Publications

A large share of global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions comes from food production and consumption. Measuring the total footprint of world diets remains however a challenge. The main reason is the lack of harmonization on consumption based emission accounting methods. While a few estimates are available, their results are often hardly comparable, may be rather […]

Why is it both important and useful to track climate investment and finance flows at the domestic level? In this policy brief, WiseEuropa, New Climate Institute and I4CE present an overview of how systematically tracking these flows can help governments and other stakeholders with quantitative data to assess progress towards national climate objectives as well […]

Climate change induces disruptions of our ecosystems, and the transition to a low-carbon economy significantly affects the political, economic and social landscapes. Businesses have to adapt to those changes, which entails risks and opportunities. Some changes are already visible today, but the deepest changes are expected to materialize over the mid to long term, and […]

Financial institutions are already exposed to the potential physical impacts of climate change also called “physical climate risks” in finance. These require immediate attention from financial institutions, in order to understand how well prepared are the economic actors that they finance.   Yet financial institutions still lack tailored information to analyze their exposure to these […]

This policy paper, a collaborative effort of four European think tanks, aims to help French, German and EU policy makers address current environmental, economic and societal challenges. It proposes eight concrete steps where active cooperation between France, Germany and other European countries could make decisive contributions to the Energy Union that benefit all European citizens: […]

The 2018 edition of I4CE’s Landscape of Climate Finance provides an overview of climate investments made by governments, households and businesses in France.   In 2017 climate investments exceed €40 billion, equitably distributed between households, businesses and public authorities. Nevertheless, investment needs are estimated at between €50 billion and €70 billion per year; investment needs […]

In 2015, article 173-VI of the French Energy Transition for Green Growth Act set a global precedent by requiring investors to be transparent on the climate impacts of their investments.   After two years of investor climate reporting, covering their activities in 2016 and 2017, what lessons can be drawn from article 173-VI? This is […]

The amount of finance for forest carbon projects has never been as high as in 2015 when it reached USD 888 million (Goldstein & Ruef, 2016). In most cases, a reliable monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon removals or emissions reductions is necessary to access most carbon payments. After an overview of forest carbon […]

Carbon sequestration in biomass and soils is essential to achieve carbon neutrality targets by 2050. It is therefore important that is sector is properly taken into account in countries’ climate objectives. As of 2020, the land-use, land-use change and forestry sector (LULUCF) will be fully included in the European climate targets for 2030. Following an […]

This climate brief highlights that while there is an acceleration of carbon pricing policy implementation, associated revenues are on the rise (USD 32 billion in 2017). This increase raises the issue of the use of revenues. I4CE distinguishes between 4 main uses of carbon revenues: Investment in low-carbon projects; Allocation to the general budget; Reduction […]

The transition to a low-carbon economy implies significant investments in buildings, transport systems, vehicles, power plants, industry, agriculture. However scaling-up those investments to meet climate and energy objectives requires an improved knowledge base in investments and financial flows in those sectors, as well as policy assessment tools.   This is why I4CE has developed since 2013 a “Landscape of domestic climate […]

For a think tank, expertise alone, regardless of the quality, is not sufficient. Being a think tank means making an active contribution to the public debate. That’s why I4CE‘s 2017-2018 annual report focuses on our daily objective: to have an impact. Through three emblematic projects, it illustrates I4CE’s different modes of action to contribute to the […]

What is carbon certification for a forestry project? What is the difference with sustainability certification? How do these different frameworks interact and what synergies can be built? Coming from the work of the Club Carbone Forêt Bois, led by I4CE, this study answers these various questions by presenting the characteristics and issues related to sustainable management certifications (e.g. PEFC […]

For a better coordination of climate and energy policies through the regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union.    Following a policy brief in April 2018, I4CE and Enerdata publish the full study. The report analyzes interactions between EU energy and climate policies and proposes policy options to mitigate counteractive interactions and meet an […]

I4CE publishes the 2018 “State of the EU ETS” report, in partnership with ICTSD/ERCST, the University of Graz, Nomisma Energia and Ecoact. The report focuses on 5 key areas: Relevant Policy and Governance issues, including Phase 4 review Environmental delivery Economic efficiency and delivery, including protection against carbon leakage Market functioning Making the EU ETS […]

I4CE‘s Global Carbon Account 2018 presents key trends regarding the implementation of explicit carbon pricing policies throughout the world in 2018.     5 key trends in 2018 (Too) Few jurisdictions have implemented an explicit carbon price : as of April 1, 2018, 46 countries and 26 provinces or cities have adopted carbon pricing policies ; […]