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The report identifies geothermal energy as a cost-competitive, low-carbon baseload power source, but notes that its deployment is hindered by high resource risks and long development timelines. It finds that 76-90% of geothermal project investments rely on public debt or equity, as the private sector is generally unwilling to fund the high-risk exploration phase. The document argues that while current policy support often focuses on the operational phase, public finance should be redirected toward the early stages of project development to attract more private capital.

The report argues that transitioning to a low-carbon economy can increase global financial capacity rather than deplete it. For the electricity sector, the transition could provide a net benefit of $1.8 trillion by 2035, as significant operating savings from avoided fossil fuel extraction and transport outweigh higher capital costs and stranded assets. In the transport sector, the impact is more policy-dependent, ranging from a $2.5 trillion cost to a $3.5 trillion benefit, depending on whether the transition is driven by taxes or innovation. The authors emphasize that reducing the cost of capital for low-carbon infrastructure through regulatory and financial reforms is critical to maximizing these benefits.

The report estimates that a transition to a low-carbon economy could put nearly $25 trillion of fossil fuel asset value at risk, with approximately 80% of this risk borne by governments rather than private investors. The analysis highlights that oil represents the majority of value at risk (close to 75%), while coal offers the highest emissions reduction potential with relatively low stranding risk (12%). The document argues that the net economic impact depends heavily on policy: a purely tax-based approach to reducing oil demand could cost the global economy $3 trillion, whereas an innovation-led transition could yield a net benefit of $7 trillion. It recommends prioritizing the phase-out of coal and utilizing financial mechanisms to lower the cost of renewable energy in emerging markets.

The document examines the Province of Milan's effort to implement a regional energy efficiency program using pure Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) to retrofit public buildings. While the program successfully moved investments off municipal balance sheets and tested new contract structures, it faced significant delays and barriers. These include the prevalence of 'bundled' energy service contracts in Italy, which discourage pure EPC, and the reluctance of local banks to participate in tenders due to the lack of physical collateral for energy efficiency investments. The program relied heavily on technical assistance grants from the ELENA facility and prior audits funded by Fondazione Cariplo to overcome capacity gaps in small municipalities.

The document examines how Spain's Feed-in Tariffs and Feed-in Premiums successfully drove the deployment of 2.3 GW of CSP and fostered a world-leading domestic industry, but later shattered investor confidence through retroactive cost-cutting measures. It highlights that the lack of deployment caps and failure to drive cost reductions led to unsustainable public costs, resulting in a market standstill since 2012 and increased financing costs due to heightened risk aversion.

The report evaluates the 'Priority Municipalities' (MPs) policy in Brazil, which blacklisted municipalities with high deforestation rates to target law enforcement. The study finds that the policy significantly reduced deforestation in the Amazon, avoiding the clearing of 11,359 km2 of forest between 2008 and 2011. This reduction was primarily driven by increased monitoring and law enforcement, such as a 10% increase in fines, while having no negative impact on agricultural GDP, crop production, or credit concessions.

The research finds that the blacklisting of priority municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon significantly reduced deforestation, avoiding the clearing of approximately 11,218 to 11,396 km2 of forest from 2008 to 2011. The authors conclude that this effect was primarily driven by intensified monitoring and law enforcement—specifically an increase in the number of fines—rather than economic sanctions. The study demonstrates that the policy had no significant negative impact on agricultural GDP, crop production, or rural credit concessions, suggesting that forest protection in the region does not necessarily constrain agricultural production.

The report assesses the effectiveness of Brazil's 'Municípios Prioritários' (MPs) policy, which targeted municipalities with high deforestation rates for intensified monitoring and enforcement. The analysis finds that the policy significantly reduced deforestation in the Amazon, primarily through increased law enforcement and fines, without negatively impacting regional agricultural production or economic activity.

This case study describes the Climate Policy Initiative's (CPI) methodology for identifying effective public financial interventions for low-carbon projects, using large-scale renewable energy in California as an example.

The document outlines CPI's approach to defining climate finance, distinguishing between project-level costs and revenues and broader whole-economy expenditures. It defines climate finance as the sum of total investment costs and public framework expenditures, explicitly excluding revenue support to avoid double counting. The brief also identifies three primary entry points for public intervention to close 'viability gaps'—the difference between total project costs and generated revenues—which include increasing revenues, reducing project costs, and improving the overall investment climate through framework expenditures.

In 2011, Indonesia's public climate funding totaled at least Rp 8.4 trillion (USD 951 million), with domestic government spending as the primary source. Most domestic funds were directed toward 'supporting activities' like policy development, particularly in the forestry sector, while international funding focused more on 'core activities' in mitigation and adaptation. The report highlights a significant gap in funding reaching local governments and identifies challenges in tracking international funds and defining adaptation activities.

The document serves as a technical supplement to a report on Indonesia's public climate finance. It provides a detailed breakdown of 2011 state budget expenditures, categorizing funds into climate-specific and potentially climate-relevant outcomes across sectors such as forestry, energy, and transport. It includes a comprehensive list of Indonesian laws and regulations governing public finance and climate action, a registry of climate-relevant policy incentives, and an analysis of local government spending via Specific Allocation Grants. Additionally, it summarizes the climate-related investment activities of various state-owned enterprises and lists the government agencies and international partners consulted during the study.

In 2011, Indonesia disbursed at least IDR 8,377 billion (USD 951 million) in public climate finance, with the domestic government providing 66% of these funds. The majority of domestic spending (73%) targeted 'indirect activities' such as policy development, primarily in the forestry sector. International development partners contributed 34% of the total, with a stronger focus on direct mitigation and adaptation projects, particularly in energy. The report identifies significant tracking gaps, especially regarding adaptation finance, and highlights the limited role of local governments and the untapped potential of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in delivering climate action.

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative examines the underperformance of land rental markets in Brazil and argues that deregulation could improve agricultural productivity and environmental protection by enabling more efficient land use.

The Eskom CSP project in South Africa is a 100 MW power tower plant utilizing 9-12 hours of thermal energy storage and a dry-cooled steam cycle. Because the levelized cost of electricity for CSP (0.28-0.33 USD/kWh) exceeds that of coal, hydro, and gas, the project relies on 100% public financing, including USD 995 million in highly subsidized debt from six international finance institutions (IFIs) with rates below 2%. Eskom manages technology risks by contracting an Owner's Engineer for design and an EPC contractor for construction and early operation. The project aims to reduce technology costs, create local supply chains, and improve energy security in a country targeting 3.3 GW of CSP by 2030.

The report examines why land rental markets in Brazil are underdeveloped compared to international standards, noting that only 3.3% of cultivated land was under lease or partnership agreements in the last Agricultural Census. It identifies legal imperfections—such as non-negotiable contract clauses, rent ceilings, and minimum contract durations—as primary deterrents to market growth. The document argues that deregulating these markets would allow for more efficient land use, specifically suggesting that over 40 million hectares of degraded pasture outside the Amazon could be converted to sugarcane production to increase agricultural value and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The document analyzes the impact of California's Cap and Trade Program on the cement industry, using financial modeling and interviews to assess abatement options. It finds that while carbon pricing makes some investments more attractive, significant barriers—such as short internal payback period requirements (1.5-3 years), uncertainty regarding alternative fuel supplies, and prescriptive customer procurement standards—often outweigh the carbon price signal. The authors suggest that complementary policies, such as public financing for long-term projects and performance-based procurement standards, are necessary to unlock low-cost emissions reductions.

The report finds that Brazil's land rental markets are significantly underdeveloped compared to North America and Europe, with only 3.3% of agricultural land under lease or sharecropping. This inefficiency is attributed to insecure property rights and a rigid legal framework, primarily the 1964 Land Statute, which imposes non-renounceable clauses to protect renters. The authors argue that these regulations are outdated for today's more capitalized farmers and that deregulation could boost agricultural productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by facilitating the conversion of degraded pastureland to sugarcane production.

The document outlines the systemic shifts required to integrate low-carbon energy, arguing that traditional power plant financing and grid structures are ill-suited for renewables. It proposes new financing models like YieldCos and Muni Finance to lower costs, emphasizes the need for regionally integrated transmission and updated balancing markets to manage variability, and discusses the disruptive impact of distributed generation and demand-side flexibility on traditional utility models.

The report argues that the 19th-century utility model, designed for centralized fossil-fuel generation, is ill-suited for the 21st-century transition to low-carbon energy. It identifies critical challenges across five business segments: generation, transmission, market operation, distribution, and customer management. A central thesis is that current investor-owned utility (IOU) and independent power producer (IPP) financial structures inflate the cost of renewables by imposing risk-return requirements tailored to fossil fuels. The author proposes shifting toward 'YieldCos', municipal financing, and crowdsourced investment to match the bond-like, long-term cash flow profiles of renewable projects, which could potentially reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) by approximately 20%.