Library | ESG issues
Energy Solutions & Decarbonisation
Energy solutions and decarbonisation refer to strategies and technologies that reduce carbon emissions while ensuring reliable and sustainable energy supply. This includes renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and hydropower, energy efficiency measures, electrification, carbon capture, and clean energy innovations. Decarbonisation is essential for mitigating climate change, enhancing energy security, and transitioning industries toward low-carbon operations.
Refine
453 results
REFINE
SHOW: 16
Green trade, regional value chains and new partnerships for cooperation: Accelerating green industrialisation through partnerships with a focus on Africa
This briefing paper examines how green trade and regional value chains can accelerate African industrialisation. It outlines opportunities within the AfCFTA and the African Green Industrialisation Initiative, emphasising the need for de-risking instruments, institutional capacity building, and new partnership frameworks to align international capital with Africa’s sustainable development goals.
Landscape of Climate Finance in Latin America and the Caribbean
The report assesses climate finance across Latin America and the Caribbean from 2020–2024. Finance doubled to US$108 billion but remains well below estimated needs and unevenly distributed. It examines public and private flows, mitigation and adaptation investment, financing constraints, and measures to mobilise capital and strengthen climate resilience.
Top-down Climate Finance Needs Data Dashboard
Developed by the Climate Policy Initiative, this dashboard provides interactive visualisations of the global financial requirements for climate mitigation and adaptation, helping finance professionals quantify the investment gap.
Climate resilience, desertification and applied innovation report: A strategic framework for applied innovation in arid and climate-vulnerable regions
This 2026 report establishes a strategic framework for climate resilience in arid regions. It examines technological solutions in water, agriculture, and energy, highlighting Israel's innovation ecosystem and Azerbaijan's renewable energy transition. The document advocates for integrated systems, cross-border cooperation, and robust governance to combat global desertification and land degradation.
Embracing carbon uncertainty in portfolio construction
This research introduces a framework for decarbonising sovereign bond portfolios using 'carbon returns'—treating emissions as random variables rather than deterministic values. By applying a modified Hierarchical Risk Parity algorithm with Expected Shortfall, it effectively balances financial and environmental goals, mitigating climate-related tail risks both in-sample and out-of-sample.
Energy transition index series
The Energy Transition Index is a benchmark series providing a structured, data-driven framework to assess national energy systems and track transition progress across 120 countries. It evaluates performance through security, equity, and sustainability lenses, alongside transition readiness factors, helping decision-makers identify gaps and understand the conditions required for resilience.
Innovation, business cycles, and the climate transition
This research documents that non-green innovation is procyclical, while green innovation is countercyclical. This divergence is driven by green technologies' backloaded profit structures and the reduced cost of skilled R&D labour during downturns. The study highlights that innovation subsidies are significantly more effective when implemented during economic contractions.
Powering up: Business perspectives on electrification
A global survey of 1,994 business leaders across 18 markets reveals overwhelming support for clean electrification. While 90% expect largely electric operations by 2035 to improve energy security and competitiveness, 72% believe government policy is moving too slowly, citing grid constraints and high upfront costs as significant barriers.
Beyond energy infrastructure: A flexibility-first approach cuts costs and boosts security
This report argues that power system flexibility is core infrastructure essential for energy security and affordability. It demonstrates how quantifying flexibility can reduce costs, citing potential annual savings of £9.6–£16.7 billion in Great Britain by 2050. Policymakers are encouraged to prioritise flexibility-first design over traditional infrastructure-heavy build-out.
Stewarding a just transition: Frontiers of practice in listed equities
This report analyses just transition practices among 25 investment managers in listed equities. While policy recognition is high, active engagement remains a low priority concentrated in energy and mining. The research identifies barriers such as geopolitical headwinds and provides recommendations for investors, governments, and regulators to mainstream practice.
AI-driven productivity gains enable more CO₂ emissions than they avoid in a global energy–economy model
Research using a global energy-economy model indicates that AI-driven productivity gains increase net annual CO2 emissions by 0.47–1.8 gigatonnes under parallel adoption. Enabled emissions from fossil sectors consistently exceed avoided emissions from renewables. Achieving net reductions requires renewable productivity gains to be four to five times greater than fossil gains.
Clean investment monitor: US update series
The Clean Investment Monitor: US Update is a benchmark series providing a comprehensive database of clean energy and transportation investment across the United States. Produced by Rhodium Group and MIT-CEEPR, it tracks the manufacture and deployment of greenhouse gas emission-reducing technologies across manufacturing, energy and industry, and retail segments.
Beyond commitments: Assessing real capital deployment for net zero across 26 high-emitting companies, against the IGCC Capital Allocation Alignment Framework
This research assesses capital allocation alignment with net-zero commitments across 26 high-emitting companies using the IGCC Framework. It finds that while climate strategies are strong, capital sourcing and fossil fuel phase-down plans lag. European companies lead in performance, while the Americas and oil and gas sectors trail significantly.
Worlds apart: Contrasting US-China approaches to scaling clean technology manufacturing
Global clean technology manufacturing investment has declined significantly, led by pullbacks in China and the United States. While China addresses overcapacity, US investment reversed following the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This report explores the diverging drivers, policy shifts, and future competitive landscape for both nations.
Climate Pathways Project Simulation Tools
A suite of interactive climate policy simulators, including En-ROADS, developed by MIT Sloan and Climate Interactive. These tools help leaders and finance professionals model the impacts of carbon pricing, electrification, and energy efficiency on global warming in real-time.
2026 Sustainable investment trends
This report analyses sustainable investment trends for 2026, examining physical climate risk, the energy transition, and Asia’s leadership. It addresses the influence of artificial intelligence on power demand and emission targets, alongside structural challenges in the health care and food production sectors, highlighting resilience and adaptation as key priorities.
