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The SEI Initiative on City Health and Wellbeing focuses on the intersection of urban growth, environmental quality, and resident wellbeing, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Using case studies in Nakuru, Kenya, and Udon Thani, Thailand, the initiative employs a multi-disciplinary approach to study the impact of urban forms, co-design citizen science monitoring, analyze urban metabolism through participatory modelling, and examine governance for urban equity. The goal is to generate evidence that informs holistic decision-making and sustainable urban planning, integrating health and wellbeing with climate change mitigation and resilience.

The report reviews research needs for SDG 14, categorizing them into three themes: marine pollution, ocean and climate, and sustainable use of marine resources. It highlights critical knowledge gaps in the Arctic and Baltic Sea, the need for standardized global monitoring of microplastics and acidification, and the challenge of balancing short-term economic demands with long-term environmental protection. The document emphasizes that while science can characterize challenges and provide solutions, effective mitigation depends on political will and multi-disciplinary collaboration.

The report outlines critical knowledge gaps across four themes essential for achieving SDG 17 and the broader 2030 Agenda. It emphasizes the need for research on the relationship between quality of government and sustainability outcomes, the development of tools for policy coherence, the removal of barriers to technology transfer in least developed countries, and the creation of empirical metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder partnerships.

The document provides a comprehensive mapping of ecotechnologies used to recover carbon and nutrients from wastewater and agriculture. For wastewater, the evidence base consists of 481 articles, showing a predominance of biological processes and a higher focus on energy recovery over nutrient recovery. For agriculture, 338 ecotechnologies were identified, with manure-based systems—particularly anaerobic digestion—being the most prevalent. The report highlights knowledge gaps in nitrogen recovery and the use of extracted nutrients like struvite in agriculture, noting that current policies still prioritise pollution reduction over resource recovery.

This report examines the expansion of geothermal power in Kenya, highlighting its role in the country's climate mitigation goals and the challenges of attracting private investment due to social, political, and environmental risks.

This policy brief by the Stockholm Environment Institute examines the barriers to creating a sustainable charcoal sector in Kenya, where charcoal serves over 80% of the urban population's cooking energy needs.

The report analyzes 10 specific climate solutions for Kenya and Ethiopia, focusing on their potential for emission reductions, associated costs, savings, and co-benefits to inform policy recommendations.

The document argues that the EU's transition to a bioeconomy must be integrated into a broader sustainability transition to prevent excessive pressure on bioresources. It highlights that increasing biomass imports to reduce fossil fuel reliance could negatively impact supplier countries, necessitating guiding principles to manage synergies and trade-offs across sectors and regions.

The document examines the complexities of the global climate finance landscape, noting that while funding is increasing toward the USD 100 billion annual pledge for developing countries, the variety of fund sources and implementation channels creates significant coordination challenges. These issues manifest globally as a lack of clear division of labour among multilateral funds and nationally through the interaction between domestic government actors and international funders.

The BONUS RETURN project focuses on the implementation of eco-technologies in three river basins: Vantaanjoki (Finland), Słupia (Poland), and Fyrisån (Sweden). During its first year, the project established a broad definition of 'eco-technologies' as "human interventions in social- ecological systems in the form of practices and/or biological, physical, and chemical processes designed to minimise harm to the environment and provide services of value to society." Key activities included a systematic review of 77 articles to define the term, a search of nearly 35,000 records to identify existing technologies in agriculture and wastewater treatment, and the establishment of stakeholder platforms in the three catchment areas. Additionally, the project launched the 'Nutrients and Carbon Reuse Challenge', attracting 15 European applicants and selecting three winning innovations for pre-commercialization planning. Technical work included collecting data for SWAT modelling to establish baseline phosphorus (Ptot) and nitrogen (Ntot) loadings in the case study areas.

The briefing examines the risks associated with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Southeast Asia, particularly regarding carbon-intensive energy projects and hydropower dams. It argues that current investment patterns may lead to carbon lock-in and ecological damage. To mitigate these risks, the authors propose a decision-making framework based on transparency, stakeholder participation, and adherence to international sustainable finance standards.

The document examines the barriers to expanding geothermal energy in Kenya, noting that while the resource is abundant and central to the country's climate goals, development is slowed by high upfront exploration costs and infrastructure expenses. It highlights political risks such as the financial viability of the offtaker, Kenya Power, and bureaucratic tensions between national and county governments. Socially, the report identifies community opposition due to land relocation and the uneven distribution of benefits, where marginalized local populations bear the environmental and social costs while urban centers and elites receive the energy benefits. It concludes that for geothermal expansion to be sustainable, the government must better mitigate these risks and ensure equitable benefit-sharing.

The document identifies critical barriers to sustainable charcoal in Kenya, including limited financing for reforestation and efficient kilns, weak enforcement of the 2009 Forest (Charcoal) Rules due to systemic corruption, and low capacity among producer associations to comply with complex regulations. It highlights a significant supply-demand gap, with demand estimated at 16.3 million m3 against a supply of 7.4 million m3, and notes that while alternative fuels like LPG and ethanol are available, they remain accessible primarily to high-income households.

The document outlines how to apply a gender and social equality (GSE) lens to sustainable development research to uncover power relations and inequalities. It defines key concepts such as intersectionality, the distinction between sex and gender, and the role of social constructions in creating hierarchies. The guide provides a framework for analyzing norms, division of labour, resource access, and decision-making power, while offering specific methodological advice for defining research questions, collecting data from diverse social groups, and presenting results to ensure the voices of marginalized populations are represented.

The paper examines environmental integrity in international carbon markets, defining it as a state where carbon unit transfers result in the same or lower aggregated global emissions. It identifies four primary risk factors: accounting for transfers, the quality of generated units, the ambition of transferring countries' targets, and potential disincentives for future mitigation action. The author recommends that policy-makers employ a combination of approaches to mitigate these risks.

The authors conducted a systematic review of 1,221 articles across nine bibliographic databases to define "ecotechnology," identifying 657 unique articles. Analysis of 77 articles focused on carbon and nutrients revealed that nearly half used the term as a buzzword. From 49 explicit definitions, the authors identified 38 themes, which were clustered into nine groups covering nature-society integration, societal and environmental benefits, profitability, hard technology (equipment), and soft technology (behaviours).

The paper introduces a method to calculate maritime shipping emissions by combining shipping manifest cargo data with Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel tracking data. It demonstrates this approach using 2014 Brazilian exports, finding that shipping these goods added 25.99 million tonnes of CO2 to Brazil's reported emissions.

The research examines the sensitivity of electric vehicle (EV) adoption to battery costs, finding that EVs only achieve a significant global market share of 15% or more when battery costs drop to 100 $/kWh or less. While battery costs have fallen faster than previously estimated, the transport sector remains a more challenging area for greenhouse gas emission reductions compared to other sectors.

The document addresses the tension between the need for increased energy access for social development and the environmental risks associated with fossil fuels and deforestation. It specifically examines whether bioenergy can serve as a viable, affordable, and environmentally sound alternative to oil, coal, and natural gas in developing regions.

The document argues that a rapid decline in fossil fuel combustion is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 or 2 °C, but warns that the resulting economic disruption could undermine the political consensus needed for such a transition. It emphasizes the need to balance the phase-out of fossil fuels with expanding energy access for basic needs and economic development, particularly in developing countries, while supporting those economically dependent on extraction. The author suggests that a fair, cooperative approach to minimizing transitional hardship is essential for the feasibility of an ambitious decarbonization process.