Brazil low carbon country case study was
two years in the making based on a study by the World Bank
assisted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP).
It supports Brazil's integrated effort towards reducing
national and global-emissions GHG while promoting long-term
development. It builds on the best available knowledge and
is underpinned by a broad consultative process and survey of

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Costa Rica, with focus on policy developments (including
action plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Like
most countries in Latin America, Costa Rica has submitted
one national communication to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with a second one
under preparation. Land use change and forestry are the

The objective of this Country
Environmental Analysis (CEA) is to highlight the underlying
challenges and opportunities for Indonesia's
environment and management of its natural resources in order
to guide the World Bank support to Indonesian institutions
for more sustainable development. Rather, the CEA sets the
broader context (chapter one) and economic costs of
environmental degradation (chapter two) in order to identify

Cities and the people who live in them
account for more than 80 percent of the world's total
greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, more than 80 percent
of the overall annual global costs of adaptation to climate
change are estimated to be borne by urban areas. This issues
brief looks at potential financing opportunities and costs
of mitigation and adaptation in the urban context.
Wide-ranging potential sources for finance for climate

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Peru, with focus on policy developments (including action
plans and programs) and institutional make-up. Like most
developing countries, Peru has submitted only one national
communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the second one under
preparation. Land use change and forestry are the largest

This paper confronts the wide political
support for the 2C objective of global increase in
temperature, reaffirmed in Copenhagen, with the consistent
set of hypotheses on which it relies. It explains why
neither an almost zero pure time preference nor concerns
about catastrophic damages in case of uncontrolled global
warming are prerequisites for policy decisions preserving
the possibility of meeting a 2C target. It rests on an

Six emerging economies, Brazil, China,
India, Indonesia, Mexico, and South Africa, are proactively
seeking to identify opportunities and related financial,
technical, and policy requirements to move towards a low
carbon growth path. With the help of the Energy Sector
Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), the governments of
these countries have initiated country-specific studies to
assess their development goals and priorities, in

This country note briefly summarizes
information relevant to both climate change and agriculture
in Uruguay, with focus on policy developments (including
action plans and programs) and institutional make-up.
Uruguay is one of the four developing countries in the World
to have submitted two national communications to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),
indicating strong commitment by the government for

Recent increases in production of
crop-based (or first-generation) biofuels have engendered
increasing concerns over potential conflicts with food
supplies and land protection, as well as disputes over
greenhouse gas reductions. This has heightened a sense of
urgency around the development of biofuels produced from
non-food biomass (second-generation biofuels). This study
reviews the economic potential and environmental

This study was undertaken by the World
Bank in its initiative to support Brazil's integrated
effort towards reducing national and global emissions of
greenhouse gases while promoting long term development. The
study builds on the best available knowledge and to this
effect the study team undertook a broad consultative process
and surveyed the copious literature available to identify
the need for incremental efforts and centers of excellences.

Climate change is already a reality.
This is evidenced by the acceleration of global temperature
increases, the melting of ice and snow covers, and rising
sea levels. Latin America and the Caribbean region (LCR) are
not exempt from these trends, as illustrated by the changes
in precipitation patterns that are already being reported in
the region, as well as by observations of rising
temperatures, the rapid melting of Andean tropical glaciers,

Climate change is the defining
development challenge of our time. More than a global
environmental issue, climate change is also a threat to
poverty reduction and economic growth and may unravel many
of the development gains made in recent decades. Latin
America and the Caribbean account for a relatively modest
twelve percent of the world's greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, but communities across the region are already