The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The current worldwide sustainable development model is threatening to reverse years of progress, if strategies don’t drastically change, an independent group of scientists has concluded in a major new report launched. The report, “The Future is Now: Science for Achieving Sustainable Development,” points to understanding the relationships between individual SDGs …
Eradicating poverty and hunger, ensuring quality education, instituting affordable and clean energy, and more – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lay out a broad, ambitious vision for our world. But there is one common denominator that cuts across this agenda: data. Without timely, relevant, and disaggregated data, policymakers and their …
In the ICSE syllabus for Class 4 students on environment, there is a chapter on sparrows and saving them by creating nests based on Rakesh’s work. Hooked on to their i-Pads and mobile phones, children today are missing the joys of nature, wildlife and birds. In the fast changing urban …
The EU Commission has published the 2019 edition of its annual Employment and Social Developments in Europe review, that provides up-to-date economic analysis of employment and social trends in Europe and discusses related policy options. This year’s report is dedicated to the theme of sustainability, and confirms the continued expansion …
This book brings together the insights and expertise of a dozen expert modellers and policy analysts, who completed this project on modelling for sustainable development in June 2019 using the "Book Sprints" method. It outlines the different modelling approaches available; describes why model design and development matters for sustainable development; …
As countries increasingly commit to sustainable development pathways, they need approaches that assess the sustainability dimension of national policies and interventions, including their contribution to multiple sustainable development aims. Previous briefings have discussed the importance of evaluation in 2030 Agenda national follow-up and review processes. This briefing looks at how …
Over the past few years, India has added huge electricity generation capacity, resulting in an impressive reduction in its energy and peak deficits to just 0.4% and 0.6% respectively by June 2019, even as electricity demand has grown 5-6% annually. The country’s electricity supply has historically been largely coal-dominated, with …
This report assesses all the positive potential benefits digitalization brings to sustainable development for all. It also highlights the potential negative impacts and challenges going forward, particularly for those impacted by the ‘digital divide’ that excludes primarily people left behind during the Industrial Revolution like the billion that go hungry …
It is well recognized that infrastructure investment is vital for growth. However, its financial implications could be huge, which could not be met by traditional sources of financing only. Using a general equilibrium model applied to Ghana, this paper combines four fiscal rules for managing oil revenue for public investment …
The SDSN and Bertelsmann Stiftung published the Sustainable Development Report 2019 including the SDG Index and Dashboards. The report details progress by countries on their achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is the fourth edition of the annual review of countries’ performance on the 17 SDGs. It covers …
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Today, the GEF is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues while …
Feeding and nourishing a growing and changing global population in the face of rising numbers of chronically hungry people, slow progress on malnutrition, environmental degradation, systemic inequality, and the dire projections of climate change, demands a transformation in global food systems. Policy change at multiple levels is critical for catalysing …
This report shows that South and South East Asian countries can shift their energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables to fuel economic growth, boost sustainable development and overcome energy poverty while avoiding life-threatening pollution and environmental degradation. It includes seven country profiles: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and …
At the request of the government of Japan under its G20 presidency, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has produced this landmark report to analyse the current state of play for hydrogen and to offer guidance on its future development. The report finds that clean hydrogen is currently enjoying unprecedented political …
Greening Pakistan’s industry has become an imperative to minimize its adverse impacts on the environment and society, but also to sustain the sector’s growth. Despite substantial growth in recent decades, the industrial sector is yet to make its full contribution to Pakistan’s development. Limited consideration of the growing resource use, …
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched the United Nations' Decade of Family Farming and a Global Action Plan to boost support for family farmers, particularly those in developing countries. The two UN agencies lead the implementation of the Decade of Family …
Ecosystems across the world, particularly in India, are not conducive to ensuring sustainable development, an environment expert said here on Wednesday. At a workshop to mark International Day for Biological Diversity, Professor B R Babu said that "all our rivers, primary channels and streams are dead". "Every year, we hold …
Development is vital for reducing disaster risk, yet many current development models are unsustainable and are instead driving and creating disaster risks. This Integrated Research on Disaster Risk working paper argues that transformation is a legitimate and necessary pathway for moving from development patterns that increase, create or unfairly distribute …
As Madagascar’s recently elected president completed his first 100 days in office, experts identify five priority areas for conservation. In a new comment piece in Nature Sustainability, the experts highlight the need for setting conservation goals that are aligned with the sustainable development of the country. Strengthening the rights of …
Equality lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its ambition to leave no one behind. This report, prepared as the theme study for the 75th Commission Session, gages recent progress towards equality in three key outcomes: education, full-time employment and income. Covering the past ten …
