Climate finance committed by major multilateral development banks (MDBs) rose by more than 24% last year compared to 2020, according to this 2021 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance. The 2021 total financing by MDBs already surpassed the 2025 climate finance goals set at the 2019 United Nations …
This UNCTAD report discusses the opportunities and threats for developing countries in the transition to a low-carbon economy, and considers how foreign investment and transnational corporations can be leveraged in supporting this process. The World Investment Report 2010 highlights a promising outlook: after a significant global FDI downturn in 2009, …
Facilities involved in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products are an under-investigated source of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Between 2004 and 2009, 35 to 38 effluent samples were collected from each of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in New York and analyzed for seven pharmaceuticals including opioids and muscle relaxants. Two …
The paper notes that nearly one-third of humanity still lacks access to modern energy, which is considered a critical factor in realizing sustainable development. It suggests establishing an international target for universal access to modern energy, and investigates the practicalities of measuring and reporting on such a target. The authors …
This report highlights a number of successes, while also assessing the human impact of lack of adequate progress on many of the millennium development goals. Shows that the goals are achievable when nationally owned development strategies and policies are supported by international development partners. The economic crisis took a heavy …
This study highlights the central role of capacity development for scaling up rural energy service delivery and to catalyze private financing for achieving universal energy access and the MDGs. Although it takes considerable upfront public investment to kick-start capacity development, once these investments have been made they can attract substantial …
This policy brief explains how to use tariff relief to reward developing countries that meet internationally agreed upon milestones for emission reductions as well as to incentivize such countries to go beyond these milestones. It also explains how the U.S. can manage the economic effects from more open trade to …
The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation refers to sustainable consumption and production (SCP), along with poverty eradication and conservation of the natural resource base, as essential precondition for sustainable development. The idea of sustainable development contains within it the completion of three transitions: demographic, development, and decoupling. The demographic transition is …
This paper provides an overview of some of the issues surrounding the use of renewable energy technologies (RETs) to increase access to modern energy services in rural areas. RETs include, inter alia, the provision of electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind, solar, water, tide/wave and geothermal, and the …
Bicyclists who planned to go topless to protest the removal of a bike lane in New York switched gears on December 19, pinning plastic breasts to their jackets as they rolled into a snowstorm. Dozens of bikers joined a protest to oppose the removal of a bike path in Williamsburg, …
Heat advisories provide advanced warning of dangerously hot weather, but criteria used to trigger alerts have not been systematically evaluated. Metzger et al. analyzed 10 years of all-cause mortality data (1997
Climate change creates a crisis for economic development, which has historically been synonymous with high-carbon growth. It is essential for the world economy to make a rapid transition to a new, low-carbon style of growth. Developed countries might be expected to pay a large share of the total global costs …
This document explains step-by-step how to develop a joint adaptation strategy, with a special focus on the transboundary context. Based on the concept of integrated water resources management, it provides advice to decision makers and water managers on how to assess impacts of climate change on water quantity and quality, …
For years, residents here complained about the yellow smoke pouring from the tall chimneys of the nearby coal-fired power plant, which left a film on their cars and pebbles of coal waste in their yards. Five states
Like most large international conferences, the United Nations climate summit meeting in New York this week generated a hefty dose of greenhouse gas emissions. Hundreds of presidents, prime ministers and officials from across the globe this week took airplanes to the United Nations meeting, some accompanied by dozens of people. …
Some 100 heads of state gathered at the United Nations on Tuesday for an unprecedented daylong conference on combating climate change, with key leaders like presidents Hu Jintao of China and Barack Obama acknowledging that agreement is an important goal, but also stressing their own needs. Negotiators have been struggling …
The opening address by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the historic Summit on climate change in New York on 22 September 2009. This event is aimed at mobilizing political will and strengthening momentum for a fair, effective, and ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen climate conference-Dec 2009. Nearly 100 world leaders …
The United States and Europe face a new health threat from a mosquito-borne disease far more unpleasant than the West Nile virus that swept into North America a decade ago, a U.S. expert said on Friday. Chikungunya virus has spread beyond Africa since 2005, causing outbreaks and scores of fatalities …
