Climate Finance

The policy brief makes the case that while the financial sector is key to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement, it must be transformed to be able to consider the long-term public interest and common goods. Accordingly, it requires making finance sustainable as a whole rather than adding a layer of “sustainable finance”.

The report is a deliverable to Horizon2020 Project COP21 RIPPLES. It departs from the novelty of Paris Agreement’s article 2.1.c and its goal of shifting all financial flows towards climate alignment in terms of both mitigation and adaptation. Such a new and all-encompassing goal created the commitment among signatory countries to build individual strategies for bringing their financial sectors under compliance. In order to achieve so and following the remaining bottom-up approach brought by the Agreement (e.g. with the NDCs), finance must be understood in its multiplicity and dynamism across different theoretical and governance traditions, grounding a more polycentric framework that enables tailored – and often more effective locally and nationally – financial solutions in terms of climate alignment. Based on this, the report goes on to dive into six different financial sector-specific theories, policy and governance approaches, bringing them under the light of the climate urgency. After discussing them in some detail, we have built an exploratory framework to compare how different countries/regions have been approaching their national financial sector against the responsibility brought by the need of a total shift towards climate alignment. Finally, we use the framework to pilot the comparison between two important current approaches: (i) the Action Plan on Sustainable Finance, by the European Union, and (ii) the Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial System, by China.

This report, prepared by consultancy Mōhio, examines climate finance in New Zealand. It includes a snapshot of key existing climate finance flows and a look at the instruments available to the Government and private sector such as grants, debt and bonds.

The report also outlines the enabling environment required to better facilitate the flows of finance toward low emissions and climate-resilient outcomes. This includes considerations such as information flows, tracking, regulations, organisational forms, and wider alignment across innovation, research and development and other environmental and social outcomes.

The 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on limiting global warming to 1.5 °C highlights the importance of access to capital for reaching this target. As directly or indirectly government-owned and -controlled investment vehicles with a an intrinsically long-term perspective, sovereign wealth funds have an self-interest in preventing climate change and its long-term impacts on the world economy and their broader portfolios. Other investors may choose to look upon climate change as an externality as long as they are not forced to take it into account. By contrast, sovereign wealth funds are perhaps the investor class for whom it makes most sense to internalize the consequences of climate change, as their long-term investment horizon makes them directly vulnerable to its consequences. Nonetheless, the number of sovereign wealth funds that engage in such investments and the proportion of their capital that is directed towards green financing remains small. This chapter discusses the operational aspects that make sovereign wealth funds good candidates of public green financing and the limitations that they face in this process. The discussion concludes with useful policy and governance considerations.

The European Commission has decided that power plants burning natural gas can be considered generators of green energy. This means they can count as sustainable investments along with nuclear power. The commission’s technical rules on sustainable finance classify a list of sustainable economic activities in the EU. Under these guidelines, economic activities that may help EU countries meet their energy needs while shifting from coal power can be considered sustainable.

Climate-Smart Agriculture requires a different finance model to traditional smallholder farm lending. This study examines how attractive this type of investment can be to commercial banks, showcases successful initiatives from around the world and identifies ways to unlock new sources of private sector capital - encouraging more widespread adoption of CSA practices and technologies.

The 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on limiting global warming to 1.5 °C highlights the importance of access to capital for reaching this target. As directly or indirectly government-owned and -controlled investment vehicles with a an intrinsically long-term perspective, sovereign wealth funds have an self-interest in preventing climate change and its long-term impacts on the world economy and their broader portfolios. Other investors may choose to look upon climate change as an externality as long as they are not forced to take it into account. By contrast, sovereign wealth funds are perhaps the investor class for whom it makes most sense to internalize the consequences of climate change, as their long-term investment horizon makes them directly vulnerable to its consequences. Nonetheless, the number of sovereign wealth funds that engage in such investments and the proportion of their capital that is directed towards green financing remains small. This chapter discusses the operational aspects that make sovereign wealth funds good candidates of public green financing and the limitations that they face in this process. The discussion concludes with useful policy and governance considerations.

Just transition from historically high-emissions and exclusive development to low-emissions, inclusive development. A just transition in South Africa’s electricity sector from coal to cleaner energy is critical for climate change mitigation. And to be just, the transition must leave no-one behind. A just transition transaction would finance two key components, providing  1) Transition finance to phase out coal-fired power plants faster and 2) protecting livelihoods of that communities and workers affected.

Constructing ESG-screened portfolios aims to reduce the aggregate ESG-risk at the portfolio level by excluding low ESG-score constituents from the selection universe. But ESG-screening imposes limits on potential diversification as well as alters risk exposures to systematic factors. To investigate ESG-screening’s impact on the factor risk-adjusted performance of portfolios, we construct ESG-screened portfolios consisting of US equity mutual funds according to their returns-based ESG-scores. The result of performance contribution analysis for the sample period from 1999 to 2018 suggests that investors need to treat the concentration level of ESG-screening as a search parameter to balance the costs and benefits of ESG-screening.

With growing global concern for environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and researchers have recently focused on green finance. In this study, existing studies on green finance in the context of the banking sector have been reviewed with considerations on products and determinants of green finance. The content analysis approach has been used to critically analyse and summarize forty-six (46) relevant studies. The results found green securities, green investments, climate finance, carbon finance, green insurance, green credit and green infrastructural bonds as part of key green finance products of banks. Pertinent determinants the study found to be influencing green finance policies from banks include environmental and climate change policies, interest rates, religion, risks, social inclusion and social justice as well as banking regulations. In theory, this study provides a guide for further studies. The results of the study will assist banks on the key issues to consider in adopting, developing and granting green finance. ARTICLE HISTORY

The author wishes to thank Andrew Fischer and the editors at Development and Change for the invitation to write this Assessment, and colleagues at UWE Bristol for their support during his time as a lecturer in economics there. He also wishes to thank mentors, recommenders and several colleagues, including members of the Black World Writing Group, for their support over this past year.

At present there are 18 emission trading schemes (ETS) operating in the world. At the COP21 in Paris a clear path for climate and energy policies has been outlined over the coming decades: states have committed themselves to reach zero net emissions by the second half of this century and to maintain the average global temperature rise well below 2 °C, with an additional effort to stay within 1.5 °C. 191 countries, whose emissions cover 98.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions, have already submitted their INDCs/NDCs. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it presents a review of the existing ETS and the incumbent ones, like the Chinese national scheme. The ETS currently existing are summarized in a table and than described. Moreover, an overview of the countries which are planning to start new cap-and-trade systems is provided, as well as a table showing which countries included a reference to an ETS in their INDC/NDC. Second, it offers a comprehensive overview about what the countries included in their NDCs about national ETS and international carbon markets. In fact, many developing countries are now considering to access carbon finance to fulfil part of their commitments. But in order for them to receive this kind of finance, and therefore to be able to achieve their climate targets, there has to be a demand for credits. For this reason, understanding whether there will be this match between demand and offer for carbon credits will lead to more efficient choices in policy making, for both sides of the market and thus contribute to the achievement of the Paris Agreement.

With growing global concern for environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and researchers have recently focused on green finance. In this study, existing studies on green finance in the context of the banking sector have been reviewed with considerations on products and determinants of green finance. The content analysis approach has been used to critically analyse and summarize forty-six (46) relevant studies. The results found green securities, green investments, climate finance, carbon finance, green insurance, green credit and green infrastructural bonds as part of key green finance products of banks. Pertinent determinants the study found to be influencing green finance policies from banks include environmental and climate change policies, interest rates, religion, risks, social inclusion and social justice as well as banking regulations. In theory, this study provides a guide for further studies. The results of the study will assist banks on the key issues to consider in adopting, developing and granting green finance. ARTICLE HISTORY

The report offers concrete insights from G20 countries on how to harness the power of current and nascent digital technologies that underpin the digitalization of finance to deliver on the SDGs. A key message from the report is that technologies including big data, artificial intelligence (AI), mobile platforms, blockchain, and the Internet of things (IoT), can address a number of the most significant barriers, identified by the G20 Green Finance Study Group, to scaling the deployment of sustainable finance.

There is widespread acceptance that significant increases in financial resources are needed to help countries undertake climate compatible development (CCD), that a significant portion of such resources is expected in the form of private sector investment, and that public finance and incentives shape such investment.

The purpose of this paper is to propose mechanisms to improve the alignment of international climate finance with national priorities for the implementation of the Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), by mapping practice and identifying barriers to the alignment of finance by Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) – which include Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and
Bilateral Development Banks (BDBs) – to NDCs and possible solutions to overcome these barriers.

The findings of this study show that NDCs are not inherently designed as portfolios of bankable investment projects. The paper also explores the needs to create standard mechanisms for tracking NDC progress and innovative solutions to address them. Mainstreaming NDC-aligned finance into global financial systems can align to both countries’ priorities and the Paris Agreement goals. As a result, when financial systems align to the Paris Agreement, they can inherently also align to the 2030 Agenda, and promote sustainable development. A certain degree of systemic change across stakeholder approaches would be needed however for these solutions to become prevalent.

This thesis focuses on the recent development in green bond markets. With companies still facing the effects of recent financial crisis, green bond investments are getting well attention and its figures are on increasing trend.

This paper begins by introducing project financing in the global market followed by theoretical framework necessary to understand the green bonds. To further understand green bonds an elaborated market analysis is performed where topics like credit ratings, maturity structure and issuers & investors are discussed. In the main part of the thesis 5 criterions will be discussed that has an impact on the development of green bond market. The five criterions are: (i) Law and Regulatory Environment (ii) Transaction Costs (iii) Liquidity (iv) Credit Enhancement & Tax Incentives and (v) Investors’ Base. Comparisons with bank financing is done for better evaluation. Details into the present condition of this criterions are discussed. As a result, the criterions (i) provide insights whether green bond at present is good financing instrument or not. (ii) And also provide options for future pathways.

Key words: Green bonds, Transaction costs, Liquidity, Credit Ratings, Green Investors

The Paris Agreement was adopted by over 190 countries during the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) held in December 2015 in Paris. The Agreement heralded many years of global climate negotiations, culminating in an agreement of a common roadmap towards mitigating the effects of climate change. This included reducing the accumulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and holding the global average increase in temperature to well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit the average temperature increase to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, while concurrently ensuring sustainable development and the eradication of poverty. One of the major elements that informed the Paris Agreement was the INDCs. At the 19th  Conference of Parties (COP19) held in Warsaw, Poland, Parties took a Decision5 which called on all Parties to the Convention to develop, as well as communicate in a manner that provided clarity and transparency, their INDCs. This Decision required that Parties produce their INDCs well in advance of COP21, as well as in accordance with the objectives of the Convention and in line with Article 2 of the Convention. The contributions by Parties should be a progression beyond their current undertaking and without prejudice to the legal nature of such contributions6. These contributions were indications of “intentions” by all Parties of their ‘voluntary’ commitment towards combating the challenges of climate change through their domestic emissions reduction efforts. These  “intentions” thereafter formed the basis for action of the Parties, which is now referred to as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the Paris Agreement. The Agreement is expected to be legally binding on Parties that have ratified it. Recalling Decision 1/CP.20 paragraph 9-12 of COP20 in Lima, African countries were encouraged to consider components of adaptation and mitigation when communicating their INDCs8. All five EAC Member States complied with the inclusion of mitigation and
adaptation components in their INDCs based on this Decision, as well as at the request of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). As of April 2016, and in line with the invitation and request by the COPs, a total of 161 INDCs were synthesized of the 189 Parties that communicated their INDCs. However, the cumulative effect of their implementation by 2025 and 2030 fails to meet the
threshold of holding the global temperature increase within the scope of 2°C scenarios, let alone the 1.5°C threshold. From the total submissions, 53 African countries were among the Parties that communicated their INDCs to the UNFCCC Secretariat before the Paris Agreement was officially opened for signature in New York, April 22, 2016. All the EAC Member States are Parties to the Convention, and all submitted their INDCs to the UNFCCC prior to COP21. This study acknowledges that even though not all mitigation questions on NDCs of EAC Member States may have been answered, it will require continuous research and analysis as the implementation of NDCs is an iterative process and the content is subject to revision by the submitting Parties.

The Climate Finance Short Course was a five-day training programme designed for government officials, including those from Ministries of Finance, Planning and Environment. The course objective was to strengthen government capacity to manage climate finance more efficiently. Participants were provided with training in how to access, mobilise and deliver international and national climate finance. The course was delivered by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). It was sponsored by the Department of International Development (DFID) and the Swedish Government. It took place at Hotel Nascent Gardenia Baridhara, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from January 31 to February 4, 2016.

Over the past 15 years, the number of government-sponsored strategic investment funds has grown rapidly in countries at all income levels. This paper identifies some of the challenges that these funds face in their endeavor to achieve economic policy objectives while also securing commercial financial returns -- the so-called double bottom line. Through a review of the objectives, investment strategies, and operations of a sample of strategic investment funds, this paper outlines ways in which these challenges have been addressed. The paper suggests that properly structured and managed strategic investment funds can be effective vehicles for crowding in private investors to priority investments, thus magnifying the impact of public capital. However, their success rests on the funds' ability to balance policy and commercial objectives, source investment opportunities, and secure the right fund management capacity.

With growing global concern for environmental protection, climate change and sustainable development, policymakers and researchers have recently focused on green finance. In this study, existing studies on green finance in the context of the banking sector have been reviewed with considerations on products and determinants of green finance. The content analysis approach has been used to critically analyse and summarize forty-six (46) relevant studies. The results found green securities, green investments, climate finance, carbon finance, green insurance, green credit and green infrastructural bonds as part of key green finance products of banks. Pertinent determinants the study found to be influencing green finance policies from banks include environmental and climate change policies, interest rates, religion, risks, social inclusion and social justice as well as banking regulations. In theory, this study provides a guide for further studies. The results of the study will assist banks on the key issues to consider in adopting, developing and granting green finance. ARTICLE HISTORY

The implementation of the African Blue Economy Strategy requires the setting-up of an effective institutional arrangement that can be defined as Blue Governance as it relates to the processes of interaction and decision-making among the actors involved in a collective problem that whould lead to the creation, reinforcement, or reproduction of norms and institutions . More precisely, it refers to the coordination, planning and monitoring of the Blue Economy (BE) activities initiated by the African Union Commission, the RECs (and other regional organisations) and Member States. A governance framework is thus required to build a multi-scale organisational scheme and foster long-term collaboration among the African institutions. This framework will contribute to structure, sustain, regulate and hold accountable rules and norms established for the development of the African Blue Economy.

Nepal, a least-developed, mountainous, and landlocked country is consistently ranked as one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate change. Poor socioeconomic development, rough and highly unstable geography, inadequate institutional capacity to deal with research, development and policy and mostly underdeveloped infrastruc-tures, all have contributed to increasing vulnerability of communities and ecosystems, and have limited their adaptive capacity. Over the past decade, Nepal has made significant progress, particularly in developing and implementing policies and frameworks and establishing institutional mechanisms with the support of donor countries, UN and multilateral agencies. As the global climate politics is getting more complicated, international financing patterns-both climate and development finance-are shifting their ways, forcing the countries like Nepal to diversify the funding base for climate change actions and integrate them within national development plans and strategies. Using the data and information currently available, we analyze the existing financing situations, discuss the future scenarios and suggest policy recommendations to develop a set of long-term adaptation and impact mitigation strategies in specific and environmental change at large. When short-term adaptation strategies funded from existing financial arrangements and other related bilateral and multilateral sources particularly European countries, seem to be encouraging, we stress the need of "public-private partnership-driven full-fledged green economy" focusing on renewable energy and transport, agriculture and forestry, water and water-induced disasters, as well as tourism and hospitality.

The chapter discusses the drivers that contribute to increasing vulnerability of the Himalayan communities in India (and other neighboring Himalayan countries) with global warming. Adaptation activities to reduce the burden of disproportionate impacts of climate change in fragile ecosystems like the Himalayas has been emphasized in this chapter.
The authors attempts to present the existing framework of governance- geographical, legal, institutional, and financial- to highlight the policy and institutional barriers, as well as lays down policy recommendations to build adaptive capacities and resilience Himalayan communities to govern their environment and natural resources through a place-based, culturally sensitive, and landscape approach.

Finance and financial instruments are always evolving. New trends, instruments and financial models are always an essential part of this fast-changing economy. Green finance is the different range of financial products and services introduced to create an opportunity for all environmentally positive impact befalling projects. This is a wide concept which includes all financial instruments which are issued with the main motive of sustainability or promotion of clean energy and pollution reduction practices. This could be in the form of green bonds, green loans, green insurance etc. Countries have also developed their policies and instruments for supporting this venture. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, China is waging far and well in the context of applying green finance and is bound by strong government regulations and policies. They have combined and taken a basket of best practices and formulated their policies and instruments. India, on the other hand, is at the developing stage in the context of green finance as compared to China but is at a better position in implication when compared to other countries. Therefore, a comparative study of these two countries would give the scope and suggestion for development in India concerning green finance. The main aim of this study is to compare the different policies and instruments of green finance in India and China, application and unique green practices adopted by the countries and providing suggestion based on the scope for improvement of green practices in both the countries, through an analysis of secondary literature. Adapting to new financial models and giving priority to green finance would help in strengthening the economy by reaching par above with other countries economically and financially.

The policy brief makes the case that while the financial sector is key to reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement, it must be transformed to be able to consider the long-term public interest and common goods. Accordingly, it requires making finance sustainable as a whole rather than adding a layer of “sustainable finance”.

The 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was convened in Bonn, Germany from 6th to 17th November 2017 under the Fiji Presidency to build upon the pledge of action established at COP22 Marrakech, and to emphasize the need for solid progress toward a 1.5-degree Celsius scenario, the goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change (COP21 Paris). Find analysis on Major outcomes of the conference and way forward for Global Community and Message for the Government of Tanzania.

This article consists of a critical review of the conceptual scholarship on the gov-ernance of climate finance and includes an overview of the institutional arrangements and governance logics that provide climate finance. New decentralized, polycentric structures allow for climate finance to more effectively reach the sub-and non-state actors most directly implementing climate change gover-nance. However, the expansion of climate finance into market-inflected forms of blended finance, as well as debt-based financing, express a neoliberal logic that shifts power to market actors. This may challenge the efficacy of climate finance. We suggest that further research is needed on polycentric systems in climate finance, since an apparent expansion in the diversity of providers is also accompanied by a counter-intuitive concentration of decision-making power with financial fund managers. We join others in suggesting that the weight of scholarship advocates for a strong return to public authored finance and governance, under the auspices of Green New Deal programs and more widely.

There are seventeen countries that host 70% of the planet’s biodiversity and 45% of its population: the
megadiverse countries. Six of the world’s megadiverse nations are in Latin America. Carbon stocks, biodiversity, and the
life of millions of inhabitants are at risk due to high deforestation rates in the region. Furthermore, the economic and
political stability of most Latin-American states depend on extractive practices. At a world-wide level, land use change,
including deforestation, accounts for nearly 20% of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Since 2006, the
UNFCCC financial mechanism to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) has
implemented close to 150 initiatives in Latin-American megadiverse countries. REDD+ has a high potential to become
the climate change mechanism to transform deforestation trends and to make biodiversity an actual source of income for
megadiverse countries. These six states are the priority target of REDD+ donations in the region. However, in contrast to
mainstream theorists who have labeled transnational governance as the brand of climate change, REDD+ proves
otherwise. Traditional hierarchical North-South inter-national relations mark the rhythm and governance of this
mechanism. Furthermore, a shift from multilateral efforts to bilateralism is evident as they currently represent 89% of
total REDD+ flows and 80% of climate finances in the region. The risk of bilateralism is that ODA depends on the
political priorities of the donor and recipient countries alike, becoming a potential threat to REDD+ sustainability. This
paper examines each of the programs and projects accounted as REDD+ between 2006 and 2020. The goal is to define
the financial flows corresponding to each of the countries analyzed, and moreover, the governance model resulting from
these interventions. This article starts with an overview of the regional deforestation evolution and the climate change
responses registered in this period in Latin America followed by the influxes of REDD+ in the region and an analysis by
each megadiverse country. The results have been contrasted with governance categories developed by different authors.
The purpose is to state the governance model promoted by REDD+ in Latin-American megadiverse countries and its
implications.

Pacific Island countries have long recognised the climate crisis as the greatest threat to their futures. Drawing on the region’s strengths, values and a united Pacific voice, Pacific Island countries have sought to lead by example – making bold national commitments, playing a major role in international negotiations, and holding their bigger neighbours – Australia and New Zealand – to account.

This report is one of five sector reports published by the REINVENT project (www.reinvent-project.eu). The project analyses the potential for
decarbonisation in four high-carbon sectors: steel, plastics, paper, and meat & dairy. This report is intended to provide a cross-sectoral analysis of the role that low-carbon finance plays, and can play, in decarbonising sectors. It is primarily conceptual in nature: it discusses how climate and low-carbon finance (these terms, and their distinction, will be discussed later in the introduction) have been conceptualised to date; the gaps
identified in the literature; and how we propose to take these forward in REINVENT, in order to understand the potentials and limitations for innovations in the financial sector to contribute to the decarbonisation of these ‘hard to reach’ industrial sectors.

The Paris Agreement is the first treaty under the global climate regime to mention 'climate justice' as a concept. Given this unprecedented legal turn of the concept, the article reports a sociolegal study of climate justice, framing and assessing the substantive issues arising from the post-Paris negotiations of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) leading to the Glasgow COP in 2021. Gleaned from these framework and issues, how does climate justice look under the Paris Agreement? Drawing on the author's lived, legal practice and civil society experience, carrying out a doctrinal analysis of the UNFCCC and its instruments, and reviewing pivotal and representative literature and policy documents, the article claims that climate justice faces the fundamental challenge of state sovereignty. The author creates the conceptual and policy framework to identify the substantive issues converging on this fundamental challenge, assessing four of them: state self-centredness in addressing adaptation, state influence on the progress made on loss and damage, state autonomy and discretion in providing finance, and state-based policy-making that undermines inclusive decision-making. State and non-state actors are addressing some of these substantive issues already under the UNFCCC and beyond, and litigation has become a cross-cutting remedy. However, the fundamental challenge of state sovereignty remains.

▪ Financial supervisors and their regulated entities are under increasing pressure to consider the financial risks associated with the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services at both a macro- and micro-economic level. Recent economic literature identifies liability as a key category of foreseeable financial risk associated with biodiversity loss. However, it does not provide further guidance on the nature and extent of litigation and legal risks that should be considered in determining the potential materiality of relevant risks for a given financial actor or system.

▪ This report complements and extends the economic literature by proposing a framework by which biodiversity-related liability risks should be considered by financial sector supervisors and participants in their broader assessment of biodiversity-related financial risks.

▪ Consistent with the emerging nature of biodiversity-related financial risk assessment, this report takes a forward-facing view of potential liability exposures. It recognises that biodiversity-related liability exposure is not limited to prevailing categories of 'environmental' law claims. Rather, it draws analogies from legal developments on other dynamic risk issues such as climate change to propose an extended framework of potential exposures under environmental, commercial, tort and other laws.

▪ The framework provides a holistic perspective on the spectrum of biodiversity-related liability risks that should be considered as part of a broader analysis of related financial risk exposures, and provides general commentary on the circumstances and actors where it is likely to present heightened concerns. In doing so, it provides a foundation for further analysis of the materiality of relevant biodiversity-related liability risks in the unique context of each financial institution and system.

Responsible investments practices are becoming contemporary and crucial issues in the corporate world today. More recently, the demand for ESG disclosure by investors has grown significantly with ESG becoming mainstream in investment analysis. Thus ESG practices have the potential to impact on corporate performance and sustainability. ESG practices and corporate performance have emerged as an important area for research in recent years mainly in developed economies like the USA, Europe, Japan or Australia. Various studies have been undertaken over the past decade for examining this relationship. However, results have been mixed and inconclusive. This study aimed to analyse the impact of embracing responsible investments (ESG) on corporate performance in the Zimbabwean context.

The study analysed the impact of ESG practices from a few selected listed firms on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.  Primary data was used in this research. The literature regarding the causal relationship between ESG and corporate performance was established from various authors. The researcher conducted a survey using online questionnaires. The data was analysed using IBM’s SPSS and presented using statistical tables, pie charts and graphs. A population of 500 and a sample of 255 respondents were used in this research. The study inferred that ESG practices have a significant positive impact on corporate performance in Zimbabwe. The researcher recommended that the corporates big or small, listed or unlisted, public or private should embrace ESG practices in their corporate DNA for sustainable growth, investor confidence and positive corporate performance.

Key words: impact, ESG practices, sustainability, corporate performance, sustainable development goals, return on equity.

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Global climate change poses serious impacts on water resources and agriculture in the future. The aim of this research was to calculate water requirements and water Budget for maize, wheat and sugarcane grown in six governorates in Egypt under current climate and under ongoing climate change scenario up to 2100. The results indicated that water requirements and water Budget for maize, wheat and sugarcane will increase by 12 %–18% compared to the current water use depending on governorate location., where the applied irrigation amount is expected to increase in all governorates under climate change water Budget .This study investigates the projected changes in evapotranspiration and irrigation water demand for maize, wheat sugar cane crop Middle and Upper Egypt. The mean air temperature as statistically downscaled and compared with the current climate, defined as the period 1971–2000. FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation was used to estimate ETo by using the climatic data. Evapotranspiration is estimated based on the predicted maximum and minimum using the RCPs scenarios (RCP2.6. – RCP4.5 – RCP6.0 and RCP8.5) during three time series (2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100). The obtained results revealed that the maximum and minimum air temperatures were increased under all RCPs scenarios compared to current data. Moreover, the RCP8.5 had the highest maximum and minimum air temperature compared to the other RCPs scenarios. It was found that for all future periods the annual evapotranspiration will increase for the all agro-meteorological zones by uneven values. The main results in this study revealed that ETo significant increase in different tested time series compared to current ETo values. The values of ETo in long term (2071-2100) were higher than short (2011-2040) or mid-term (2041-2070) with respect to the current situation. The highest ETo values were predicted in this study by RCP8.5 during the 2071 – 2100 time series in the Upper Egypt region. The estimation of water Budget of the major crops in different agro-climatic zone show that winter season had the highest cultivated area with wheat followed by summer season. Upper Egypt region has the largest cultivated area of maize and sugar cane during different cultivation season. Total water Budget (WB) for maize, wheat and sugar cane during the different cultivating seasons revealed that WB will increase under all scenarios in comparison with the current conditions. The highest water use efficiency was recorded in the Upper Egypt climatic zone during the winter season. Winter season gave the highest water use efficiency under (WUE) current and future conditions. Moreover, all RCPs scenarios had lower WUE than the current conditions during different time series. Regardless of the seasons, the RCP8.5 gave the lowest WUE in comparison with the other RCPs scenarios. This paper suggested a adaptation options for better water management for maize, wheat and sugar cane crop Middle and Upper Egypt region, such as Gated pipe system consumed total water budget in Middle and Upper Egypt.

The ongoing plurilateral WTO Environmental Goods Agreement negotiations reflect the two defining dynamics that affect global environmental and trade governance. First of all, the rising trade remedies against environmental goods increased the cost of pursuing green growth for countries. Secondly, the looming fragmentation caused by mega-regionalism, such as the Trans-Pacific- Partnership, and its trade diversion effects might disincentivize developing countries from pursuing environmentally-friendly growth in order to obtain market access. Current negotiations for a plurilateral approach reflect the efforts of multilateral systems to confront these challenges through a reform of the rules of global trade architecture, thereby paving the way for further green
growth. That’s why this paper is divided into three sections. The first one analyzes the trade remedies targeting environmental goods, and its consequences for global environmental governance. The second section analyses whether the current plurilateral approach can provide developing
countries with an alternative incentive for green growth to compensate the potential trade diversion of the Trans-Pacific-Partnership. The third part gives a brief overview of the progress of the ongoing negotiations.

Indonesia memiliki potensi energi terbarukan yang signifikan dan bervariasi tetapi belum dimanfaatkan secara optimal. Hingga 2014, energi terbarukan yang dikembangkan baru mencapai 5% dari total energi primer. Kebijakan Energi Nasional (KEN) mencanangkan target porsi energi terbarukan sebesar 23% pada tahun 2025. Untuk memenuhi target tersebut maka jumlah kapasitas terpasang pembangkit energi terbarukan perlu mencapai 46,3 GW dan biofuel sebanyak 16,1 juta kiloliter.

Total Investasi yang dibutuhkan untuk mengembangkan pembangkit energi terbarukan dan biofuel diperkirakan $110-135 milyar hingga 2025. Adapun dalam rencana pembangunan pembangkit 35,000 MW pada kurun waktu 2015-2019, dimana kapasitas energi terbarukan (geothermal, hydro, bioenergy, dll) mencapai 25% dari total kapasitas pembangkit, jumlah investasi yang dibutuhkan mencapai $29,8 milyar.

Untuk dapat mencapai target-target tersebut, peranan sektor swasta, khususnya investor dan lembaga keuangan menjadi tidak terabaikan. Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) telah mengeluarkan Roadmap Keuangan Berkelanjutan di Indonesia, yang memiliki sejumlah sasaran strategis, diantaranya adalah meningkatkan supply and demand pendanaan keuangan berkelanjutan.

This study evaluates the extent to which the eThekwini municipality is incorporating concepts of sustainable
livelihoods and socio-economic benefits within its climate change adaptation programmes. It examines the
theoretical use of a community ecosystem based adaptation approach in order to understand the multiple
dimensions which necessitate this climate change adaptation project. The study reveals that climate change
projects, which were previously categorised under the natural sciences, are today spending substantial effort
in identifying synergies and mutual links between human development and natural biodiversity systems.
However, local and indigenous practises of adaptation to changing aspects of climate remain an underutilised
resource in relation to formal public intervention and invite further research aimed at enhancing benefits to
participants based in creating deeper synergies with immanent knowledge and practise.

The Paris Agreement is the first treaty under the global climate regime to mention 'climate justice' as a concept. Given this unprecedented legal turn of the concept, the article reports a sociolegal study of climate justice, framing and assessing the substantive issues arising from the post-Paris negotiations of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) leading to the Glasgow COP in 2021. Gleaned from these framework and issues, how does climate justice look under the Paris Agreement? Drawing on the author's lived, legal practice and civil society experience, carrying out a doctrinal analysis of the UNFCCC and its instruments, and reviewing pivotal and representative literature and policy documents, the article claims that climate justice faces the fundamental challenge of state sovereignty. The author creates the conceptual and policy framework to identify the substantive issues converging on this fundamental challenge, assessing four of them: state self-centredness in addressing adaptation, state influence on the progress made on loss and damage, state autonomy and discretion in providing finance, and state-based policy-making that undermines inclusive decision-making. State and non-state actors are addressing some of these substantive issues already under the UNFCCC and beyond, and litigation has become a cross-cutting remedy. However, the fundamental challenge of state sovereignty remains.

Several shortcomings in the development and climate finance systems currently undermine the capacity of Sub-Saharan Africa to tackle climate change. Indebtedness and climate vulnerability progressively reinforce each other, representing one of the major obstacles to stepping up climate action in the region. Insufficient climate finance, the financing gap on adaptation and loss and damage, as well as inadequate recovery measures are other critical issues. The crucial step for strengthening climate action in Sub-Saharan Africa consists in undertaking systemic reforms within the international development and climate finance architecture. The Italian-led G20 can play a key role to promote the necessary global financial governance reforms and, by establishing an inclusive dialogue with African countries early on, it can increase the chances of an ambitious outcome at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) that will aim for an agreement on the most divisive climate finance issues, with significant implications for Sub-Saharan Africa.