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2022-04-11
Inevitable Policy Response;
At the heart of the 2015 Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals is a theory of change which sees the delivery of critical environmental targets (such as the net-zero economy) as intrinsically connected with wider social objectives such as ending poverty, cutting inequality and achieving decent working conditions across the world. The result needs to be a 'just transition,' one that recognises the fundamental injustices of the current fossil-fuel based energy system, the ways in which climate change exacerbates many inequalities (notably in the developing world) and the opportunity of shaping the drive to net-zero so that it helps to overcome these structural failings. This report updates a 2019 IPR report on the just transition in light of growing policy and market action (notably around COP26), as well as the crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine.The shock of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 is deepening existing energy inequalities through the sharp rises in energy and other commodity prices, worsening the livelihoods for large sections of the global population. It could also accelerate the shift to the net-zero economy by once again adding security to decarbonisation as key drivers for accelerated deployment of resource efficiency and renewable energy. This makes the just transition a strategic issue for investors and policymakers in 2022.
2022-05-15
Corporate Europe Observatory;
A new study commission by CEO and the Transnational Institute shows the EU's plan to drastically increase imports of renewable hydrogen from North Africa is not realistic from a cost or energy perspective, and instead diverts renewable electricity away from local needs and local climate targets.The study was written by energy expert Michael Barnard and sees production costs making renewable hydrogen potentially up to 11 times more expensive than using natural gas, and that's before storage and transport costs are factored in.The EU's unrealistic import targets are allowing Big Oil and Gas to sneak hydrogen from natural gas through the back door, using green hydrogen as a trojan horse to keep drilling and selling their main product.
2022-06-07
International Institute for Sustainable Development;
This report outlines key implications for governments and investors aiming to align their policies and investments with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement, based on different energy pathways published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Sixth Assessment Report, published in April 2022.This report shows that significant structural changes are required in the energy sector to align with pathways limiting warming to 1.5°C. The pathways consistent with the IPCC's assessment of feasible and sustainable deployment of Carbon Dioxide Removal and Carbon Capture and Storage technologies leave no room for delayed action. The oil and gas phase-out timelines presented in this report constitute the ambition level consistent with the best estimates of the current and future capacity of mitigation technologies. Accordingly, this report presents the key implications for governments and financial institutions aiming to align their policies and investments with feasible 1.5°C pathways. Its recommendations are designed to guide the understanding of the Paris alignment, consistent with the IPCC findings, and should inform plans to strengthen and amplify policy interventions.
2022-05-12
Club of Rome;
The interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution cannot wait for humans to spend years discussing solutions, policies, and institutions. National and international systems have to change faster, which means redefining the goals that governments set themselves and the ways that everyone works to reach those goals.The International System Change Compass sets out the scope of the change needed. On their own, emissions reductions through incremental efficiency gains will lead to disaster. Minor changes within the current economic system won't solve the resource crisis; they won't solve the biodiversity crisis; and they won't address fundamental injustices across the world and within societies. Only a holistic approach toward system change that addresses the impact of Europe's resource usage and overall consumption footprint can achieve the inclusive transition needed to save our planet and provide a fair future for us all.
2022-06-06
International Institute for Sustainable Development;
While there is increasing policy momentum for NbS, criticisms and controversy cloud its application and upscaling. This guidance note clarifies the concepts behind NbS and related terms and shines a light on how to achieve equitable outcomes through a focus on gender responsiveness, social inclusion, and positive outcomes for biodiversity and ecosystems.As the world witnesses and experiences the impacts of climate change, turning to nature could be a pragmatic way to adapt. Governments are being urged to implement ecosystem-based approaches, which include conservation, restoration, and improved land management, in both adaptation and mitigation. Such approaches, framed under the umbrella concept of nature-based solutions (NbS), are expected to be a key component of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and are already integrated into many countries' National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).However, controversy remains about what constitutes as NbS and how to achieve equitable outcomes while enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. Compounding this challenge is the unprecedented scale of biodiversity loss as a result of climate change and other interrelated drivers of change.This guidance note aims to clarify the concepts of NbS and nature-based climate solutions (NBCS) with an emphasis on climate adaptation. These adaptation-focused NbS are captured using the widely known term ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA). Beyond awareness and knowledge of these terms, it is vital to unpack the social and biodiversity safeguards necessary for NbS to ensure that solutions are gender responsive, socially inclusive, and deliver biodiversity benefits. This guidance note is a knowledge product of the Nature for Climate Adaptation Initiative (NCAI).
2022-03-25
Conference Board;
The prospect of Brent crude oil prices rising to US$200 per barrel may not be as remote as it sounds. What could cause such a spike and what are the implications? Major disruptions to Russia's oil production and exports could result in prices at this height—even if other countries try to step in to offset the shortage. The economic implications of US$200 oil are severe and include widespread inflation and slower economic growth around the world.Â
2022-03-01
King Baudouin Foundation;
The publication presents key findings of focus group research involving more than 900 Europeans in nine countries for the Fair Energy Transition for All (FETA) project. Backed by six leading philanthropic institutions, FETA will use this input to recommend EU and national policies that can secure support across society and, notably, avoid placing a burden on the most vulnerable that would fuel opposition to efforts to protect the planet.Â
2022-05-19
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute;
The environmental crisis is increasing risks to security and peace worldwide, notably in countries that are already fragile. Indicators of insecurity such as the number of conflicts, the number of hungry people and military expenditure are rising; so are indicators of environmental decline, climate change, biodiversity, pollution and other areas. In combination, the security and environmental crises are creating compound, cascading, emergent, systemic and existential risks. Without profound changes in approach by institutions of authority, risks will inevitably proliferate quickly.Environment of Peace: Security in a New Era of Risk surveys the evolving risk landscape and documents a number of developments that indicate a pathway to solutions––in international law and policy, in peacekeeping operations and among non-governmental organizations. It finds that two principal avenues need to be developed: (a) combining peacebuilding and environmental restoration, and (b) effectively addressing the underlying environmental issues. It also analyses the potential of existing and emerging pro-environment measures for exacerbating risks to peace and security. The findings demonstrate that only just and peaceful transitions to more sustainable practices can be effective––and show that these transitions also need to be rapid.Environment of Peace: Security in a New Era of Risk offers policy principles and recommendations for navigating this new era of risk. A longer report setting out the evidence base in detail will be published later this year.
2022-04-05
CGIAR;
CGIAR has considerable experience with private sector engagement in the context of its mission to create sustainable and resilient food, land and water systems, and there is continuing interest and dialogue on this theme within CGIAR and the international development community more generally. The on-going CGIAR reform provides an opportunity to capture those experiences and harmonize strategies under the new structure, as has been acknowledged in the new 'CGIAR 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy'. Commissioned by the NL-CGIAR Strategic Partnership, this report aims to identify, discuss and evaluate pathways for strengthening collaboration between CGIAR and the private sector to stimulate innovation and the scaling of these innovations in food, land and water systems. The objective is to advance private sector engagement in the CGIAR, based on transparent CGIAR system-wide mechanisms and processes.
2022-03-01
Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society (CAPS);
This report is the second in the four-part series examining "philanthropy with Chinesecharacteristics." The report looks at individual and corporate giving to environmental issues through the lenses of themes and approaches.
2022-05-31
Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW);
Carefully designed energy support measures—subsidies, public utilities' investments, and public finance institutions' lending—and government's energy revenues play a key role in India's transition to clean energy and reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. Looking at how the Government of India has supported different types of energy from FY 2014 to FY 2021, the study aims to improve transparency, create accountability, and encourage a responsible shift in support away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy.Mapping India's Energy Subsidies 2022 covers India's subsidies to fossil fuels, electricity transmission and distribution, renewable energy, and electric vehicles between fiscal year (FY) 2014 and FY 2021.We found that fossil fuels continue to receive far more subsidies than clean energy in India. This disparity became even more pronounced from FY 2020 to FY 2021, going from 7.3 times to 9 times the amount of subsidies to renewables.
2022-02-07
Carbon Market Watch;
The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor evaluates the transparency and integrity of companies' climate pledges. The objectives of the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor are:Identify and highlight good practice approaches that can be replicated by other companies, recognising that companies are experimenting to work out what is constructive and credible practice.Reveal the extent to which major companies' climate leadership claims have integrity, and provide a structured methodology for others to replicate such an evaluation.Scrutinise the credibility of companies' plans for offsetting their emissions through carbon dioxide removals or emission reduction credits, recognising that voluntary carbon markets are highly fragmented and there remains a lot of uncertainty on credible good practice.The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor focuses on four main areas of corporate climate action: tracking and disclosure of emissions, setting emission reduction targets , reducing own emissions and taking responsibility for unabated emissions through climate contributions or offsetting. Finally, it evaluatates 25 major global companies' transparency and integrety across these four areas.
