COP26: key outcomes from the UN climate talks
17/11/2021: A considered summary from the World Resources Institute. The long-awaited COP26 climate summit in Glasgow has made important progress in a number of areas but not enough. The world still remains off track to beat back the climate crisis.
Source: World Resources Institute
Recovery in poorest countries needs more transparency on debt
10/11/2021: The World Bank is concerned about limited public disclosure of government debt in low-income countries, creating difficulties for future financing. These countries will need to borrow heavily to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.
Source: Devex
UN issues new roadmap for clean energy access for all by 2030
3/11/2021: The plan announced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres aims to ensure that 500 million more people gain access to electricity by 2025. The roadmap also calls for fossil fuel consumption subsidies to be re-directed towards renewable energy.
Source: UN Development Programme
World leaders back deal to end deforestation by 2030 (again)
1/11/2021: More than 100 countries, including Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have signed up to the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forest and Land Use to stop and reverse deforestation by the end of the decade. A 2014 UN climate meeting in New York issued a similar declaration.
Source: DW
New funding alliance aims to advance access to energy for all
1/11/2021: The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet aims to unlock $100 billion in public and private financing to reach 1 billion underserved people with reliable, renewable power. It aims to change the current trajectory of 243 GW of coal plants being planned, permitted, or under construction in developing countries.
Source: The Rockefeller Foundation
Global wealth is increasingly unequal
27/10/2021: A new World Bank report makes a distinction between conventional GDP growth and measures which include renewable natural assets such as forests and fishing resources.
Source: Devex
Half of the world is failing to manage its water resources
18/10/2021: Over half the countries across the world are unlikely to achieve the 2030 target date for managing their water resources sustainably, according to a report by the World Meteorological Organization. As water know no borders, more coordination between countries will be necessary.
Source: Devex
How the UK took $200m away from the most marginalised
5/10/2021: The reality of what happens when funding for neglected tropical diseases, such as trachoma and river blindness, is suddenly turned off, as told through a programme leader’s diary entries.
Source: African Arguments
World leaders hail agreement on global corporate tax rate
8/10/2021: Most countries have signed up to a historic deal on corporate taxation that will now be put to G20 leaders for approval. It will ensure a minimum 15% corporate rate and that multinational companies will be taxed in the countries where they generate their revenue.
Source: DW
What will replace coal finance for poor countries?
5/10/2021: China has withdrawn finance for new coal-fired power plants overseas but Africa still needs to triple its electricity capacity to end energy poverty. The successful diplomacy that has eliminated public funding for overseas coal projects needs to be matched by funding clean power plants.
Source: Inter Press Service