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Asia could accrue significant air quality, public health, and climate co-benefits from mitigating short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as black carbon and tropospheric ozone (O3). Realizing these co-benefits will require bridging a research-policy divide. This policy brief outlines pragmatic steps to help narrow that divide in Asia.

Japan’s fast-start finance (FSF) commitment is one of the largest amongst developed countries, but it is important to consider the contents of this commitment. Japan has played a significant role in global efforts to finance climate change activities in developing countries, and its FSF commitments account for almost half of the FSF that developed...

One of the key functions of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will be to provide financial support for countries adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change. Yet designing a mechanism that can manage the wide range of cross-national adaption needs will be challenging. This paper draws upon experiences with relevant funding mechanisms—the...

Investment in low carbon technologies has been growing over the past few years. However, in order to replace conventional high energy/high carbon intensity technologies with low carbon ones and reduce GHG emissions, innovative financial schemes are needed in order to effectively utilise limited global financing resources. Such limited financial...

India’s fossil fuel dominated energy mix poses various challenges to the country. First, the over-reliance on the imported fuel makes the country vulnerable supply challenges due to geopolitical turbulence in the energy producing regions, second, use of hydrocarbon sources has been adversely affecting the environment and human health, third, the...

This paper reinforces the need for a robust yet simplified MRV framework to make NAMAs work on a large scale providing opportunities to countries and sectors less benefited by the CDM. The discussion focused on the transport sector – reviewed the trend and expectations of submitted transport NAMAs then examined the performance of transport projects...

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in bringing more carbon finance to Least Developing Countries (LDCs) from the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). This paper draws upon stakeholder interviews and case studies of biogas projects in Cambodia and Nepal to recommend pragmatic steps for increasing CDM projects in Asia’s...

In 2009, President Barack Obama and a majority Democratic 111th Congress came to office in a favorable position to enact federal climate legislation. But less than two years later prospects for passing that legislation dimmed considerably. Most explanations for this turn of events fault 1) institutional rules requiring bills receive a 60-vote supra...

Over the past five years, China has adopted increasingly ambitious reforms aimed at mitigating its greenhouse gases (GHGs). These reforms stand in sharp contrast to the view that China would struggle to craft a comprehensive climate policy due to conflicts with national interests and fragmented policymaking institutions. This paper argues that this...