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 …
Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7) sets out a global aim to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The Energizing Finance: Understanding the Landscape report, developed by Sustainable Energy for All in partnership with Climate Policy Initiative and produced annually since 2017, provides a comprehensive analysis …
As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many meetings, workshops, and consultations suddenly went online. In many parts of the world, in-person meetings were impossible for a long time, and only now are slowly resuming. In other parts, hybrid meetings with online presence and in-person participation are becoming the new norm. Each …
The 2021 issue of ESCAP’s Financing for Development Series, Financing the SDGs to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and the Pacific, reviews a range of financing instruments, strategies and mechanisms that can help Asia-Pacific economies recover from the pandemic and effectively pursue the SDGs. In particular, …
By providing quantitative evidence of the influence of infrastructure on sustainable development and climate mitigation and adaptation, Infrastructure for Climate Action highlights the key role that infrastructure plays in fostering climate compatible development. For delivering on the potential of infrastructure to contribute to achieving goals set out in global agendas …
From electric cars and buses to zero-carbon producing energy sources, new and emerging technologies along with innovative policy changes, are critical for combating climate change. But to be effective, they must ensure that transport strategies benefit everyone, including the poorest, according to a new UN multi-agency report. According to the …
Economies in the Asia-Pacific region need to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including to maintain their trade competitiveness as carbon taxes at borders threaten to rise, according to this new United Nations report Around 16 million new jobs could be created in clean energy, energy efficiency, engineering, manufacturing and construction …
Differences in so-called multidimensional poverty among ethnic groups are consistently high across many countries, according to a new analysis. The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), produced by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, also found that in nine specific ethnic groups surveyed, more …
The Global Chemicals and Waste Indicator Review Document aim to strengthen the knowledge base of chemicals and hazardous waste and enhance the capacity of selected countries to track progress towards related SDG indicators across sectors. With the purpose of enhancing evidence base as well as the science-policy interface, this review …
Developing countries have experienced growing structural weaknesses over the last decade. COVID-19 and climate change have further aggravated these, worsening poverty and inequality, and starkly exposing the interdependence between people, the planet, and the economy. This report charts out the Green, Resilient, and Inclusive Development (GRID) approach, which departs from …
This study gives an overview of how Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) is an effective and established solution for energy access. The study discusses the potential of DRE to power enterprises and support livelihoods across the developing world. It argues that the international community is yet to internalise the vital connections …
COVID-19 economic recovery can be advanced by greater efforts to boost longer-term resilience and sustainability in Asia and the Pacific. COVID-19 economic recovery can be advanced by greater efforts to boost longer-term resilience and sustainability in Asia and the Pacific, including coordinated, targeted responses to mounting climate risks and measures …
The world’s poorest countries will remain on the margins of the global economy if States are unable to boost economic production, and the international community fails to provide more support, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned. Their ability to respond to and recover from crises such as …
The purpose of this paper is to set out clearly to the global community – member states, producers, businesses, financial institutions, civil society, donors – that public capital needs to be optimised and repurposed and private capital needs to be scaled and redirected to invest in a healthier, more equitable …
If the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are to be achieved by the 2030 target, the risks posed by human-induced climate change must be understood and addressed. The World Meteorological Organization has published a new report on Climate Indicators and Sustainable Development: Demonstrating the Interconnections. The aim of the WMO report …
Achieving food security and improving nutrition are crucial to reach the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Not only they are essential to reach SDG2 – Zero Hunger, but they are also linked to many other SDGs including SDG3 – Good Health and Well-Being, SDG12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG14 …
Six years into the 2030 Agenda, there is an urgent need to understand where the world stands in eliminating hunger and food insecurity, as well as in ensuring sustainable agriculture. FAO's new report, “Tracking progress on food and agriculture-related SDG indicators”, offers analysis and trends on indicators across eight SDGs …
This study provides an overview of the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in The Gambian economy, identifying sectoral policies likely to yield good outcomes, and those in which structural reforms are needed to enable the country to “build back better”. The report also uses an innovative Bayesian Vector-Autoregressive (VAR) …
The world is not on track to achieve zero hunger by 2030 and many of the indicators for the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals are not moving the right direction. The global food system is witnessing dramatic challenges that threaten the health of people, our environment and our …
In many developing countries, women are the de facto water decision makers in households. Research suggests that when women are involved in the management of water resources, their communities achieve better economic and environmental benefits. As the world’s population grows and climate change intensifies water scarcity, women are key to …
Global support to producers in the agricultural sector amounts to $540 billion per year, making up 15 percent of total agricultural production value. By 2030, this is projected to soar up more than three times to $1.759 trillion. Yet 87 percent of this support, approximately $470 billion, is price distorting …
