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The report examines how Vertical Climate and Environment Funds (VCEFs)—specifically the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Global Environment Facility (GEF), Climate Investment Funds (CIF), and Adaptation Fund (AF)—can better mobilize private climate finance for emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). It identifies three primary opportunities: implementing sequential financing to move projects from ideation to scale, increasing collaboration with the global network of public development banks (PDBs), and aligning funding with country-driven investment plans. The document emphasizes the need to address the high cost of capital in EMDEs to enable greater real-economy transformation as public climate finance becomes more constrained.

The document argues that the 2022 Brisbane and 2022/23 Kimberley floods were made more likely and impactful by human-caused climate change, specifically through increased ocean temperatures, more frequent multi-year La Niña events, and higher atmospheric moisture. It concludes that while the frequency of some weather systems may decrease, the intensity of rainfall and flooding is expected to increase, potentially leading to prohibitive costs for protection and insurance in flood-prone zones.

The document inventories nature-based solutions (NbS) in Zambia, emphasizing the integration of community-driven conservation, gender-responsive approaches, and livelihood development. It highlights Zambia's high economic dependency on natural resources—with agriculture, forests, and fisheries contributing significantly to GDP—which increases vulnerability to climate threats like erratic rainfall and droughts. The inventory aims to align these projects with national frameworks and avoid duplication among stakeholders.

The report inventories nature-based solutions (NbS) in Uganda since 2015, noting that these interventions are distributed across diverse ecosystems including wetlands, forests, and savannahs. It highlights that NbS projects typically address coupled societal challenges—such as food insecurity and water stress—and focus on reducing habitat degradation rather than species-specific conservation. While social inclusion is present, the report notes it is uneven across the project portfolio.

The report finds that while the May 2026 heatwave triggered a spike in media attention, coverage often lacked depth regarding the causes of climate change and structural adaptation solutions. Public broadcasters and specific press outlets like Le Monde and L'Humanité more consistently linked the event to global warming, whereas private channels like CNews and BFMTV frequently omitted this connection. The analysis highlights a preference for palliative adaptation measures, such as air conditioning, over structural solutions like urban greening or thermal renovation, and notes the emergence of climate disinformation narratives on certain platforms.

The World Resources Institute has released the Carbon Opportunity Cost Calculation Tool (Version 1.0), an Excel-based resource that automates the estimation of carbon lost from plants and soils when land is converted from native vegetation to agriculture. The tool provides default factors for nearly 90 agricultural products across 10 regions and 5 countries, allowing users to input product volumes to determine land occupation in hectares and carbon opportunity cost in carbon dioxide equivalent.

Carbon Market Watch criticizes the European Commission's proposed reforms to the ETS2 Market Stability Reserve (MSR2), arguing that removing the 'sunset clause' and increasing allowance releases would create a 'carbon bomb' that threatens EU climate goals. While the European Parliament has proposed mitigating some of these risks by reinstating a partial expiry date for allowances and increasing funding for the Social Climate Fund, the author contends that the system still allows for too much pollution. The document urges policymakers to make the earmarking of MSR2 auction revenues for vulnerable households mandatory and to conduct a full impact assessment of the reforms.

The document outlines the role of adaptation indicators within national monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) systems, emphasizing that their design must account for institutional landscapes and adaptation objectives rather than being a purely technical exercise. It highlights how these systems support accountability, learning, and the fulfillment of international reporting obligations under the Paris Agreement, including the second round of Biennial Transparency Reports due by the end of 2026.

The essay addresses the legal vacuum left by Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo regarding how courts should 'fix the boundaries' of agency discretionary authority. It argues that courts should utilize a statute's purpose, structure, and historical context to define these boundaries, subsequently applying the State Farm arbitrary-and-capricious standard to evaluate the agency's decision-making.

RMI advocates for the reassessment of planned coal-fired power plants, particularly in low-and-middle-income countries, given the falling costs of renewables and storage. The briefing provides a framework for identifying candidate plants for reconsideration based on their conception date, sunk costs, and evolving grid needs, suggesting that solar paired with battery energy storage (BESS) often offers a more competitive levelized cost of energy (LCOE) than new ultra-supercritical coal plants.

The document argues that rapid declines in clean energy costs and evolving grid needs make many planned coal plants economically risky. It introduces a five-indicator framework to identify high-priority candidates for reconsideration and suggests a phased approach to transitioning these projects to alternatives like solar paired with battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The document argues that major private credit rating agencies (CRAs) employ subjective, biased, and procyclical methodologies that unfairly increase the cost of capital for African nations. This 'credit rating impasse' hinders debt restructuring, limits the capacity of regional development banks, and obstructs the deployment of climate finance. To counter this, the African Union has endorsed the creation of the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) in Mauritius. The brief recommends that African states improve data transparency, enhance debt management capacity, and maintain macroeconomic stability to challenge inaccurate ratings and reduce borrowing costs.

The Colombian electricity transmission sector faces a structural backlog as generation capacity is projected to grow from 20.9 GW to 38.9 GW by 2030. The National Interconnected System (SIN) is nearing operational limits, with less than 5% capacity available and 90% of substations expected to exhaust short-circuit interrupting capacity within five years. Implementation is a critical hurdle, with 55% of current transmission projects delayed, some by up to 12 years, due to socio-environmental issues and planning misalignments. To address this, the Master Plan for Modernization and Expansion identifies 98 strategic works, 44 of which could resolve 149 operational constraints by 2037. Additionally, the Mining and Energy Planning Unit (UPME) adopted a Territorial Engagement Model in 2025 to better integrate socio-environmental and cultural criteria into planning.

The document examines the intersection of trade, climate change, and industrial policy in Africa, warning that the emerging green economy risks confining the continent to a role as a raw material supplier. It highlights a 'credibility gap' where advanced economies use industrial subsidies and carbon regulations while developing nations are historically discouraged from doing so. The author advocates for a development-centered reform of the multilateral trading system, the utilization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for regional value chains, and the application of the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' to ensure climate governance supports African industrial sovereignty and economic diversification.

The briefing identifies a systematic 'escalation of doubt' strategy used by disinformation actors to minimize the role of climate change in wildfires. It details how narratives shift from attributing fires to criminal acts or government mismanagement to more extreme conspiracy theories, such as claims that fires are started to clear land for wind farms or lithium extraction. The document highlights the role of digital platforms' 'attention economy' in amplifying these lies, noting that in Canada, such disinformation has interfered with emergency services and public safety during crises. It concludes that 86% of Canadians support a federal plan to regulate the spread of climate disinformation during extreme weather events.

Health organizations are calling on the Saskatchewan government to adhere to the 2030 coal phase-out, citing severe health risks from air pollution and the economic viability of renewable energy alternatives.

The document outlines best practices for journalists covering climate science, emphasizing the need to prioritize human impact over raw data and to look beyond abstracts to find the most relevant information. It provides criteria for evaluating the reliability of studies, such as peer review and the avoidance of predatory journals, while cautioning against confusing correlation with causality. Additionally, it lists several tools and databases, including the Global South Climate Database and Retraction Watch, to help reporters verify sources and connect with experts.

The Canadian Climate Institute warns that failing to adapt public infrastructure to rising heat and intense rainfall could increase annual costs by nearly $15 billion. While the federal government has failed to meet its own climate-proofing commitments, the broader challenge involves municipal, provincial, territorial, and Indigenous infrastructure. Investing approximately $4 billion annually in adaptation could save taxpayers up to $9 billion in annual repair costs. The document emphasizes that current funding models for municipal and Indigenous governments are insufficient for large-scale renewal, necessitating a coordinated effort across all levels of government to modernize financial tools and infrastructure standards.

Climate Central analysis indicates that climate change increases the probability of performance-impairing heat (above 28°C) for 97 out of 104 scheduled 2026 World Cup matches. Nearly half of the matches face at least a 50% chance of such heat, with the highest impact seen in the June 26 match in Guadalajara. To mitigate health and performance risks, organizers have implemented mandatory hydration breaks and increased evening matches, though only three stadiums (Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston) are fully climate-controlled.

The waste sector contributes approximately 20% of global human-caused methane emissions, yet adoption of proven technologies like anaerobic digestion and landfill gas to energy remains slow in emerging economies due to a lack of bankable projects. RMI identifies São Paulo and Bangkok as prime opportunity hubs for near-term private investment. Scaling this finance requires de-risking through investment-ready project pipelines, concessional capital, grant funding, and strengthened carbon markets to improve returns.