Publications

The report recommends that parties to the Montreal Protocol approve an amendment to phase down the production and use of HFCs. In addition, countries that are not already working to phase down HFCs should begin developing and implementing domestic regulations to do so, while also increasing their appliance energy efficiency standards. Incorporating HFC production and consumption into the Montreal Protocol would provide significant near-term gains to slow climate change and could lead to avoiding 1.1–1.7 GtCO2e of annual GHG emissions per year by 2030. 

What happens to clean infrastructure finance when countries are big and fast-growing but have immature financial systems and a scarcity of long-term domestic investors? The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) compares two different financing models from middle income countries: the highly centralized model of Brazil and the decentralized model from India. While evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each model, the paper finds both countries end up with public financing dominating clean infrastructure projects with similar levels of leverage in both. 

A staggering one-third of all agricultural landscapes are now degraded, mostly in developing countries, and a net 12 million hectares (ha) continue to be degraded yearly. But commitment to change is growing. The report highlights significant regional achievements being implemented, such as Initiative 20×20, through which seven Latin American countries and partners have pledged to bring 20 million ha of land into restoration by 2020, and the Africa Climate-Smart Agriculture Alliance, which aims to engage 6 million smallholders by 2021. 

Shifting our fossil-fuelled civilisation to clean modes of production and consumption requires deep transformations in our energy and economic systems. Innovation in physical technologies and social behaviours is key to this transformation. But innovation has not been at the heart of economic models of climate change. This paper reviews the state of the art on the economics of innovation, applies recent insights to climate change. The core insight is that technological innovation is a path-dependent process in which history and expectations matter greatly in determining eventual outcomes 

This case study was conducted and written by NCE partner Tsinghua University. It shows how China can achieve economic development, energy security and reduce pollution at the same time.

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of the results of five studies that examined the economic case for investment in low-carbon development in five cities: Leeds in the UK, Kolkata in India, Lima in Peru, Johor Bahru in Malaysia and Palembang in Indonesia. 

This study is one of several in-country studies commissioned to support the research of the Global Commission on Energy and Climate, an international initiative to identify the economic benefits of acting on climate change. Its flagship project is the New Climate Economy, which identifies the opportunities for enhanced economic performance and climate action in urban, land use, and energy systems across a range of country circumstances. 

Countries at all income levels have the opportunity to build lasting economic growth and at the same time reduce the immense risk of climate change. But action is needed now. The Global Commission, advised by some of the world’s leading economists, sets out a ten point Global Action Plan for governments and businesses to secure better growth in a low-carbon economy. 

The New Climate Economy project has estimated the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions that could result by 2030 from undertaking some of the measures and actions discussed in our 2014 annual report Better Growth, Better Climate. We estimate the potential emission reductions of undertaking these measures that would narrow the gap between a baseline emissions pathway and one compatible with a two-thirds chance of keeping global average warming below 2°C by at least 50% in 2030

This note describes the Commission’s assessment of future infrastructure investment needs. It presents projections for a baseline scenario, and the estimated incremental investment required for a low-carbon scenario. It sets out the sources used and provides an overview of the estimates and modelling undertaken by the New Climate Economy (NCE) network.