The Global Alliance for Energy Productivity today announced the release of the Energy Productivity Playbook, which details how public sector, private sector and nonprofit organizations can collaborate to double an economy’s energy productivity by emplacing a policy infrastructure that supports and drives investment in energy efficiency. Learn more.

The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), in partnership with the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), has released a new analysis on green banks and green bonds. The analysis suggest that the two financing tools could attract much needed low-cost finance for clean energy projects and open the market to India's huge clean energy potential while helping India achieve its climate goals. Learn more.

The United Nations Climate Change Secretariat has published an update to its synthesis report on the collective impact of national climate action plans (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, or INDCs), submitted by governments as contributions to global climate action under the Paris Agreement. The updated report captures the overall impact of 161 national climate plans covering 189 countries and 95.7% of total global emissions. INDCs are expected to deliver sizeable emission reductions and slow down emissions growth in the coming decade. However, these are still not enough to keep the global temperature rise since pre-industrial times to below 2 degrees Celsius. Learn more.

Today, energy ministries from Canada, Mexico and the United States announced that nine companies will join the North American Energy Management Pilot Program to promote implementation of the ISO 50001 international energy management system standard. Learn more.