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 …
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are facing increasingly devastating impacts of climate change that are leading to loss and damage (L&D;). As LDCs revise their climate action plans known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), they should provide concrete evidence about L&D.; This can help LDCs make the case for additional climate …
Air pollution is a global environmental threat, and a cause of significant proportions of diseases and premature deaths. The threat is massive in India, which continuously fails to meet World Health Organization (WHO) standards and is home to 21 of the 30 most polluted cities of the world. Air pollution …
A Reserve Bank survey has found that engagement of top management in banks on issues concerning climate risk and sustainable finance is "inadequate" and the lenders need to scale up initiatives on environmental matters. Climate risk and sustainable finance has caught the attention of regulators, national authorities and supra-national authorities …
Developed countries committed US$100 billion to climate finance by 2020, but fell short of their target, which was then extended to 2025. The financing gap is much wider for developing countries to achieve their climate goals. This paper presents the financing required to meet India’s renewable energy targets by 2030 …
China holds a critical and outsized role in helping the global community achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement and preserving the planet’s biosphere. At the same time, China’s available financing mechanisms and its financial system remain somewhat distinct. A nuanced understanding of prioritized net-zero technologies and potential pathways to …
Question raised in Rajya Sabha on disaster risk financing, 20/07/2022. The disaster risk financing mechanism is based on the recommendations of the successive Finance Commissions. The Fifteenth Finance Commission has recommended the creation of National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) and State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) for a period …
Achieving climate-resilient economies and societies will not only require increasing the billions of financial flows for adaptation, but also shifting broader -- public and private -- financial flows and investment away from potentially mal-adapted activities towards those that contribute to climate-resilient economies and societies. The goal of aligning finance with …
African countries must diversify their exports to survive economic shocks from global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, says the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In its Economic Development in Africa Report 2022, UNCTAD says African countries can diversify their economies through …
Sharp and rapid reductions in methane emissions this decade are essential to limiting global warming to 1.5°C. While carbon dioxide has a longer lasting effect, methane has 80 times the warming power of CO2 in the first 20 years after emissions reach the atmosphere, meaning methane is setting the pace …
India’s financial sector has faced many challenges in recent decades, with a large, negative, and persistent credit to GDP gap since 2012. Examine how cyclical financial conditions affect GDP growth using a growth-at-risk (GaR) approach and analyze the link between bank balance sheets, credit growth, and long-term growth using bank-level …
Billions of people in Asia and the Pacific depend on healthy oceans for their livelihoods, food security, health, and recreation. However, the impacts of climate change, marine pollution, overfishing, and unsustainable coastal development are increasingly threatening these ecosystems, jeopardizing the region’s small island nations and other developing coastal economies. Blue …
This paper presents a detailed overview of the nature of loss and damage risks affecting low-income countries, marginalised groups and people living in poverty in the global South, and how they might be addressed. Based upon a structured review of existing literature, and a series of deliberative dialogues, key informant …
This study looks at the status of the climate tech startup finance ecosystem in India, highlights opportunities and challenges and presents potential solutions to accelerate climate tech finance in the country. The report is aimed at policy makers who want to accelerate climate technology innovation in India; incubators and accelerator …
The study aims to close a research gap by examining international climate finance’s capacity in mobilising adaptation finance from the private sector in developing countries. Given multilateral climate funds’ readily accessible project information, the analysis herein focuses on Adaptation Fund (AF) projects and adaptation projects (including the adaptation component of …
Climate change litigation continues to grow in importance year-on-year as a way of either advancing or delaying effective action on climate change. In 2022, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recognised the role of litigation in affecting “the outcome and ambition of climate governance”. The latest edition of the …
This report analyses potential links between global finance to small-scale clean energy projects in developing countries. The analysis identifies key barriers, market enablers, case studies, insights and recommendations to wider adoption of financial aggregation as a means to enable capital flows at scale toward small-scale low carbon energy initiatives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred financial inclusion – driving a large increase in digital payments amid the global expansion of formal financial services. This expansion created new economic opportunities, narrowing the gender gap in account ownership, and building resilience at the household level to better manage financial shocks, according to …
Determining climate finance needs in developing economies is critical to identify financing gaps and opportunities to guide stakeholders to effectively access, allocate and mobilize climate finance. Such data supports international policy processes, like the determination and implementation of a new collective and quantified goal on climate finance and accelerates action. …
Investment in urban climate projects is urgently needed worldwide. Cities hold most of the global population and economic activity and contribute approximately three-quarters of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, underlining the urgent need for projects to reduce emissions in urban areas and increase climate resilience. This brief presents one …
This paper provides a review of approaches to delivering locally led adaptation. Drawing on examples from Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Caribbean and Latin America, it provides practical recommendations for financing and implementing locally led adaptation. It helps demystify the steps funders and governments can take to ensure local …
