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The document argues that local communities are often marginalized from national climate adaptation planning and financing, leading to ineffective investments. It positions civil society organizations as essential intermediaries that can facilitate community participation and monitor finance flows. To achieve this, the paper proposes a four-step capacity-building process for CSOs: conducting political economy assessments, analyzing finance allocation and reporting, developing engagement strategies, and pursuing peer-to-peer learning and training.

The analysis indicates that India's 2030 mitigation goal is achievable through the effective implementation of five specific policies—the PAT scheme, Dedicated Freight Corridor, clean environment cess, 2022 renewable power targets, and the Energy Conservation Building Code—while maintaining GDP growth. However, the paper notes a need for increased transparency in greenhouse gas accounting and suggests that further emissions intensity reductions are possible by addressing institutional, financial, and technological barriers.

The document outlines a strategy for the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stating that a 26 percent reduction below 2005 levels by 2025 is achievable through a comprehensive approach including the Clean Power Plan. It identifies the power sector as the primary opportunity for reductions, potentially reaching 30 percent by 2025 if policies are strengthened or renewable costs decline. For longer-term goals, the paper argues that Congressional action, specifically a national carbon price, could enable reductions of 40-42 percent by 2030 and 50-53 percent by 2040.

The paper examines the value of temporary carbon storage and how it informs policy design for greenhouse gas accounting and biological offsets, specifically using social cost of carbon estimates to determine equivalence ratios between permanent and temporary offsets.

The report assesses federal policies and programs aimed at meeting the U.S. target of a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 relative to 2005 levels. While policies like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, renewable energy tax credits, and vehicle standards are driving reductions, government projections indicate that additional actions are necessary to meet the target and sustain reductions after 2020. The report notes a lack of promising initiatives in Congress but suggests that federal agencies can utilize existing authority to implement further standards for power plants, appliances, and HFC consumption.

The World Resources Institute, in partnership with the World Cocoa Foundation and Climate Focus, developed two tools to support deforestation-free cocoa commitments in West Africa. The West Africa Cocoa Dataset aggregates data from 19 companies, identifying 840,000 unique plots covering approximately 1.5 million hectares. To protect farmer privacy, this dataset is shared as a heat map rather than raw plot data. The Cocoa Deforestation Risk Assessment provides a harmonized method to prioritize deforestation prevention; it found that recent forest loss significantly influences risk levels, while legal protections in areas like Taï National Park and Bia National Park correlate with lower priority rankings due to a lack of recent loss.

The ACT 2015 Consortium proposes a legal framework for the 2015 Paris Agreement that integrates mitigation, adaptation, and support through five-year cycles of continuous improvement. Key recommendations include phasing out greenhouse gas emissions to net zero in the second half of the century, establishing a long-term adaptation goal, and ensuring equity for least developed countries and small island developing States through flexible commitments and targeted financial support.

The document argues that current NDCs insufficiently address transport emissions, with only 29 countries specifying quantitative targets. It proposes three primary areas for enhancement: accelerating electrification and fuel economy, amplifying 'avoid and shift' measures like public transport and urban planning, and addressing freight emissions through clean fuels and information technology.

WRI introduces a deep learning model, the Bayesian long short-term memory sequence-to-sequence-to-sequence model, to provide near-real-time forecasts of reservoir water volumes for a 90-day period in India. The pilot project focused on 11 reservoirs supplying thermal coal power generation, achieving a coefficient of determination score of 92% for short-term (1-14 day) forecasts and 56% for long-term (15-90 day) forecasts. The tool is intended to flag drought-like conditions and support the transition to water-prudent power production, though it is not intended for reservoir management operations.

The document details the acceleration of global sea-level rise and the formation of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact by four county governments to coordinate mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The paper evaluates two policy packages for India: the NDC-SDG scenario, aligning with 2030 goals, and the LTD scenario, targeting 2050. The LTD scenario offers higher emission reductions and health co-benefits but relies more on nascent technologies. Both scenarios demonstrate that deep decarbonization can coexist with GDP growth and employment increases, with a carbon tax identified as a critical policy lever.

The document examines the role of local financial institutions (LFIs) in East Africa in financing the productive use of renewable energy (PURE), particularly for SMEs and the agricultural sector. While there is strong interest in expanding PURE lending, LFIs face constraints such as limited staff capacity, credit risks, and insufficient funding. The paper suggests that 17 surveyed LFIs require $174 million to expand their lending and recommends a shift toward more direct lending from balance sheets, the use of green bonds, and collaboration with development partners for de-risking instruments.

The document argues that a low-carbon product standard for the U.S. steel industry, featuring an emissions intensity benchmark and tradable credits, can drive the adoption of abatement technologies. It recommends covering intermediate steel products (sheets, plates, bars, beams, pipes, and tubes) and including Scope 1, 2, and significant Scope 3 emissions in the benchmark. To prevent carbon leakage and protect competitiveness, the author suggests applying the standard to all steel products produced and sold in the U.S., including those from importers of upstream and downstream products. The paper emphasizes that while such a standard is a significant tool, a suite of complementary policies—including R&D funding, carbon pricing, and production tax credits—is necessary for full sector decarbonization.

The document introduces 'Mapping Together', a guide for using the open-source tool Collect Earth to track biophysical restoration goals. It details a process involving local stakeholders to monitor land use, tree cover, and spatial patterns. The guide provides four case studies from El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, and Rwanda to demonstrate how governments identify restoration opportunities and track progress toward forest cover targets, and outlines an 8-step methodology for implementing mapathons.

The paper identifies key factors and recommendations for achieving 'transformational' change in low-carbon energy, defined by large magnitude impact, non-linear growth, and long-term sustainability. Through the analysis of 20 case studies, the authors categorize experiences into transformational, potentially transformational, and missed opportunities, highlighting the roles of regulatory frameworks, financial incentives, and national ownership.

The document addresses the complexity of aligning NDCs with long-term mitigation objectives, noting that countries have not yet committed to the emissions reductions required to limit warming to 1.5°C. It aims to provide guidance for the 2025 next-generation NDCs to ensure they reflect the highest possible ambition and align with net-zero targets and LT-LEDS.

The report analyzes the institutional infrastructure required for countries to host climate-friendly development projects under the Kyoto Protocol's JI and CDM mechanisms. Based on experiences in Central and Eastern Europe, it identifies three critical requirements for viable programs: accurate baselines for credit transfer, alignment with national development plans, and the reduction of high transaction costs.

The testimony argues that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is essential for mitigating climate change given that coal is responsible for over 40 percent of global CO2 emissions. The author calls for a global network of 15 to 20 demonstrations to move the technology from the 'valley of death' into commercialization, noting that technical understanding is already adequate for large-scale projects. A significant focus is placed on China, where coal-related emissions may reach 51 percent of the world's total by 2030, necessitating joint public-private partnerships and research exchanges. The document highlights existing initiatives like the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum and the Global CCS Institute, while recommending that the U.S. formalize partnerships with the UK, EU, China, and Australia to avoid duplication and share regulatory knowledge.

The analysis finds that green investments generally create more jobs per US$1 million than unsustainable investments, with ecosystem restoration and building efficiency showing the highest relative gains. However, the paper notes that job quality varies, with informality being a challenge in developing countries and lower wages/benefits compared to unionized traditional sectors in developed countries.

The document argues that U.S. energy policy decisions must balance the tradeoffs between energy security and climate change, noting that addressing one without the other often leads to unintended consequences.