Climate change and rapid urbanization are central challenges to sustainable development in cities of low and middle-income countries. Nature-based Solutions can address these challenges and offer environmental and social benefits over traditional engineered solutions, and in practice co-exist and positively complement engineered solutions. However, the uptake of NbS in urban planning remains limited and implementation faces several barriers. The need […]

Floods, flash floods and droughts are central climate impacts in urban areas in Zambia according to the scientific literature. This is underscored by recent examples of flash floods in Lusaka during the 2024/25 rainy season and increasing stress on Lusaka’s water supply. These impacts are likely to further aggravate as climate change intensifies. Urban Nature-based Solutions (NbS) like bio-retention basins, […]

With the Baku decisions on operationalizing Article 6, the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism (PACM) has made a decisive step towards implementation. The development is accompanied by the growing policy attention being given by major global economies to international market mechanisms. As of late, the European Union (EU) has announced in its latest 2040 target that it intends to utilize markets […]

The uptake of higher-tier (4+) clean cooking solutions, especially in last mile communities, is a critical but often underfunded and insufficiently prioritised need. Despite a diversity of viable technologies, including pure electric cooking (eCooking) powered by photovoltaic systems (solar PV) and PV-supported biomass gasifier stoves, as well as ethanol stoves, their widespread adoption remains a challenge due to various barriers, […]

High-quality adaptation reporting has become more pertinent under the Paris Agreement, with vital processes such as the global stocktake being extremely reliant on the information reported by Parties to assess progress made towards achieving the Paris Agreement’s global goal on adaptation. To date, adaptation information reported by Parties has typically been insufficiently comparable and complete, and reported too infrequently. This […]

The development of national greenhouse gas inventories (NGI) is a task requiring highly technical precision that the Parties to the Paris Agreement shall undertake biennially starting from 2024. Its multiple benefits include providing the Parties, especially developing countries, with a means to track progress made in implementing and achieving their committed goals for GHG emission control and reduction to mitigate […]

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and digital services is fuelling a surge in electricity demand from data centres, particularly in emerging economies. While digital infrastructure is essential for development, the energy it consumes risks overwhelming fragile power systems, competing with other energy uses, driving up costs, and undermining climate goals. According to the IEA, global data […]

This publication serves as a comprehensive guide to financing and developing business models for Nature-based Solutions (NbS) addressing climate challenges in urban areas. The publication is designed as a knowledge resource for NbS project developers in the public and private sectors and other stakeholders involved in NbS planning and implementation. Its primary intention is to support the adoption of NBS […]

As the world prepares for COP30 in Brazil, The 2025 Climate Technology Progress Report: Advancing Biobased Technologies in the Bioeconomy explores the role of the bioeconomy in addressing climate change, including both mitigation and adaptation, with a particular focus on the biobased technologies that are most relevant in this context. It examines the progress being made in scaling up the […]

Climate change and rapid urbanization challenge sustainable development and human well-being in the growing cities of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Asia, Africa, and Latin America, in particular, are at the forefront of the world’s urbanization today, with several low- and middle-income cities in these regions poised to become the most populous in the following decades. However, the rapid pace […]