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The Stockholm Environment Institute's SDG Synergies approach provides a systemic framework for planning sustainable development by analyzing how progress toward specific SDG targets influences others. The method involves a three-step process: customizing a subset of 20 to 40 relevant targets, scoring their direct interactions in a cross-impact matrix, and using network analysis to identify indirect 'ripple effects' and clusters of targets. This approach aims to improve priority-setting, resource allocation, and cross-sectoral collaboration by identifying targets with high positive influence and mitigating potential trade-offs.

The Sacramento Water Allocation Model (SacWAM), built using the Stockholm Environment Institute's Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) system, is being used by the California State Water Resources Control Board to update the Bay-Delta Plan. The model simulates the complex Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water system to assess how proposed policy changes—such as new flow requirements for the Sacramento River and its tributaries—impact agriculture, water supply, and fisheries. SacWAM allows officials to compare current operations against an 'unimpaired state' to determine flow requirements that support both 25 million people and 3 million acres of farmland while restoring the Delta's ecosystem.

The report examines the dilemma of the Swedish mining sector: its necessity for the low-carbon energy transition versus its negative environmental and social impacts. Through a collaborative project between Svemin and SEI, the authors developed four future scenarios for 2050 and a draft sustainability roadmap consisting of 31 robust action points. Key recommendations include improving supply chain traceability, addressing land-use conflicts with Indigenous Sami rights, and pursuing 'moonshot' projects like the 'invisible mine' to minimize surface impacts.

The Tandem framework addresses the 'usability gap' in climate services by shifting from provider-led to collaborative, transdisciplinary co-design. It outlines a seven-step iterative process—ranging from identifying adaptation challenges to maintaining the service—supported by cross-cutting components like sustainable financing and capacity building. The framework is illustrated through an urban water security case study in Lusaka, Zambia, where co-produced hydrological models helped stakeholders assess water demand against climate scenarios.

The report examines how a proposed copper mine in Laver would affect the Semisjaur Njarg Sami community, specifically regarding the loss of winter pastures and the threat to reindeer herding as a cultural practice. It argues that Boliden's proposed mitigation strategies, such as supplementary feeding and offering mining jobs to herders, are insufficient to compensate for the loss of traditional livelihoods. The document concludes that the mine would likely result in significant breaches of the community's property rights and individual rights to culture, necessitating a full human rights impact assessment.

The report reviews 819 studies on ecotechnologies for nutrient recovery in the Baltic Sea Region, finding that while energy recovery is mature in wastewater and manure-based systems dominate agriculture, economic viability is heavily dependent on global market prices for phosphate rock and natural gas. It argues that current EU policies remain rooted in linear waste management and calls for harmonized regulations to promote a circular economy for nutrients.

The paper examines seven small island developing states to determine if their NDCs align with national development plans. It finds that while NDC actions generally relate to development themes, the sectors identified as climate priorities are too narrow and exclude key development areas such as governance, health, and education, thereby missing opportunities for policy coherence and resilience.

The paper finds that the Adaptation Fund provides limited support for ecosystem-related activities, with only 15% of funding allocated to such projects as of 2016, and most of these focusing on human-centric ecosystem services rather than ecological resilience.

The report evaluates different systems for nutrient and carbon recovery in the Vantaanjoki (Finland), Fyrisån (Sweden), and Słupia (Poland) catchment areas. Using a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) involving stakeholder weighting, the study compares baseline management against alternatives such as anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis, and source-separation. In Vantaanjoki, anaerobic digestion scored highest. In Fyrisån, source-separation was the most sustainable. In Słupia, nutrient extraction performed best, while source-separation was found to be potentially less sustainable than the baseline due to local context and low adoption rates.

The module, developed for the Tufts University Global Development and Environment Institute, introduces green macroeconomics by viewing the economy as embedded in society and the environment. It employs a pluralist approach—contrasting neoclassical, post-Keynesian, and classical theories—and develops an explicit green macroeconomic model to analyze the shift toward renewable energy.

The research examines the soy-meat value chain to determine if market-based governance, such as certification and eco-labeling, effectively manages sustainability. It finds that fragmented commitments based on different risk factors—such as deforestation for upstream traders versus animal welfare for downstream actors—lead to low instrument uptake and the displacement of environmental impacts. The authors conclude that network governance is necessary to overcome this 'sustainability gridlock' through better information exchange and trust between global regions.

The study finds that accelerated leaf senescence is the primary mechanism by which ozone pollution reduces crop yield, rather than direct impairment of photosynthesis in un-senesced leaves. It concludes that the Phytotoxic Ozone Dose (POD), based on stomatal O3 flux, is a more accurate predictor of physiological response than 24-hour mean concentrations or AOT40.

The document identifies a strategic dilemma for Sweden: relying on biofuels to meet near-term 2030 goals may hinder the transition to electrification, which is viewed as the more cost-effective long-term strategy for 2045. While biofuels currently provide about 20% of truck energy and are expected to remain the primary mid-term solution, stakeholders anticipate a shift toward battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and electric road system technologies starting in the 2030s.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) is developing the 'Clean and Green' framework to address gaps in rural sanitation, specifically for smallholder communities. The framework combines a 'Clean' track for risk management (eliminating open defecation and managing waste) and a 'Green' track for resource recovery (recycling nutrients and water for agriculture). It utilizes a stepwise certification system to motivate households and villages, aiming to synergistically meet multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by linking sanitation to agricultural productivity and ecosystem health.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and University College London (UCL) have developed a method to eliminate the opacity of cargo shipping emissions by matching satellite-based automatic identification system (AIS) data with vessel operational characteristics and shipping manifests. This approach allows for the precise allocation of greenhouse gases and air pollutants to individual commodity shipments, exporters, importers, and traders. A pilot study of Brazilian exports in 2014 revealed that shipping emissions added 5% to the country's reported CO2 emissions, with the largest shares attributed to iron ore and soybean exports to China. The authors argue that scaling this approach can inform international climate negotiations, improve lifecycle assessments, and enhance shipping industry efficiency.

The study finds that adaptation finance is not consistently aligned with the Paris Agreement's goal of prioritising the most vulnerable nations. For bilateral donors, the relationship between vulnerability and both the probability of selection and the amount of finance allocated is concave, meaning that while vulnerability increases funding up to a point, the most vulnerable countries actually receive smaller allocations than their less vulnerable counterparts. Multilateral donors are found to be even less responsive to recipient need, although they do prioritise members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in the allocation stage and the most vulnerable states specifically when providing 'principal-classified' finance.

The review finds that only 15% of Adaptation Fund commitments are ecosystem-related, with the vast majority focusing on human-centric ecosystem services rather than ecological resilience. Most interventions employ traditional restoration strategies at a small scale, failing to align with conservation literature that emphasizes landscape-scale adaptation and the protection of high-value biodiversity hotspots.

The report argues that the proposed Boliden copper mine in Laver would effectively end traditional Sami reindeer herding for the Semisjaur Njarg community by destroying critical winter pastures. Through scenario analysis, the document demonstrates that the mine would force herders into either unsustainable 'reindeer farming' based on artificial feeding or the total abandonment of the area, both of which threaten intergenerational succession and the survival of the critically endangered Pite Sami language. The report further highlights a systemic failure in the Swedish permitting process to recognize indigenous property rights and the cumulative effects of multiple land encroachments, such as wind farms and forestry, which leave the community at a breaking point.

The paper develops a methodology to estimate fuel economy in sub-Saharan African cities, specifically Nairobi, by collecting data on both formal and informal vehicle fleets. Using general linear modelling (GLM) and artificial neural networks (ANN), the study found that fuel economy for bodabodas, tuktuks, passenger cars, and matatus in Nairobi is 2–3 times worse than in their countries of import. The GLM was identified as the more effective model for predicting fuel economy based on vehicle characteristics.

The paper analyzes nearly 5,700 energy-related transactions to 37 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) from 2002 to 2016. It finds that while funding increased after 2009 and shifted toward renewables—specifically solar—non-renewable energy sources continue to receive support. The study highlights a lack of correlation between aid allocation and recipient income or electricity access gaps, noting that improvements in access remain slow where gaps are largest. Additionally, low disbursement rates indicate significant implementation challenges, leading the authors to call for improvements in both the quantity and quality of aid.