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This activity report provides an overview of Blended Finance, which refers to structured transactions in which development finance and private capital achieves climate impact—or other environmental impacts—while at the same time delivers adequate risk-adjusted financial returns for the private investor. The GEF experience shows that blended finance is a potent instrument.

This guidance document presents climate-smart land use, which gives an opportunity for advancing the multiple win of sustainable food production, rural development, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation, and ecosystem resilience. The document also states that climate-smart land use can contribute to improving rural livelihoods and strengthening the resilience of rural communities, while safeguarding the rights of indigenous peoples. 

This activity report summarizes how the GEF has supported the sustainable development for the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which includes the development of the green economy in the SIDS. 

This analytical document shows that stable isotope ratios can be used to monitor changes in the character of precipitation in response to periodic variability or changes in climate. This study also provides observational constraints for an improved simulation of convection in models simulating present and future climate models and a better understanding of isotope variations in proxy archives, such as speleothems and tropical ice.

This guidance document provides theoretical and practical information on using a variety of isotope tracers for dating old groundwater, i.e. water stored in geological formations for periods ranging from about 1000 to one million years. Theoretical underpinnings of the methods and guidelines for their use in different hydrogeological envirnments are described. The document also presents a number of case studies providing insight into how various isotopes have been used in aquifers around the world.

The methods, findings and conclusions presented in this publication enable students and practicing groundwater scientists to evaluate the use of isotope dating tools for specific issues related to the assessment and management of groundwater resources. In addition, the guidebook will be of use to the scientific community interested in issues related to radioactive waste disposal in geological repositories.

This analytical document presents and evaluates several isotope datasets compiled in a number of recently established river monitoring stations founded at the time of the creation of the Global Network of Isotopes in Rivers (GNIR). The document also contains the preliminary results from 12 field sites now included in GNIR. These studies illustrate the different hydrological aspects of river basins that can be addressed by regular monitoring of environmental isotopes in rivers.

The target readers for this publication are hydrologists, hydrogeologists and isotope experts dealing with catchment hydrology and management of water resources, as well as technical cooperation project counterparts in Member States.

This activity report includes conclusions and recommendations of the second international workshop, which was held in November 2012 and brought together 55 experts from 19 countries along with representatives of international organizations. The workshop explored the level of risk, and the resilience or vulnerability of defined regions of the world ocean in terms of fishery and aquaculture species and economic impacts, and social adaptation. The workshop sought to address common themes or specific priorities for action by communities, resource managers and policymakers.  

A series of international workshops on the economics of ocean acidification was launched in 2010 by Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The idea behind it was to provide the platform for a multidisciplinary dialogue between natural scientists and economists. This workshop identified fisheries and aquaculture among the main economic sectors impacted by ocean acidification. 

This brief provides conclusions and recommendations from the second international workshop on “Bridging the Gap between Ocean Acidification Impacts and Economic Valuation.” The objective of the workshop was to assess ocean acidification impacts on fisheries and aquaculture resources in different regions of the world. 

This activity report summarizes the main results from Third International Workshop on the Socio-Economic Impacts of Ocean Acidification (12-14 January 2015, Monaco), which gathered 53 experts from the natural and social sciences from 20 countries. The workshop considered how ocean acidification could affect different coastal communities and identified potential solutions. Despite uncertainties, particularly related to combined effects with other major environmental stressors, we know enough to act, and action should be taken now. 

This brief provides a guide of three interacting stressors facing the ocean: acidification, warming, and deoxygenation. In the future many parts of the ocean are likely to experience more than one of these environmental stressors at the same time, since they are driven by the same underlying process – increases in atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases. These “hot spots” will not only be warmer, but are also likely to be more stratified, have increased acidity and contain less oxygen, increasing the stress on marine life in ways that may be more than the simple addition of each.

Acting together these stressors could more rapidly threaten biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and the goods and services the ocean provides to society, thereby increasing the risk to human food security and industries depending on productive marine ecosystems. Furthermore, changes in the exchange of gases between the atmosphere and ocean will impact on climate change.

This brief presents the highlights of the Frequently Asked Questions about Ocean Acidification (2010, 2012), a detailed summary of the state of ocean acidification research and understanding. The FAQs and this fact sheet are intended to aid scientists, science communicators, and science policy advisors asked to comment on details about ocean acidification. In all, 63 scientists from 47 institutions and 12 countries participated in writing the FAQ, which was produced by the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Project, the United Kingdom Ocean Acidification Programme, and the European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA). More information and contacts can be found at any of these websites or at the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre’s website. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report findings on ocean acidification can be viewed at www.ipcc.ch.

This policy document explains the significance of these changes in the ocean. The document is based on a scientific paper recently published in Science (Gattuso et al., 2015), which synthesizes recent and future changes to the ocean and its ecosystems, as well as to the goods and services they provide to humans.

This analytical document is the first comprehensive comparative assessment of the numerous issues involved in geological disposal, ranging from geology, environmental issues, risk assessment and costs to legal, public acceptance and psychological perspectives. 

Many IAEA Member States face the dilemma in the formulation of their national energy strategies whether to continue relying on fossil fuels or to introduce/expand nuclear energy. Geological disposal is explored in many countries as the appropriate way to isolate the resulting wastes (carbon dioxide and radioactive waste) from the biosphere. 

This analytical document demonstrates that the current global energy system raises a wide array of concerns ranging from resource depletion and technological development to environmental impacts. Global coordination and cooperation are needed to foster economic development through sustainable energy strategies and to avoid environmental calamities like climate change. The document brings together visions, in-depth analyses and innovative ideas about how to resolve the ‘Energy for development’ predicament. 

Le présent rapport montre de manière détaillée le rôle que peut jouer l’électronucléaire pour atténuer le changement climatique mondial et pour d’autres problèmes de développement et d’environnement. Il examine aussi des thématiques plus larges d’articulation entre la question des changements climatiques et l’énergie nucléaire comme les coûts, les investissements, le financement, la sûreté, la gestion des déchets et la non-prolifération. Les développements récents relatifs aux ressources disponibles, à l’évolution des marchés de l’énergie et aux derniers progrès techniques y sont également présentés.

This guidance document provides a comprehensive set of indicators that cover the key aspects of nuclear power development. Methodology sheets are provided to help users in data collection, quantification and interpretation of the indicators. The methodology sheets adopt the well established and proven templates developed for the publication Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development, published by the IAEA in 2005. The application of the indicators is flexible. Users can select a subset of indicators that are most relevant for the questions they wish to explore in a given exploratory study or decision making process.

This analytical document summarizes the insights drawn from detailed studies undertaken by researchers in participating IAEA Member States. The multi-country study in 2010–2014 asked questions such as: 1) What has been the influence of reform and non-reform factors in shaping the technological landscape in various countries? and 2) What are the prospects for nuclear power under alternative market reform schemes? 

This technical document covers topics relevant to Member States in the process of evaluation of future electricity supply options and strategies, from resource evaluation to electricity demand analysis and connections to overall social, economic and demographic developments. This document is an outcome of a study carried out in West Africa, providing a coherent sub regional platform for the development of a robust policy framework for an enhanced and sustainable provision of electricity services to support socio economic growth.

This guidance document presents projections of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the world’s nuclear power generating capacity. The document is now in its 36th edition.

This guidance document provides a comprehensive review of the potential role of nuclear power in mitigating global climate change and its contribution to other economic, environmental and social sustainability challenges. The document also examines broader issues relevant to the climate change–nuclear energy nexus, such as costs, financing, safety, waste management and non-proliferation. Recent and future trends in the increasing share of renewables in overall electricity generation and its effect on nuclear power are also presented.