Search Climate Insights Directory

The 2015-16 drought in Ethiopia, exacerbated by El Niño, was an extremely rare event that affected 9.7 million people and exceeded the mitigation capacity of existing national and international response systems.

The paper identifies five key levers—power and leadership, communication and engagement, capacity building, financing implementation, and demonstration effect—essential for successful climate action in cities. Drawing on seven CDKN-supported projects across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, it argues that city governments face significant barriers, including short political cycles, fragmented governance, and limited financial resources. The framework serves as a checklist for donors and practitioners to create investable and implementable climate propositions, highlighting the importance of local champions, tailored business cases, and cross-city collaboration to scale successful interventions like India's Heat Action Plans.

The document outlines five critical factors for building climate-resilient water infrastructure: effective communication of risks, inclusive stakeholder engagement, strategic use of entry points, adopting a systemic approach beyond individual projects, and building institutional capacity. It draws on case studies from Colombia, Africa, Mozambique, St. Vincent, and Nepal to demonstrate how these factors mitigate the risks associated with long-lived infrastructure and climate uncertainty.

The report identifies several systemic barriers to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture in Nepal, including a gap between policy recognition and actual implementation, a lack of scientific evidence tailored to specific agro-ecological zones, and poor coordination among government institutions. It highlights that many initiatives rely on unsustainable project-based approaches and that economically poor smallholder farmers are unable to afford expensive technologies like solar-pump irrigation and machine-based zero-tillage.

The document discusses the importance of becoming a 'learning organisation' to address the complex, non-linear challenges of integrating climate change into development action. It draws on the experience of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) to provide models and frameworks for organisational learning, noting that CDKN generates knowledge across Asia, Africa, and Latin America through research, technical assistance, and communications.

The document argues that while resettlement and relocation can reduce hazard exposure, these interventions often leave populations worse off socially and economically. It advocates for treating resettlement as a last resort, prioritising on-site mitigation and the prevention of new settlements in hazard-prone areas, and ensuring the protection of human rights through strengthened legal frameworks.

The report presents a road map for developing Colombia's green bond market, noting that while initial issuances by Bancolombia (2016) and Davivienda (2017) have occurred, further tools and strategies are needed to remove barriers and ensure sustained growth in green bond issuances to fund the country's green growth goals and Paris Agreement contributions.

The India-UK partnership has focused on unlocking India's energy efficiency sector through technical assistance, advocacy, and the development of investment strategies. Key efforts targeted buildings, industrial efficiency, standards, labelling, and demand-side management, involving stakeholders like the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The brief highlights that while India has implemented significant schemes such as the Perform, Achieve and Trade scheme, the viability of energy efficiency investments remains dependent on national and state-level policies and the coordination of multi-level government and non-government actors.

The document highlights that Indian cities will generate 70% of future energy demand and face increasing climate hazards, necessitating the Smart City Mission's focus on core infrastructure and sustainable environments. It details the India-UK Smart Cities for growth partnership's support in urban planning and clean energy, while recommending multi-stakeholder dialogues, better use of evidence bases, and improved coordination between national and state actors to bridge implementation gaps.

The document identifies five key building blocks for a successful green bond market: the enabling environment, investors, issuers and project pipeline, governance, and definitions and standards. It highlights a significant funding gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), noting that US$1 trillion is needed annually for clean energy alone. Because public sector balance sheets lack the capacity to meet these needs, the text estimates that 80–90% of funding must come from the private sector, necessitating the leverage of capital markets.

Analysis of ZIMSTAT census data indicates a trend of de-urbanisation in Zimbabwe, with the urban population proportion decreasing from 35% to 33% between 2002 and 2012, although the total urban population grew slowly at 0.6% per annum. These movements are influenced by macroeconomic instability, climate pressure, and mining dynamics, though the briefing cautions that changes in census bases and a lack of disaggregated data may affect the accuracy of the de-urbanisation conclusion.

The document reflects on seven years of CDKN's work to integrate climate action with poverty reduction, highlighting its influence on policies in 33 countries and its support for the Paris Agreement. It identifies critical gaps in current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the need for diversified climate finance beyond the Green Climate Fund, and the slow pace of sustainable transport and smart city adoption in developing nations compared to the rapid energy transition to renewables.

The document argues that closing the gap between climate ambitions and implementation requires a shift from general capacity building to targeted 'capability development'. CDKN defines capability as the ability to apply tools, skills, and knowledge effectively combined with the willingness to act. The paper identifies four essential types of capability: technical, relational, strategic, and institutional. It proposes a seven-step iterative process for development, emphasizing context analysis, co-owned agendas, and adaptive programming. Case studies from Rwanda and India are used to illustrate how these capabilities enable governments to secure climate funding and implement action plans.

The report identifies that while Peruvian SMEs represent 99.5% of registered companies and face higher proportional energy costs than large firms, significant barriers—including lack of information, low economic incentives due to low energy prices, and limited financial mechanisms—hinder energy efficiency adoption. A pilot study of 12 SMEs in Lima's energy-intensive sectors (primarily manufacturing) demonstrated a strong business case for investment, with an average reduction in energy consumption of 15%, total annual financial savings of US$750k, and an average payback period of two years. Key recommendations include government-led market analysis, improved auditing standards, and the creation of partnerships between finance providers, consultants, and equipment suppliers.

The document explores how the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) has applied various organisational learning models to address the complexities of integrating climate challenges into development action. It details six specific frameworks: levels of learning, complexity models, adaptive and generative learning, action-reflection cycles, learning for change design principles, and the building blocks of a learning organisation. The paper argues that in unpredictable environments, organisations must move beyond technical expertise to embed a culture of continuous learning, experimentation, and iterative adaptation to be effective.

The document argues that while resettlement and relocation can reduce hazard exposure, they often leave populations worse off socially and economically. It recommends that such measures be a last resort, preceded by exhaustive exploration of on-site upgrading and consensus-building with affected communities. The text highlights the risk of forced evictions under the guise of safety and calls for strengthened legal frameworks and adherence to international covenants to protect the rights of low-income urban populations.

The guide outlines five essential building blocks for green bond markets: the enabling environment, investors, issuers and project pipeline, governance, and definitions and standards. It emphasizes that while public sector support is often needed initially, a successful market must eventually become self-sustaining, diverse in its environmental objectives, and transparent in its reporting. The document provides practical frameworks for policymakers to assess their market's readiness and offers case studies from China, India, and Nigeria to illustrate effective policy incentives and issuance strategies.

The document details CDKN's support for Kenya's climate goals, highlighting the impact of the 2016 Climate Change Act and the National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP). Key achievements include a 140 MW increase in geothermal energy in 2015, the development of the CaRROT tool for the flower sector, and the submission of four proposals to the Green Climate Fund. It also discusses the 'Raising Risk Awareness' initiative for extreme event attribution and efforts to integrate water, energy, and food (WEF) security planning at the county level.

The document outlines a project designed to help the Government of Nepal, specifically the Department of Irrigation, address the impacts of climate change on agricultural irrigation. It highlights that while agriculture contributes approximately 33% of Nepal's GDP, it is highly vulnerable to monsoon climate and topography, with climate change and extreme events causing an annual loss of about 0.8% of agricultural GDP. The project's primary output is a framework intended to guide policy-makers and project designers in assessing and mitigating climate risks for small- and medium-scale irrigation systems to ensure they are efficient, equitable, and resilient.

This report analyzes Costa Rica's green growth, noting that while historical investments in education and natural capital fueled an industrial transition and a successful eco-tourism sector, the country now faces a skills gap in innovation and critical deficiencies in sustainable public infrastructure, specifically regarding wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions.