Country profiles pull together a broad range of resources on international climate commitments, national climate policy and reporting, climate financing, vulnerability and adaptation planning, as well as climate change data. This page provides an overview of what is included in each section of the country profile, as well as information on the resources informing each section.
To understand specific terms, or types of resources, referenced please refer to the Glossary page and visit the E-Learning page for further learning opportunities.
Contents
What is included in the country profiles?
- Country Overview
- International Commitments and Reporting
- National Coordination and Reporting
- Financing
- Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning
- Case Studies and Reports
- Climate, Climate Change, and Environmental Data
Where can I find more information about the topics mentioned in the Hub profiles?
- International Commitments and Reporting
- National Coordination and Reporting
- Financing
- Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning
- Case Studies and Reports
- Climate, Climate Change, and Environmental Data
What is included in the country profiles?
The country overview summarizes each country’s relationship to climate change, mitigation and adaption priorities, and engagement with international environmental agreements. This is based on each country’s (intended) Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
International Commitments and Reporting
The international commitments and reporting section looks at each country's international environmental commitments, how those commitments interact, and progress in meeting such commitments to date. This involves looking at national and international reporting on NDCs, National Communications to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), greenhouse gas emissions, and the Sendai and Hyogo Frameworks that address disaster risk reduction. We review the national reporting to the international community and the United Nations (like the Voluntary National Review of SDGs), national reporting and data collection (like national emissions tracking platforms), and third-party reporting from organizations like the World Bank.
National Coordination and Reporting
The national coordination and reporting section identifies relevant and significant national strategies, including sectoral/national low-carbon or climate resilient strategies, action plans, legislation, and reporting on climate change and environmental management. This engages both with purely national policy priorities, as well as national planning and legislation to achieve international commitments to agreements like the UNFCCC, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
The financing section of the country profile reviews the spectrum of climate financing each country receives and identifies what appear to be relevant areas of investment, financers and investors, and any nationally unique trust funds related to climate and environmental issues. This section specifically identifies some multilateral (involving contributions from multiple countries and actors) funds and organizations that engage with the country, though it does not address the country’s full external funding portfolio.
Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning
The vulnerability assessment and adaptation planning section provides resources that identify the impacts of climate change, assess and analyze significant climate change risks, and highlight the major opportunities and priorities for adaptation and mitigation, in the country's national context. It does this in part by identifying existing national and third-party reporting on adaptation, vulnerability, climate change priorities, and existing programming. It also specifically provides resource related to climate change priority areas: natural disasters and hazards, energy supply and demand, land use, and economic development and livelihoods.
The case studies and reports section pulls together sites that feature national reports and case studies of climate research and activities in the country, such as IsDB itself or the Climate and Development Network, for easy reference. This is not exhaustive, but meant to highlight reporting by platforms that report on the majority of IsDB member states and facilitate future research.
Climate, Climate Change, and Environmental Data
The data section of the country profile looks for sources of country-level data on climate change, climate impacts, natural disasters and hazards, energy supply and demand, land use, and weather and meteorology. These are sources of data meant to inform future programming, and provide greater detail on topics covered in the profile.
Further information and data can best be found by working through the providers, as outlined in the following section.
Where can I find more information about the topics mentioned in the Hub profiles?
The Hub collates more than 20 resources, specific websites and databases that might be of interest and can support further, in-depth, research. These resources are listed below, sorted by country profile category (though in some cases resources are used in multiple profile categories). This list does not include nationally specific resources.
International Commitments and Reporting
The World Bank Climate Knowledge Portal
"In an effort to serve as the hub for climate-related information, data, and tools, the World Bank (WB) created the Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP). The Portal provides an online platform for access to comprehensive global, regional, and country data related to climate change and development. The successful integration of scientific information in decision making often depends on the use of flexible frameworks, data, and tools that can provide comprehensive information to a wide range of users, allowing them to evaluate how to apply the scientific information to the design of a project or policy."
"Climate Watch is an online platform designed to empower policymakers, researchers, media and other stakeholders with the open climate data, visualizations and resources they need to gather insights on national and global progress on climate change. Climate Watch brings together dozens of datasets for the first time to let users analyze and compare the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, access historical emissions data, discover how countries can leverage their climate goals to achieve their sustainable development objectives, and use models to map new pathways to a lower carbon, prosperous future."
"The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) is an independent scientific analysis produced by three research organisations tracking climate action since 2009. We track progress towards the globally agreed aim of holding warming well below 2°C, and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. CAT quantifies and evaluates climate change mitigation commitments, and assesses, whether countries are on track to meeting those. It then aggregates country action to the global level, determining likely temperature increase by the end of the century. CAT also develops sectoral analysis to illustrate required pathways for meeting the global temperature goals."
"The NDC Partnership works directly with national governments, international institutions, civil society, researchers, and the private sector to fast-track climate and development action. The Partnership aims to increase alignment, coordination, and access to resources to link needs to solutions through the following approaches: country engagement, knowledge and information sharing, access to finance."
Klimalog is a "Research and dialogue for a just and SDG-compatible implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement" and it "investigates policies towards a decarbonisation of the global economy and towards increasing the climate resilience of societies for a climate-smart and just transformation." It produces publications, includes trends and analysis, and hosts platforms on the NDCs generally, and NDC-SDG connections specifically.
"PreventionWeb is a collaborative knowledge sharing platform on disaster risk reduction (DRR), managed by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The site offers a range of knowledge products and services to facilitate the work of DRR professionals."
National Coordination and Reporting
International Energy Agency Policies & Measures Database
"Since 1999, the IEA’s Policies and Measures Databases offer access to information on energy-related policies and measures taken or planned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency and support renewable energy development and deployment. This online service aims to complement the policy analysis carried out by the IEA and covers measures taken in IEA member countries. Delegates from IEA member countries are given the opportunity to review information in the databases twice a year. In addition, the databases include some information on policies and measures in Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. Please note this information is not subject to official government review. The Global Renewable Energy policies and measures database also includes some information on additional non-IEA countries."
"FAOLEX is a database of national legislation, policies and bilateral agreements on food, agriculture and natural resources management. It is constantly being updated, with an average of 8,000 new entries per year. It currently contains legal and policy documents drawn from more than 200 countries, territories and regional economic integration organizations and originating in over 40 languages. Administered by the Development Law Service (LEGN) of the FAO Legal Office, FAOLEX complements FAO’s core function of advising its Members on legal and institutional means to promote and regulate national development and international cooperation in the food and agriculture sector."
Climate Change Laws of the World and Climate Change Litigation of the World Database
"Climate change Laws of the World and Climate Change Litigation of the World build on several years of data collection by both the Grantham Research Institute and the Sabin Center, including the collaboration of Grantham Institute with GLOBE International on a series of Climate Legislation Studies. Climate Change Laws of the World covers national-level climate change legislation and policies globally. The database covers climate and climate-related laws, as well as laws and policies promoting low carbon transitions, which reflects the relevance of climate policy in areas including energy, transport, land use, and climate resilience. Climate Change Litigation of the World features climate litigation cases from 25 countries. These cases raise issues of law or fact regarding the science of climate change and/or climate change mitigation and adaptation policies or efforts before an administrative, judicial or other investigatory body."
Financing
Where is development finance coming from and going to?
"Climate Funds Update is an independent website that provides information and data on the growing number of multilateral climate finance initiatives designed to help developing countries address the challenges of climate change."
OECD Climate Change and OECD Investment for Green Growth
“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works to build better policies for better lives. Our goal is to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all. We draw on almost 60 years of experience and insights to better prepare the world of tomorrow.”
"Climate change is increasingly impacting on people’s lives, disrupting national economies and transforming ecosystems, including the ocean. The need for urgent, strong and co-operative action based on mutual trust and understanding has never been higher. Similarly, it is vital that countries strengthen their ability to understand, plan for and continuously manage climate risks. The OECD is playing an active role. As well as supporting the international climate negotiations over many years, the OECD has increased its efforts to help countries to deliver on their national and international climate commitments and contributions. OECD work focuses on the environmental, economic, financial and social dimensions that are critical to the creation of low-emissions, climate-resilient development pathways."
“Making investment and environment policy goals mutually supportive creates both challenges and opportunities for governments and other stakeholders. The OECD analyses key issues of the relationship between investment and environment to help policy makers address these challenges and opportunities.”
"The $8 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF) accelerates climate action by empowering transformations in clean technology, energy access, climate resilience, and sustainable forests in developing and middle income countries. The CIF’s large-scale, low-cost, long-term financing lowers the risk and cost of climate financing. It tests new business models, builds track records in unproven markets, and boosts investor confidence to unlock additional sources of finance."
African Development Bank Group
"The African Development Bank (AfDB) has shown its commitment to help the continent cope with climate change. In 2009, the Bank Group developed its Strategy of Climate Risk Management and Adaptation (CRMA). This strategy calls for increased support for capacity building of African countries to tackle climate change risks. It also ensures that all investments financed by the Bank are “climate-proof", meaning that they are designed, installed, implemented and managed to reduce to a minimal level the adverse effects of climate change, with the most cost-effective ratio as possible."
"The Asian Development Bank was conceived in the early 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world. ADB assists its members, and partners, by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development. ADB is composed of 68 members, 49 of which are from the Asia and Pacific region."
Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning
Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative
"There’s a growing, global movement to make human communities and ecosystems more resilient to climate extreme impacts. For the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN), it’s a movement rooted in the power of data, grounded in science-based evidence and driven by a mission of 'Science Serving Society.' A program within the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative, ND-GAIN works to enhance the world’s understanding of adaptation through knowledge, products and services that inform public and private actions, and investments in vulnerable communities."
Environmental Performance Index
“Careful measurement of environmental trends and progress provides a foundation for effective policymaking. The 2018 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 180 countries on 24 performance indicators across ten issue categories covering environmental health and ecosystem vitality. These metrics provide a gauge at a national scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy goals. The EPI thus offers a scorecard that highlights leaders and laggards in environmental performance, gives insight on best practices, and provides guidance for countries that aspire to be leaders in sustainability.”
Impact of Climate Change on Firm Earnings: Evidence from Temperature Anomalies
"This study examines the impact of climate change on firm earnings, and how well managers anticipate the impact. Exploiting regional temperature variation around corporate headquarters, we find that firms’ earnings, on average, are negatively impacted by an unusually warm climate. In economic terms, a 1°C increase in temperature is associated with a $1.6 million decrease in earnings for a median-sized firm. In sensitivity analyses, the negative impact is also found with alternative measures of economic location (10-K text-based measure) and climate change (extreme climate index). An unusually warmer climate not only reduces sales, but also increases operating expenses and the frequency of special and extraordinary expense items. In cross-sectional analyses, we find a substantially smaller impact on firms with greater diversification and for those in industries with higher climate lobbying intensity. Firm-level regressions indicate there are some “winners” with about one-third of individual firms benefitting from a warmer climate. Finally, managers of firms which are the most susceptible to a warmer climate tend to underestimate the negative impact on earnings, and this problem is more severe in states where climate change skepticism is high."
Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery
"The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) is a global partnership that helps developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change. GFDRR is a grant-funding mechanism, managed by the World Bank, that supports disaster risk management projects worldwide. Working on the ground with over 400 local, national, regional, and international partners, GFDRR provides knowledge, funding, and technical assistance."
International Energy Agency - Global Engagement
"Learn about the IEA's work with other organizations and countries around the world."
"The IEA works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 30 member countries and beyond. Our mission is guided by four main areas of focus: energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide."
"USAID's knowledge sharing platform focused on land tenure and property rights."
"USAID works to improve land and resource governance and strengthen property rights for all members of society, especially women. USAID land tenure programs are active in 23 countries, with $215 million dollars committed to these programs. Click on a country for more information about USAID’s activities there as well as information on land and resource governance specific to each country."
Food and Agriculture Organization Country Profiles
"The FAO Country Profiles collects information from the entire FAO website and provides a fast and reliable way to access country-specific information with no need to search through individual databases and systems. It also includes a direct link to the Country website for in-depth information."
"The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger."
ResearchGate provides access to freely available scholarly research on all topics.
Case Studies and Reports
"weADAPT is an online ‘open space’ on climate adaptation issues (including the synergies between adaptation and mitigation) which allows practitioners, researchers and policy makers to access credible, high quality information and to share experiences and lessons learnt with the weADAPT community. It is designed to facilitate learning, exchange, collaboration and knowledge integration to build a professional community of research and practice on adaptation issues while developing policy-relevant tools and guidance for adaptation planning and decision-making."
Climate and Development Network Country Page
"The Climate and Development Knowledge Network works to enhance the quality of life for the poorest and most vulnerable to climate change. We support decision-makers in designing and delivering climate compatible development. We do this by combining knowledge, research and technical advisory in support of locally owned and managed policy processes. We work in partnership with decision-makers in the public, private and non-governmental sectors nationally, regionally and globally."
"The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development bank (MDB), working to improve the lives of those we serve by promoting social and economic development in Member countries and Muslim communities worldwide, delivering impact at scale.
We provide the infrastructure to enable people to lead better lives and achieve their full potential. We bring together 57 member countries across four continents - touching the lives of 1 in 5 of the world’s population. We are one of the world’s most active MDBs, and global leaders in Islamic Finance, with an AAA rating, and operating assets of more than USD 16 billion and subscribed capital of USD 70 billion. We are a truly global institution, headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with major hubs in Morocco, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Senegal, and gateway offices in Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
We foster collaboration between our members nations in a uniquely non-political environment, as we focus on the betterment of humanity."
IsDB have produced a set of climate adaptation guidance notes with sector experts and partner institutions. Links to the reports can be found below:
Agriculture: https://books.isdb.org/view/183219/
Transport : https://books.isdb.org/view/594245/
Water : https://books.isdb.org/view/124792/
Energy : https://books.isdb.org/view/952483/
Climate, Climate Change, and Environmental Data
"ThinkHazard! is a new web-based tool enabling non-specialists to consider the impacts of disasters on new development projects. Users of ThinkHazard! can quickly and robustly assess the level of river flood, earthquake, drought, cyclone, coastal flood, tsunami, volcano, and landslide hazard within their project area to assist with project planning and design. ThinkHazard! is a simple flagging system to highlight the hazards present in a project area. As such, a user is only required to enter their project location – national, provincial or district name. The results interface shows a user whether they require high, medium or low awareness of each hazard when planning their project. ThinkHazard! also provides recommendations and guidance on how to reduce the risk from each hazard within the project area, and provides links to additional resources such as country risk assessments, best practice guidance, additional websites. ThinkHazard! also highlights how each hazard may change in the future as a result of climate change."
International Renewable Energy Agency
"The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity."
"FAOSTAT provides free access to food and agriculture data for over 245 countries and territories and covers all FAO regional groupings from 1961 to the most recent year available."
World Meteorological Organization
"As a specialized agency of the United Nations, WMO is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources."
If you would like to learn more generally about the issues and topics addressed in the country profiles, and by the resources referenced, please refer to the E-Learning page.
Climate Change Knowledge Hub
