climate change.

A 2017 statement by Friends of the Earth International calling for a global, grassroots-led energy revolution to replace 'dirty energy'—including fossil fuels, nuclear, and large-scale hydro—with decentralized, community-centered energy systems to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

A statement by Friends of the Earth International calling for a people-led energy transition to combat the climate emergency, arguing that the Paris Agreement is insufficient and that fossil fuels, nuclear power, and large hydroelectric dams must be replaced by community-centered energy systems.

This research paper examines the 'utility information problem'—the lack of data regarding the locational value of distributed energy resources (DERs)—which obscures the boundaries of the electric distribution utility's natural monopoly. The author proposes that integrated distribution planning (IDP) is necessary to reveal this information, enabling a transition toward a Distribution System Optimizer (DSO) role. The paper evaluates two pathways to this transition: an information-intensive approach compatible with cost-of-service regulation and an outcome-focused approach utilizing performance-based regulation (PBR).

The Center for International Environmental Law argues that the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters is at a critical existential moment. The organization calls on 47 European and Central Asian states meeting in Montenegro to reaffirm their commitment to environmental democracy against rising trends of judicial attacks on NGOs, the influence of industry lobbyists, and the emergence of illiberal democracies.

This research paper by the Climate Policy Initiative argues that existing electricity market designs, based on short-term marginal costs, are ill-suited for a low-carbon transition dominated by variable renewable energy (VRE). The authors propose a bifurcated market model—separating a long-term 'energy market' for commodity production from a short-term 'delivery market' for flexibility—to lower financing costs for capital-intensive assets and provide clearer incentives for flexibility resources like batteries and demand response.