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Sustainability
- Multi-agency report highlights challenges and opportunities.
- Summit of the Future decisions: a choice between breakthrough or breakdown.
- Increasing climate change impacts reverse development gains.
The science is clear. We are far off track from achieving vital climate goals. The impacts of climate change and hazardous weather are reversing development gains and threatening the well-being of people and the planet, according to a new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Greenhouse gas concentrations are at record levels, fuelling temperature increase into the future. The emissions gap between aspiration and reality remains high. Under current policies, there is a two thirds likelihood of global warming of 3 °C this century, says the United in Science report.
United in Science offers much-needed grounds for hope. It explores how advances in natural and social sciences, new technologies and innovation enhance our understanding of the Earth system and could be game changers
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- Africa is still in the early stages of the energy transition, and this includes the economic, financial, and societal aspects.
- Across economies, many of the technologies to produce low-emissions steel are relatively nascent, with issues to solve.
- Increasingly, policymakers are realizing that making energy transition from fossils to clean energy is costly.
Net-zero, an energy transition from traditional sources of fuel that pollute the environment to green energy and renewable sources, is the new global call for companies and organizations.
So far, there has been tremendous momentum, especially in the adoption of wind and solar power, electric cars, heat pumps. Climate finance has started to flow, albeit slowly to the Global South, and many companies have made considerable commitments.
“But right now, the world at large is only at about 10 per cent of the deployment of physical assets, that is, the technologies and infrastructure that we will need to …
- With the risk of up to 118 million people being exposed to extreme weather by 2030, Africa is in a race against time to adapt fast.
- African countries are already losing between 2% to 5% of their GDP annually due to climate-related hazards, such as droughts, floods, and heatwaves.
- The cost of adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa alone is estimated at $30Bn to $50Bn annually over the next decade, representing 2% to 3% of regional GDP.
Africa, a continent rich in biodiversity and natural resources, faces some of the most severe impacts of extreme weather, making climate adaptation very critical. The increasing frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters such as droughts, floods, heatwaves, and cyclones are wreaking havoc on African economies and societies.
The State of the Climate in Africa 2023 Report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), highlights that climate extremes disproportionately affect African nations. Increasingly, …
- This climate finance deficit presents a pressing challenge to Africa, as it directly affects the continent’s capacity to address critical climate-related issues.
- African governments must adopt innovative financing opportunities that blend public and private partnerships.
- Leaders from Africa, the Republic of Korea, and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) have jointly called for more collaboration and cooperation to bridge the climate finance gap
Climate finance
The climate finance gap has been a persistent topic of climate change discussions for the longest time. Despite a financing need exceeding $3 trillion by 2030, the continent receives merely about a 10th of its climate finance need, representing less than 5.5 per cent of the total global climate finance. This gap is felt especially keenly in countries like Uganda, which, despite being one of the many African countries committed to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), experiences a distinct lack of climate funding.
According to the …
- Bolt, TRÍ, and Watu have launched a pilot program in Tanzania to introduce electric Bajajis, aiming to enhance sustainable urban transportation and improve the economic well-being of drivers.
- This initiative reduces operational costs significantly, boosts driver earnings, and aligns with Tanzania’s green mobility efforts.
- The program includes comprehensive support and training for drivers, with plans for future expansion to foster broader adoption of eco-friendly vehicles.
In a move that is set to revolutionize Tanzania’s urban transportation, Bolt, TRÍ, and Watu Africa have joined forces to launch a pilot program featuring electric Bajajis. This collaboration not only promises to enhance sustainable mobility but also aims to improve the economic well-being of Tanzanian drivers.
As a leading ride-hailing platform, Bolt integrates electric Bajajis into its services, allowing drivers to seamlessly participate in this innovative program. This integration enhances operational efficiency and provides drivers with access to cost-effective vehicles, significantly increasing …
- World Environment Day 2024 marked under the theme “Our Land. Our Future. We are #GenerationRestoration,” highlights global efforts to restore degraded lands, combat desertification, and build drought resilience.
- Hosted by Saudi Arabia for the second time in over 50 years, the day amplified the Kingdom’s environmental goals, including the Saudi Green Initiative and Middle East Green Initiative, which seeks to plant 50 billion trees and achieve land degradation neutrality by 2030.
With a focus on restoring degraded lands, combatting desertification and building drought resilience, countries around the world came together today to mark World Environment Day 2024, under the rallying call ‘Our Land. Our Future. We are #Generation Restoration’.
On the biggest calendar moment for environmental action, the official celebrations hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia marked the second time in more than 50 years that World Environment Day has been hosted in the West Asia region. Faced with
- VFS Global Visa Processes saw a global substantial increase of 35 per cent
- The tourism sector saw a rebound in 2023, with global travel recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- VFS Global extended its strategic investments through signature programs in Indonesia, Thailand, and South Africa
VFS Global, the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions, achieved new sustainability targets according to its fifth edition of the Integrated Sustainability Report 2023.
Among key achievements in 2023 include a 35 per cent increase in the number of visa applications processed worldwide and other markets globally, as well as an expanded service portfolio by securing seven global contracts, including the UK Visa and Immigration, the Department of Home Affairs in Australia.
In 2023, global travel bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Middle East, EU region, and Africa emerging as the top performers, according to the UNWTO’s tourism …
- The World Bank has approved a $1.2 billion loan to support policy and institutional reforms to address structural constraints in Kenya’s public finances.
- On climate, the financing will support Kenya’s investments in green public transport systems.
- Kenya’s $1.2 billion DPO facility is funded through a combination of financial instruments
Kenya has received a loan of $1.2 billion ( about KES156 billion) from the World Bank to help the country address short-term fiscal pressures and accelerate green initiatives. The new $1.2 billion Kenya Fiscal Sustainability and Resilient Growth Development Policy Operation (DPO), is the first in a series of three.
According to the multilateral lender, it has been prepared under an improved macroeconomic environment following government action to address the challenges that had overshadowed the economy including tight liquidity pressures, depressed investor confidence and limited capital inflows that had resulted in a rapidly depreciating shilling.
A Development Policy Operation (DPO) is …
- Zeroe, a carbon management startup based in Dubai, offers a platform that helps streamline the flow of finance from the global North to the global South.
- The firm’s innovative solution provides comprehensive carbon accounting, and an AI-enabled decarbonization planner, making it easy and affordable for companies to measure and reduce their emissions.
- Zeroe is already working with businesses in the UAE and Indonesia and sees significant climate financing opportunities for growth in Africa, especially North West, North East, and Southern Africa.
Climate finance: “There is enough money; we just need to make it flow.” This statement by Lauren Haworth, Head of Marketing and Partnerships at Zeroe, succinctly captures the current state of climate finance. During an interview at the AIM Congress 2024, held in Abu Dhabi, she shared insights on the steady but insufficient growth in climate finance deployment, which reached over $1.2 trillion in 2022.
However, the challenge …
