Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
The Electricity (Timely recovery of costs due to Change in Law) Rules, 2021 are aimed at ensuring timely recovery of the costs for generators due to change in law to promote investment in the power sector. “Timely recovery of the costs due to change in law is very important as …
As countries recover from COVID-19 pandemic, there are growing calls across societies to build forward better, more inclusively and greener, and accelerate the transition to net zero-carbon economies. This Guidance Note draws on the experiences in climate budgeting that emerge from Asia-Pacific countries and captures emerging global trends with adopted …
Investors in 66% of listed companies are collectively at risk of losing US$8.4 trillion due to declining ocean health and climate change if business as usual continues. Even keeping global temperature rise to 2°C will result in losses of US$3.3 trillion, which highlights the importance of keeping global temperature rise …
To encourage change in high-carbon sectors, India’s power authorities could introduce a green rating when assessing financial support and bail-outs for power distribution companies (discoms), says a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). With lndia moving towards decarbonisation of its power sector, there is …
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, …
The first comprehensive quantitative mapping of finance flows for climate adaptation to African countries reveals five ways in which this finance falls short. Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), international financial assistance is expected to support developing countries as they prepare for and adapt to the impacts …
This report is the second output of the joint NGFS-INSPIRE Study Group on Biodiversity and Financial Stability. The group was established to help central banks and financial supervisors fulfil their mandates in the face of financial risks stemming from biodiversity loss. The report is intended as a stocktake of the …
Africa is severely impacted by the triple crisis of debt, climate change and nature loss. The continent’s debt now stands at more than 70% of GDP. There is potential to address these crises through ‘general purpose’ debt financing linked to climate and nature key performance indicators (KPIs). For severely indebted …
Urbanization is happening differently today than in the past and occurring most rapidly in places with the fewest resources. Traditional approaches are not able to keep up, leaving billions of people with poor access to basic necessities, dragging down economies and damaging the environment. This synthesis report of the Towards …
The study provides an overview of gaps in international climate and clean energy finance and highlights the current status of financial initiatives in addressing the gaps. To ease the flow of capital, the study proposes a Global Clean Investment Risk Mitigation Mechanism (GCI-RMM), which works on the principle of risk …
This report provides an overview of existing adaptation finance flows in Africa and identifies opportunities to increase the volume and efficacy of that finance. Current adaptation finance flows to Africa are insufficient to meet growing adaptation needs on the continent. The core objectives of this report are to: Assess the …
This report examines whether climate adaptation programmes have been conflict-sensitive in fragile and conflict-affected regions, and the barriers to increasing adaptation finance to these contexts. This synthesis report explores whether and how climate adaptation programmes have been conflict-sensitive in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCSs). It also examines the barriers and …
Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) could be the key to accelerating the adoption of rooftop solar in India – but financial institutions are often reluctant to lend to MSMEs because they prefer borrowers with strong financial track records and good corporate credit ratings. A new report by the Institute …
This new report explores how climate and urban challenges could be addressed in tandem to set African cities on a path of prosperity and sustainable long-term development. It recommends steps that governments at national, local and city level could employ to attract the capital needed to address priorities around development …
Pacific island countries (PICs) are globally among the most exposed and vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters and are also among the least equipped to adapt, putting their economic development and macroeconomic stability at risk. Climate adaptation efforts in the Pacific are critical, but costs are substantial. Debt levels …
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 …
Incorporating gas-powered generation as a sustainable investment into Asian taxonomies could have unintended consequences, finds a new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). Doing so could lock Asia into a high-emitting future while also posing a credibility and greenwashing problem that Asian policymakers and ESG …
This publication updates the analyses presented in the original discussion paper “From Double Shock to Double Recovery – Implications and Options for Health Financing in the Time of COVID-19,” published in March 2021 (C. Kurowski, D. B. Evans, et al. 2021). The original paper used macroeconomic projections released by the …
Investment in new coal-fired power plants persists globally despite misalignment with a net-zero economy and the falling costs of renewable energy technologies. This knowledge brief highlights the political and economic dynamics underpinning recent investments in coal-fired power in 18 high-impact countries (HICs), defined as the countries with the highest absolute …
The world needs more effective multilateral coordination, without which recovery efforts in advanced countries will damage development prospects in the South and amplify existing inequalities, says UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report 2021. The pandemic has seen governments in the North abandon parts of the 40-year long neo-liberal policy dogma to …
