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This briefing examines the relationship between de-risking, illicit financial flows (IFFs), and capital flows within African regional economic hubs, emphasizing the need for regulatory frameworks that maintain financial integrity without compromising inclusion.

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs argues that integrating renewable energy—specifically solar mini-grids—with agricultural finance and cooperative reform can unlock a 'green revolution' in Africa. Using Uganda as a case study, the document highlights how low productivity and a lack of post-harvest processing limit economic growth and food security, proposing a trifecta of energy access, financial incentives, and micro-enterprise training to empower smallholder farmers.

This policy brief assesses the Africa Energy Guarantee Facility (AEGF), a risk mitigation instrument launched by the European Investment Bank to attract private investment into Africa's sustainable energy sector. While the AEGF aims to unlock $1.4 billion in clean energy investment by providing insurance against political and sovereign risks, the document argues that its success depends on African policymakers creating enabling regulatory frameworks and reducing the high transaction costs and risks that currently deter private investors.

This fact sheet by the Center for International Environmental Law proposes a coordinated international tax or fee on the production of basic chemicals to fund chemicals management in developing and transition countries, operationalizing the 'polluter pays principle'.

This briefing paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute analyzes Green Climate Fund (GCF) funding proposals from 2015 to July 2018 to evaluate the extent of financial support directed toward energy access, particularly in high-impact and low-income countries.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) analyzes global adaptation finance flows for 2015-2016, identifying a significant reliance on public development finance and highlighting critical data gaps in private and domestic public sector tracking. It evaluates the alignment of these flows with regional and country-level vulnerabilities and provides recommendations for improving tracking methodologies to better inform investment.

This report, published by the Alliance for Renewable Electrification (ARE) in April 2020, outlines a roadmap to ensure the survival and growth of the decentralized renewable energy (DRE) sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that the crisis threatens the viability of DRE companies and the delivery of electricity to rural communities, potentially hindering the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) by 2030. The document provides specific financial, political, and technical recommendations for governments, donors, and charities to protect the sector and leverage the crisis to accelerate universal electrification.

The Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE) issued a call to action in April 2020 to protect the decentralised renewable energy (DRE) sector from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report argues that the sector is critical for achieving universal electricity by 2030 and proposes a series of financial, policy, and technical interventions to prevent sector collapse and accelerate sustainable electrification.

This report chapter from Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) analyzes development finance for energy projects with gender equality objectives between 2008 and 2018. It highlights a significant gap between general development finance and energy-specific finance targeting gender equality, identifies methodological failures in current tracking systems, and proposes a new framework for reporting and measuring gender-focused energy outcomes.

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the interactions between the bioeconomy and the rapid growth of electrification technologies, such as solar PV, wind, and batteries. It categorizes these interactions as competitive, complementary, or synergistic, arguing that while electrification may disrupt some biofuel markets, it also provides opportunities for decarbonizing heavy industry and improving agricultural value chains in low-income countries.

This executive summary from the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the interactions between the bioeconomy—defined as sectors based on biomass production and processing—and the rapid cost reductions and deployment of variable renewable energy (VRE), specifically solar photovoltaics, wind turbines, and lithium-ion batteries. The document categorizes these interactions as competitive, complementary, or synergistic, arguing that bioeconomy policy must be designed to integrate with and benefit from electrification to achieve deep decarbonization.

The 2019 Energizing Finance report by Climate Policy Initiative and Sustainable Energy for All analyzes finance commitments for electrification and clean cooking in 20 high-impact countries (HICs). It finds that current investment levels are severely insufficient to meet Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) by 2030, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, and highlights a critical funding gap for clean cooking and a continued, though slightly declining, reliance on fossil fuel investments.

The 'Building a Resilient Future Outcome Document' records the proceedings of a one-day event held on 22 September 2019 in New York City, convened by the Global Resilience Partnership. The event brought together over 500 practitioners to identify actions and partnerships to accelerate climate adaptation and resilience, specifically responding to the UN Climate Action Summit's Call for Action. The document outlines high-level messages, specific commitments from seven thematic action sessions, and a roadmap for building a global movement to protect vulnerable communities from climate-related shocks.

The Resilience Insights report by the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) synthesizes evidence from innovation challenges and partner programs to identify effective strategies for building resilience in vulnerable communities. It emphasizes a shift from reactive to systemic, transformative approaches, highlighting five key intervention areas: nature-based solutions, empowerment of marginalized groups, information/technology, inclusive finance, and low-cost infrastructure. The report argues that effective programming must be systemic, layered, inclusive, and long-term, moving beyond short-term project cycles to achieve sustainable, non-linear transformational change.

This policy brief summarizes the IPCC's SRCCL report, detailing how human activity affects 75% of Earth's land surface and contributes to climate change. It highlights that while land currently acts as a net carbon sink, climate change and degradation (driven largely by agriculture and logging) threaten this capacity. The brief emphasizes that sustainable land management, incorporating indigenous knowledge and gender-proofing, is essential for limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C and ensuring future food security.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is developing 'Clean and Green', a sanitation implementation framework for rural smallholder communities. The framework integrates health risk management (the 'Clean' track) with the productive reuse of local waste resources (the 'Green' track) to support multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report 'Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape 2019', produced by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and Climate Policy Initiative, analyzes public and private finance commitments for electricity and clean cooking in 20 high-impact countries (HICs) from 2013 to 2017. It finds that while electricity finance reached a record high in 2017, it remains far below the levels required to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) by 2030, particularly for residential users and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Clean cooking finance saw a severe decline in 2017, further widening the investment gap.

The IDFC Green Finance 2019 report details the climate and environmental finance commitments of 22 out of 26 member national and regional development banks. In 2019, members committed $197 billion in green finance, representing approximately 25% of their total new commitments, with a strong focus on green energy and mitigation in the East Asia and Pacific region.

This guidebook by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) examines how Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSSs) in agriculture can be leveraged to advance gender equality and women's empowerment in alignment with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Analyzing five key standards, the document identifies opportunities for VSSs to improve women's working conditions and decision-making, while warning that without gender-sensitive implementation, they may inadvertently increase women's unpaid labor burdens or reinforce patriarchal norms.

The 2019 SEforALL Charrettes Report details a two-day design-thinking event held in June 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The event brought together 115 diverse participants to generate 'disruptive solutions' to accelerate progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), specifically focusing on universal access to electricity and clean cooking by 2030.