Knowledge products

CLI knowledge products tackle the pressing issues emerging at the intersection of digital innovation and climate action. They are based on exchanges between CLI platform experts and lessons learnt from use cases.

Navigating Digital Innovation for Climate Action reports

The annual ‘Navigating Digital Innovation for Climate Action’ report (previously named ‘Navigating Blockchain and Climate Action’ report) is produced by an international team of authors with the diverse knowledge and experience needed to summarise findings from research and use cases. The annual report supports CLI’s role as an international knowledge platform for accelerating climate action through digital innovation.

NAVIGATING REPORT 2023

The sixth edition of our annual Navigating Report reflects on the milestones of the CLI since 2017 and on major trends that have shaped the context for CLI's numerous activities. The report also presents two new use cases and provides updates on some of our earlier ones. Drawing on insights from all CLI use cases, the report highlights ten lessons learned and introduces a CLI guidance document for development projects to better leverage digital innovation. Finally, the report provides an outlook on digital developments for climate action in the coming years.

NAVIGATING REPORT 2022

The fifth edition of our Navigating Report focuses on the role of digital approaches to scaling carbon markets and improving their environmental integrity. The report offers reflections on digitalization efforts within standards bodies. Based on specific research projects and use cases, it also examines digital approaches to increasing environmental integrity in monitoring and reporting, verification and the issuance of carbon credits, as well as registry infrastructure and carbon tokenization. In addition, the report discusses digitalization for tracking sustainable development impacts.

NAVIGATING REPORT 2021

The fourth edition of our Navigating Report shines the spotlight on our thriving use cases. It highlights experiences and remaining challenges in testing and implementing innovative digital pilot applications for climate action in Kenya, Peru, India and Chile. The report provides insights into the sensor-based monitoring of indoor air pollution, blockchain solutions to combat illegal logging, and microinsurance for smallholder farmers based on smart contracts.

Full recording of the launch event

NAVIGATING REPORT 2020

The third edition of our Navigating Report captures the essence of observations made during a series of CLI activities and interactions with policymakers, stakeholders, practitioners and technology experts around the globe. The focus is on three topics that recurred in the field and in discussions with our partners: open data and interoperability, digital MRV in post-2020 carbon markets, and governance.

Interviews for the Navigating Report 2020
Full recording of the launch event

NAVIGATING REPORT 2019

The second edition of our Navigating Report takes stock of the current status e and trends in digitalisation and climate action. The report highlights emerging success stories about blockchain for climate action, as well as what stands in the way of its use. It also provides a deep dive into selected crunch issues surrounding the digitalisation of MRV.

Summary and Key Findings Navigating Report 2019

NAVIGATING REPORT 2018

The first edition of our Navigating Report provides an overview of the emerging potential of blockchain and related technologies for climate action. The authors identify three main areas in which blockchain has the greatest potential to accelerate climate action: next-generation registries and tracking systems, digitalising measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), and decentralised access to clean energy and finance.

Summary and Key Findings Navigating Report 2018

Other CLI reports

GUIDANCE DOCUMENT ON DIGITALISATION

This guidance document is an invitation for development cooperation practitioners to explore the potential of digitalisation in their projects and programmes.

Digital technologies and solutions are often perceived as complicated and as requiring significant know-how just to assess the opportunities and challenges that they present. The guidance presented here aims to help practitioners to make a first step towards exploring digital innovation across a very broad field of project types.

DIGITALISATION FOR CLIMATE ACTION

Experiences from use cases

Working with use cases that show real-life applications of digital innovation to drive climate action is one of CLI’s main pillars. Since 2018, the CLI has supported more than 15 use cases. They illustrate how digitalisation can support low and lower-middle income countries to strengthen climate resilience and contribute to climate action and the SDGs. This brochure presents eight use cases and its lessons learned from six countries.

PRINCIPLES FOR BEST-PRACTICE DIGITAL VERIFICATION

A Contribution to the Discussion on Digital Verification

This paper looks at the implications of digitalization for the verification of GHG emission reductions or removals. It presents two promising blueprints for using digital approaches to verify carbon projects. Additionally, it formulates a set of principles to contribute to the current discussion on digital verification.

ASSESSMENT OF DIGITAL MEASUREMENT, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION (MRV)

Digital MRV is still a nascent field. This paper provides a snapshot of the state of activities, actors, opportunities, and barriers in the digital MRV space in two project types that are particularly important to current voluntary carbon markets:

technologies for decentralized energy provision (e.g. PV and cook stoves), as well as
carbon storage in forestry and agriculture.

INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ARTICLE 6 MRV AND TRANSFERS – THE POTENTIAL OF BLOCKCHAIN-BASED TECHNOLOGIES

The cooperative approach described under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement requires reliable and trusted accounting systems in the form of registries. This study analyses options for establishing such registry systems, focusing on the potential offered by blockchain-based technologies.

BLOCKCHAIN FOR CLIMATE ACTION AND THE GOVERNANCE CHALLENGE

This report provides an overview of the most relevant governance challenges facing blockchain-based climate action. These range from the appropriate technical design of such systems to legal compliance.

BLOCKCHAIN – POTENTIAL AND LIMITATIONS FOR SELECTED CLIMATE INSTRUMENTS

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the scope and limitations of blockchain for particular climate policy instruments. It also explores the overall potential for blockchain application in the context of three specific instruments: an emissions trading system (ETS), MRV systems for mitigation action, and a tracking system for climate finance.

Thematic factsheets

INTRODUCTION TO BLOCKCHAIN

This factsheet explains blockchain technology and gives an overview of its principal features, advantages and challenges.

IMMUTABILITY OF BLOCKCHAIN EXPLAINED

Data stored on blockchains is considered immutably stored. This is one of the key features of the technology. This factsheet provides an accessible explanation of the fundamentals that underpin this purported immutability.

BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS FOR CLIMATE ACTION

This factsheet provides an overview of how blockchain technology can support the instruments established under the Paris Agreement, and thus help to combat climate change.

BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS IN THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR

This factsheet highlights the potential of blockchain applications in the energy sector, and what implications they might have for the industry.

BLOCKCHAIN AND THE GOVERNANCE CHALLENGE

Use cases that combine climate action and blockchain technology regularly face challenges when it comes to implementing governance provisions. This factsheet discusses the governance issues and highlights best practices.