Beware Carbon Myopia at COP28: Why Climate and Nature Action Must Now Come Together in the Race for a Liveable Planet

As COP28 delegates focus on the first Global Stocktake, there is no doubt that the race to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is vital. But while electric vehicles and solar power uptake have seen visible and welcome progress in particular, the transition to a thriving future on a healthy planet requires much more than decarbonization alone.

Emerging Climate Finance Infrastructure to Match Africa’s Green Bankable Solutions

Although long profiled as the face of climate change, a high-risk continent with a pipeline of unbankable green projects, there are areas where Africa is leading the world. The 1987 accidental discovery of the first deposit of natural hydrogen during a water drilling campaign in Bourakebougou village, Mali, is today proving that Africa can export viable green solutions.

From ‘Peak Oil’ to ‘Peak Energy’? … and Why It Matters

The International Energy Agency now projects oil, gas, and coal use will all peak this decade. This constitutes a dramatic shift from the last 150 years when the thirst for fossil fuels persistently rose. But now this growth is nearing its end sooner than many expected, driven in part by a surge in renewables.

A Climate Scientist’s View of COP 28

This year’s UN Climate Change Conference is taking place in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December. The so-called COP summits are organised every year and constitute a means for the global community to agree on ways to address the climate crisis, such as limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, supporting vulnerable communities to adapt to the effects of climate change, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Hearts and Minds: We Need to Understand the Critical Role of Human, Social, and Institutional Leadership to Achieve the Goals of the 2015 Paris Agreements

The main challenge for addressing climate change a decade ago was how to develop low-cost, low-carbon solutions such as wind or solar power. Since that hurdle has been cleared, we now need to focus on social dimensions to deploying solutions quickly and at large-scale.

Africa Will Not Cope with Climate Change Without a Just, Inclusive Energy Transition

A just transition should be viewed as an opportunity to rectify some of the wrongs where women are not prioritised in the energy mix, yet their experience of the impact of climate change is massive, says Thandile Chinyavanhu, a young South African-based climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Africa.

COP28: Climate Summit in Closed Civic Space

The need to act on the climate crisis has never been clearer. In 2023, heat records have been shattered around the world. Seemingly every day brings news of extreme weather, imperilling lives. In July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres grimly announced that ‘the era of global boiling has arrived’.

PPPs Fiscal Hoax Is a Blank Financial Silver Bullet

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure and service provision are both costly and risky. Worse, PPPs typically fail to ensure universal, let alone fair access to public amenities.

Insider Exposé of ESG Greenwashing

A senior manager of the world’s largest investment firm has ‘blown the whistle’ on ESG (environment, social and governance) ‘greenwashing’, especially on supposed climate finance.

Electric Transport Expands Slowly in Mexico

Maribel Ochoa takes less time and spends less money commuting from her home to her work in eastern Mexico City thanks to the use of the electric Cablebus, a cable car that has improved her quality of life since the service began operating two years ago.

It’s Time to Close the Sustainable Energy Gaps in Asia & the Pacific

This year we pass the halfway mark both on our journey towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Beware Climate Finance Charade

Finance has increased, not reduced, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meanwhile, funding for mitigation, and especially adaptation, is grossly inadequate, with little for climate losses and damages.

Small Islands with Big Aspirations

Everyone knows that small island states are on the frontline of global warming. Rising sea levels, acidification destroying fisheries and coral reefs, and changing patterns of rainfall are just some of the challenges. Some low-lying islands have already been lost to the ocean.

Innovative Family Farm in Cuba Uses Mix of Clean Energies

Combining technologies and innovations to take advantage of solar, wind, hydro and biomass potential has made the Finca del Medio farm an example in Cuba in the use of clean energies, which are the basis of its agroecological and environmental sanitation practices.

Innovative Business Models, Critical for African Governments to Unlock Carbon Markets

With current efforts to boost Africa's carbon credit production by 2030, experts believe the commitments will require Governments to switch from a voluntary to a compliance market by generating renewable energy for a portion of national and regional electricity supplies.

Pemex Exploits Fossil Fuels with Money from International Banks

At the entrance to the municipality of Paraíso, in the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco, there is a traffic circle that displays three things that are emblematic of the area: crabs, pelicans and mangroves.

The Bitter-Sweet Sides of Uganda’s Oil and Gas Development

French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are moving with pace in the development of oil and gas projects with a potential investment portfolio estimated at more than USD 15 billion. IPS looks at the project's human rights record for the compensation of affected communities.

Dangerous Scramble for Renewable Energy Resources

The growing and changing material requirements for new technologies have triggered natural resource scrambles for strategic minerals, generating dangerous rivalries fought out in the global South.

Enhancing Mining Revenue

The commodity boom early this century was mainly driven by mineral prices. Yet, mining’s contribution to developing countries’ revenue has been modest, largely due to massive tax evasion and avoidance.

What Happens in the Arctic Does Not Stay in the Arctic

While climate change is relentlessly progressing, threatening life on earth, world leaders continue to meet while planning for a future where this immense menace to human existence remains a minor item on the agenda.

NDB Spotlight: The Lesotho Highlands Water Project – Who Benefits?

The Role of the New Development Bank in Monitoring Project Impacts on Communities The 15th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa this month has once again put the spotlight on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) as a shining example of multilateralism and the New Development Bank’s (NDB)commitment to financing sustainable development projects within BRICS countries and other developing countries. During the 2023 BRICS Summit, the New Development Bank and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) signed a 3.2 billion Rands loan agreement for the implementation of Phase Two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) in Lesotho. This funding complements contributions by other financiers, notably the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA).