The GEF actively supports climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods in Zanzibar, with a specific focus on the seaweed farming sector, which is crucial for over 20,000 farmers—mostly women—in the region. Here a woman identified as Jazaa is pictured working as a seaweed farmer. She carefully attaches little seaweed seedlings to the rope that she will harvest after two months. Credit: Natalija Gormalova/Climate Visuals Countdown

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, Apr 16 2026 (IPS)

The Global Environment Facility, widely known as the GEF, plays a central role in financing environmental protection across the world. It supports developing countries in tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, pollution, and threats to ecosystems.

Since its establishment in the early 1990s, the GEF has grown as a multilateral environmental fund, supporting projects in more than 170 countries.

Over time, the GEF has evolved into what it calls a “family of funds”, each targeting a specific global environmental challenge while operating under a shared strategic framework.

This explainer looks at how the GEF funding works, the origins of its financing model, and the role of six major funds that channel resources toward global environmental goals.

While the GEF predates the 1992 Rio ‘Earth’ Summit, its importance as a financial mechanism grew after the summit. Here UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali opens the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which aimed to develop a global blueprint for balancing economic development with environmental protection. Credit: Michos Tzavaras/UN Photo

Origins of the GEF Funding Model

The GEF was created in 1991, before the Rio ‘Earth’ Summit in 1992, which aimed to develop a global blueprint for balancing economic development with environmental protection; however, its importance grew after the summit.

The Rio Summit produced three major environmental conventions. These were the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity, and, later in 1994, the Convention to Combat Desertification. The GEF became the financial mechanism for these agreements, meaning it mobilises and distributes funds to help countries implement them.

Over the past 35 years, the GEF has expanded its mandate. Today it supports multiple conventions and environmental initiatives through a structured set of trust funds. This architecture allows the facility to coordinate funding across different environmental priorities while maintaining specialised programs for each global commitment.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is now focusing on solving environmental problems together instead of separately. It looks at climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution as connected issues and works with governments, international groups, civil society, and businesses to address them.

The GEF Trust Fund was initially created to support multiple environmental agreements simultaneously. Over time, countries preferred more specific funding for their particular needs.

Because of these changes, the GEF now has different funds, each designed for different purposes and methods of giving money.

Some funds – like the Trust Fund, the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and part of the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) – use a system that helps countries know in advance how much funding they can expect.

The GEF Trust Fund

The Global Environment Facility Trust Fund is the main source of funds for the GEF. It provides grants to support environmental projects in developing countries.

The Trust Fund finances activities across several environmental areas.

These include

• Biodiversity conservation,
• Climate change mitigation,
• Land degradation control,
• International waters management, and
• Chemicals and waste reduction.

Countries receive funding through a system known as the System for Transparent Allocation of Resources, or STAR, which distributes funds based on their environmental needs and eligibility.

Projects funded by the Trust Fund often focus on creating global environmental benefits. These may include:

• Protecting endangered species,
• Restoring ecosystems,
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and
• Improving pollution management systems.

The Trust Fund operates through periodic “replenishment” cycles. Donor countries pledge new contributions every four years, which allows the GEF to finance programs during the next funding period. For example, the GEF-9 cycle will cover the period from July 2026 to June 2030 and focus on scaling up environmental investments while mobilising private capital and strengthening country ownership of environmental policies.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has created Integrated Programs. These are special programs designed to address multiple environmental goals at the same time in a more coordinated and efficient way.

For example, the Food Systems Integrated Program does not fund separate projects for climate change, biodiversity, and land degradation. Instead, it combines them into one unified project, which helps achieve stronger and longer-lasting results while making better use of funding.

The GEF helps fund biodiversity across the globe, helping to create conditions to prevent the further endangerment of species like the Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii). Credit: Thomas Gabernig/Unsplash

Global Biodiversity Framework Fund

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund is a relatively new component of the GEF family of funds. It was created to help countries implement the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was adopted in 2022 under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The biodiversity framework sets ambitious targets for protecting nature by 2030. Its most prominent targets include the “30 by 30” target, which calls for protecting at least 30 percent of the world’s land and ocean areas by the end of the decade.  The Framework also sets a 30 percent target for the restoration of ecosystems and a target of mobilising 30 billion dollars in international financial flows to developing countries for biodiversity action.

The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund supports actions that help countries meet these targets.

Actions that are supported include the following:

• Expanding protected areas,
• Restoring degraded ecosystems,
• Protecting endangered species, and
• Strengthening biodiversity monitoring.

Another important focus is the integration of biodiversity into economic planning. Many projects supported by this fund work with governments and businesses to match financial flows with biodiversity goals. This means reducing financial support for activities that damage the environment and encouraging more sustainable farming, forestry, and fishing practices.

By providing targeted financing for biodiversity commitments, the fund helps translate global agreements into practical actions at the national and local levels.

It is also important to highlight that the fund sets a target of providing at least 20% of its resources to support actions by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This form of direct financing is unique for a multilateral environmental fund.  To date, this target has been exceeded and mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and the Tropical Forest Forever Facility are considering replicating this approach.

GEF-9 biodiversity investments will bring together four interconnected pathways:

• Scaling up financial flows to close the nature financing gap,
• Embedding environmental priorities in national development strategies,
• Mobilising private capital through blended finance, and
• Empowering Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and civil society as active conservation partners.

“A renewed emphasis on the Forest Biomes Integrated Program will continue directing investment into the landscapes most critical for achieving 30×30 – ensuring that GEF financing remains focused where the stakes are highest,” said Chizuru Aoki, the head of the GEF Conventions and Funds Division.

Medicinal and aromatic plant species, such as the baobab, are often exploited; however, the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing aims to ensure fair use of the planet’s genetic resources and secure benefits for Indigenous knowledge holders. Credit Noah Grossenbacher/Unsplash

Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund

The Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund supports countries in implementing the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing. This international agreement, part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, aims to make sure that the genetic resources of the planet are used fairly and equitably, with benefits shared with those who provide them.

Genetic resources include plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used in research and commercial products such as medicines, cosmetics, and agricultural technologies. Historically, many developing countries have expressed concerns that companies and researchers benefit from these resources without sharing profits or knowledge.

The Nagoya Protocol fixes these issues by requiring users to do the following:

• Get permission from the country providing the resources, and
• Agree on how benefits (like money or knowledge) will be shared.

The fund supports countries by helping them:

• Create laws and rules for using genetic resources,
• Improve monitoring systems, and
• Build skills among researchers and policymakers.

Projects funded also support Indigenous peoples and local communities, who often hold traditional knowledge associated with biological resources. Protecting this knowledge and ensuring fair compensation is a key objective of the Nagoya framework.

Least Developed Countries Fund

The Least Developed Countries Fund focuses on supporting climate adaptation in the world’s most vulnerable nations. These countries often face severe environmental risks but lack the finances and systems to respond efficiently.

The fund supports the preparation and implementation of National Adaptation Programs of Action and National Adaptation Plans. These are country-specific strategies that identify the most urgent climate risks facing each country and outline measures to reduce vulnerability.

Typical projects include the following:

• Strengthening climate-resilient agriculture,
• Improving water management systems,
• Protecting coastal zones, and
• Building early warning systems for extreme weather events.

Because many least developed countries face multiple environmental issues at once, the fund often supports integrated projects that address climate change alongside biodiversity conservation and land management.

This funding system makes sure that the poorest and most vulnerable countries get the help they need to deal with climate change, even though they did very little to cause it.

Villagers in Nyamisati, Rufiji District, wade through muddy tidal flats to plant mangrove seedlings—part of a grassroots effort to curb saline intrusion that has begun to poison nearby rice paddies as saltwater seeps underground. The initiative reflects growing local responses to environmental degradation driven by human activity along Tanzania’s coast. The GEF supports projects like these that help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS

Special Climate Change Fund

The Special Climate Change Fund supports climate action in developing countries and works alongside the Least Developed Countries Fund.

While the Least Developed Countries Fund focuses on the poorest nations, this fund helps other developing countries that are also affected by climate change.

It supports projects that:

• Help countries prepare for climate impacts,
• Include climate planning in development and infrastructure,
• Improve water management and agriculture.
• Reduce disaster risks, and
• Promote environmentally friendly technologies.

The SCCF also, in some cases, supports mitigation efforts, particularly when they involve innovative technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By financing both adaptation and mitigation initiatives, the fund contributes to global efforts to stabilise the climate system.

Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency Trust Fund

The Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency Trust Fund supports countries in implementing transparency requirements under the Paris Agreement.

Under this agreement, countries must regularly report their greenhouse gas emissions and track their progress on climate goals. However, many developing countries do not have the tools or skills to do this properly.

This fund helps by supporting:

• Training for government officials,
• Creation of national emissions data systems, and
• Better monitoring and reporting methods.

Strong reporting systems are important because they:

• Help track climate progress,
• Build trust between countries, and
• Ensure countries meet their commitments.

The fund helps developing countries improve their climate reporting so they can fully take part in global climate efforts.

How the “family of funds” works together

One of the defining features of the GEF funding model is that each part speaks to the others.

Think of it like a team of funds working together, rather than separate, isolated programs.

These funds are coordinated so they can:

• Support the same project from different angles,
• Avoid duplication (no overlapping funding for the same purpose), and
• Align with global environmental agreements.

For example:

• A biodiversity project might use:
  • The main GEF Trust Fund
  • Plus the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund
• A climate adaptation project could combine:
  • Least Developed Countries Fund
  • Special Climate Change Fund

This ‘family’ structure improves:

• Coordination, so different funds work in sync,
• Efficiency, so funds work with less waste and duplication, and
• Flexibility, so projects can tap into multiple funding sources.

Environmental problems are interconnected. A single project (like forest conservation) can:

• Reduce carbon emissions,
• Protect biodiversity,
• Improve water systems, and
• Avoid land degradation.

Because of the integrated funding system, the GEF can support all these goals at once, rather than funding them separately.

The “family of funds” is a coordinated funding system that allows the GEF to:

• Combine resources;
• Support complex, multi-sector projects; and
• Maximise environmental impact

The Future of GEF Financing

As global environmental crises grow, so does the demand for money and resources to meet climate and biodiversity needs. International assessments suggest that hundreds of billions of dollars are needed each year.

The GEF aims to play a “catalytic” role in closing this gap – in short, the GEF acts as a “catalyst” or tool for using limited public funds to unlock much larger investments.

Its funding model mobilises additional resources from

• Governments,
• Development banks, and
• Private investors.

“In practical terms, the mechanisms being supported in GEF-9 include debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps, green bonds, pooled investment vehicles, and outcome-based financing structures. Each of these can serve a different purpose depending on the context – but the common thread is that they allow the GEF to use its resources strategically to unlock much larger pools of capital from the private sector, multiplying the environmental impact that public funding alone could achieve,” Aoki said.

Note: This feature is published with the support of the GEF. IPS is solely responsible for the editorial content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the GEF.

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Two fishermen in their boat in Rincao, Cabo Verde. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 22 2026 (IPS)

In 2025, global ocean temperatures rose to some of the highest levels ever recorded, signaling a continued accumulation of heat within the Earth’s climate system and raising deep concern among climate scientists. The economic toll of ocean-related impacts—including collapsing fisheries, widespread coral reef degradation, and mounting damage to coastal infrastructure—is now estimated to be nearly double the global cost of carbon emissions, placing immense strain on economies and endangering millions of lives.

On January 14, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed that global temperatures have reached record highs over the past 11 years, with ocean heating continuing at an alarming pace. Despite the cooling influence of La Niña, 2025 became the third hottest year ever recorded. In just the past year, ocean temperatures increased by an estimated ∼23 ± 8 zettajoules—an amount of heat roughly equivalent to 200 times the world’s total electricity generation in 2024.

With an estimated 90 percent of excess heat from global warming absorbed by the world’s oceans, rising ocean temperatures have become one of the clearest indicators of the accelerating climate crisis—carrying profound risks for ecosystems and human life. The ocean is central to global prosperity, supporting livelihoods, market economies, and overall human well-being.

“Global warming is ocean warming,” said John Abraham, a professor of thermal science at the University of St. Thomas. “If you want to know how much the Earth has warmed or how fast we will warm into the future, the answer is in the oceans.”

Zeke Hausfather, a climatologist and research scientist at University of California, Berkeley, described the ocean as the “most reliable thermostat of the planet.”

According to figures from WMO, roughly 33 percent of the Earth’s total ocean area ranked among the top three warmest conditions for ocean ecosystems in history, with roughly 57 percent falling within the top five, such as the tropical and South Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North Indian Ocean, and Southern Oceans.

The primary impact of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions on the ocean is the rapid warming of ocean waters, which significantly reduces the ocean’s capacity to hold oxygen—a critical lifeline for species survival. Rising temperatures also drive ocean acidification—weakening marine organisms, disrupting ecosystems, altering the physiology of numerous species, and triggering mass die-offs.

These effects have catastrophic consequences for biodiversity, fueling widespread coral reef bleaching, the collapse of seagrass beds, and the decline of kelp forests—all of which directly harm the benefits that humans yield from healthy marine environments. Rising ocean temperatures also intensify extreme weather events and accelerate sea-level rise, which in turn increase coastal flooding, erosion, and displacement, placing millions of people, particularly those in low-lying coastal communities, at heightened risk.

While some ocean-based benefits—such as seafood and maritime transport—are reflected in market prices, many others, including coastal protection, recreation, and marine biodiversity, remain overlooked, becoming part of the invisible social “blue cost” of carbon emissions, despite being essential to the deeply interconnected relationship between oceans, people, and economic systems.

“If we don’t put a price tag on the harm that climate change causes to the ocean, it will be invisible to key decision makers,” said environmental economist Bernardo Bastien-Olvera, who led a Scripps Institution of Oceanography study at the University of California San Diego, examining the social cost of carbon emissions and the economic toll of ocean degradation.

“Until now, many of these variables in the ocean haven’t had a market value, so they have been absent from calculations. This study is the first to assign monetary-equivalent values to these overlooked ocean impacts,” added Bastien-Olvera.

According to findings from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography study, accounting for the social impacts of ocean-related carbon emissions nearly doubles the estimated global cost—showing that ocean degradation is a major driver of climate-related economic losses. Researchers found that without ocean impacts included in their model, the average cost per ton of carbon dioxide was roughly USD 51. When accounting for ocean losses, the total costs increased by USD 41.6 per ton, reaching a total of USD 97.2, marking a 91 percent rise.

With the WMO Global Carbon Budget estimating global carbon dioxide emissions at roughly 41.6 billion tons in 2024, this translates to nearly $2 trillion in ocean-related losses in a single year—which is currently absent from standard climate cost assessments. Furthermore, the study found that market damages as a result of ocean degradation account for the largest costs to society and could reach global annual losses of $1.66 trillion in the year 2100.

Furthermore, damages in non-use values—such as recreational benefits provided by ocean ecosystems—now amount to an estimated USD 224 billion annually, while non-market values, including nutritional losses from collapsing fisheries, contribute an additional USD 182 billion in yearly damages. Bastien-Olvera stressed that many of these losses are not traditional market losses but cultural and societal losses, which carry different and often deeper forms of significance for affected communities.

“When an industry emits a ton of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as a society we are paying a cost. A company can use this number to inform cost-benefit analysis — what is the damage they will be causing society through increasing their emissions?”, asked Bastien-Olvera.

In response to the rapid warming of the Earth’s oceans, governments, scientific institutions, and international organizations are mobilizing new strategies to reduce carbon emissions and protect marine ecosystems, including expanding green energy infrastructure and advancing large-scale ecosystem restoration efforts.

The United Nations (UN) has renewed pressure on member states to meet their Paris Agreement commitments, while initiatives like the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and the High Seas Treaty work to strengthen ocean monitoring and protect marine biodiversity.

Scientists are also testing emerging methods to counteract climate-driven changes in the ocean. In late 2025, marine scientist Adam Subhas and his team released 16,200 gallons of sodium hydroxide into the ocean in an effort to neutralize rising acidity levels. Though controversial and still in early development, the experiment reflects a growing interest in exploring non-traditional tools that could stabilize marine ecosystems.

“As long as the Earth’s heat continues to increase, ocean heat content will continue to rise and records will continue to fall. The biggest climate uncertainty is what humans decide to do. Together, we can reduce emissions and help safeguard a future climate where humans can thrive,” said Abraham.

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By External Source
Dec 22 2025 (IPS)

Multiple shocks defined 2025: conflict, climate breakdown and shrinking democracy.

Multilateral institutions were tested as never before.

At COP30 in Belém, Brazil, governments argued over words while the planet heated.

Yet amid the pressure, countries agreed on steps that kept global climate cooperation alive.

A new Just Transition Mechanism promised a fairer shift to a green economy.

It pledged to protect workers, women and Indigenous peoples as fossil fuels are phased out.

Island nations warned that promises without finance mean rising seas and vanishing homelands.

Pacific voices called for stronger funding for Loss and Damage.

Across the system, humanitarian budgets were cut just as needs exploded.

Conflicts in Sudan, South Sudan and Myanmar pushed millions toward famine.

In many crises, lifesaving food support was reduced or halted for lack of funds.

Global alliances like CIVICUS warned that conflict, climate chaos and democratic backsliding are converging.

They cautioned that institutions built for cooperation are struggling as powerful states turn inward.

Civil society responded with proposals to put people—not geopolitics—at the centre of the UN.

At COP30, Global South leaders elevated Indigenous and Afro-descendant voices in climate talks.

They argued that dignity, fairness and planetary protection must guide a new world order.

Gen Z movements demanded those values on the streets of South Asia and Africa.

Young protesters challenged corruption, dynastic power and widening wealth gaps.

In several countries they were met with bullets, repression and mass arrests.

Researchers noted a common story: frustration with entrenched elites and “business as usual”.

When conflict and climate disasters collide, children’s education often disappears first.

Initiatives such as Education Cannot Wait and the Safe Schools Declaration fought to keep classrooms open.

Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean showed how storms can erase decades of progress in a night.

Billions of dollars in damage underscored how vulnerable economies are to climate extremes.

UN agencies warned that without urgent action, millions of children could be pushed into poverty by 2030.

Science bodies like IPBES stressed that climate change, nature loss and food insecurity are inseparable.

Global research networks worked to equip small-scale farmers for climate resilience and stable incomes.

Spiritual leaders also used their platforms to call for peace, climate action and an end to war.

From Gaza to Ukraine and beyond, moral voices insisted that civilians must never be targets.

Marking 80 years since the end of the Second World War, survivors renewed the vow: “never again”.

The message from 2025 was stark but clear.

The old order is straining—but new visions are emerging from communities on the frontlines.

Civil society, young people and Global South leadership are sketching a different future.

One rooted in justice, shared prosperity and protection of the planet.

The coming year will test whether the world is ready to listen.

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Our traditional “year-ender” usually kicks off with a grim litany of world disasters and crises over the past 12 months, highlights IPS partners and contributors and culminates in a more positive-sounding finale. This time I’d like to begin on a more personal note intended also as a metaphor.

Farhana Haque Rahman

As thousands looked for the nearest exit, a young Bangladeshi diplomat saw me and instead of joining the mass scramble, he gallantly led me through the crowds to safety. Thank you Aminul Islam Zisan for demonstrating when in crisis people can come together in unique ways.

Thankfully no one was killed in the fire; talks resumed and the Conference of Parties process survived in the form of a concluding document that could be interpreted as a small step forward in the global battle to stem the climate crisis, even while making only an oblique reference to the fossil fuels that are largely creating it.

COP’s survival was not assured given the US boycott ordered by President Donald Trump who dismissed climate change as “the greatest con job” in addressing the UN General Assembly in September.

The US absence from Belem in fact inflicted more damage to the US in terms of its global standing, just as Trump’s decision to shun the G20 talks running parallel in Johannesburg only deepened its reputational harm. Salt was diplomatically rubbed into its self-inflicted wounds by the dignity of G20 host President Cyril Ramaphosa who ignored US opposition from afar and steered adoption of a declaration addressing global challenges, notably the climate crisis.

Looking back, perhaps this was the week that quietly brought the curtain down on the Age of America. Unpredictability, chaos, violence and institutionalised cruelty are the early symptoms of the dramatic shift in 2025 towards unilateralism and protectionism.

Hundreds of Palestinians, including scores of children, have been killed since the US-brokered “truce” between Israel and Hamas began on October 11. Russian air strikes against Ukrainian civilian targets have also regularly punctuated Trump’s flip-flopping efforts to end a war he said he could finish on day one of his presidency.

Sharp cuts in US aid ordered by Trump in January have “fuelled a global humanitarian catastrophe”, according to a statement by the UN Human Rights Council on July 31. Citing two independent experts on poverty, food and human rights, the Council said: “More than 350,000 deaths stemming from the aid cuts have already been estimated, including more than 200,000 children.”

Famine is spreading with the conflict in western Sudan, and lack of finance has also led to cuts in vital UN aid to South Sudan. Over one million people caught in Myanmar’s largely forgotten civil war had their lifesaving support cut by the UN World Food Programme because of funding shortfalls.

Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organizations and activists working to strengthen citizen action, says these multiple and connected crises – conflict, climate breakdown and democratic regression – are overwhelming the international institutions designed to address the problems that states can’t or won’t resolve. US withdrawal from global bodies threatens to worsen this crisis in international cooperation.

But as CIVICUS’s 2025 State of Civil Society Report outlines, civil society has ideas about how to save the UN by putting people at its heart: a theme embraced at COP30 by Open Society Foundations President Binaifer Nowrojee who endorsed Brazil’s democratic leadership for elevating Indigenous and Afro-descendant voices and bringing human rights back to the centre of climate action.

In this rapidly shifting world order, Nowrojee sees the Global South stepping forward with new ideas and a new vision rooted in dignity, fairness, and protection of the planet.

Arguably the most important agreement emerging from COP30 was the Just Transition Mechanism which aims to ensure fair development of a global green economy, protecting the rights of all people, including workers, women and Indigenous people.

Coral Pasisi, Director of Climate Change and Sustainability for the Pacific Community (SPC), highlighted at COP30 how critical the situation has become for island nations experiencing accelerating climate impacts and hoping for meaningful breakthroughs in Belem. She raised the need for stronger support from developed countries for Loss and Damage.

The Gen Z demonstrators who have rocked regimes in South Asia and Africa are certainly stepping up with their visions for fairer futures for all, their protests aimed against nepotism and corruption among entrenched elites. They have been met with bullets in Bangladesh last year, and in Nepal – where the government was forced to resign in September – as well as Tanzania where hundreds were reported killed. Gen Z protests this year also rocked Indonesia, the Philippines and Morocco.

As Jan Lundius, a Swedish researcher, wrote in IPS: “Even though specific incidents triggered these upheavals, they were all due to long-term, shared grievances evolving from stark wealth gaps, rampant nepotism, and unlimited corruption. Above all, youngsters protested against members of powerful dynasties, favouring a wealthy and discredited political elite.”

A combination of conflict and climate disasters can have disastrous long-term consequences, particularly for children’s education. Initiatives supported by IPS like Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and the Safe Schools Declaration focus on providing quality, inclusive education to crisis-affected children to prevent long-term cycles of poverty and instability.

Hurricane Melissa which swept through the Caribbean in October served as a harsh reminder that 5.9 million children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to loss of education as a result of climate change if governments do not intervene soon, according to UNICEF.

The World Bank estimated the physical damage inflicted by Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica at some $8.8 billion, or 41% of the country’s 2024 GDP.

However the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has also warned governments that they are underestimating or ignoring the inextricable links between climate change, nature loss and food security. Its latest assessment, approved by nearly 150 countries meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, warned that biodiversity is declining everywhere, largely as a result of human actions.

CGIAR, a global research partnership focused on food security, is facing a very different world from when it was founded nearly 50 years ago in terms of having to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and new conflicts, according to CGIAR Chief Scientist Dr Sandra Milach. A major focus is on equipping 500 million small-scale producers for climate resilience to protect their livelihoods and increase stable incomes.

A year-ender wouldn’t be complete in the run-up to festive celebrations without at least a mention of the major religious figures to dominate the news.

Pope Francis, one of the most outspoken pontiffs in modern times, died on Easter Monday. Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, 69, became his successor, the first North American elected to the role. Choosing to be known as Pope Leo XIV he called for an end to the ‘barbarity’ of the war in Gaza. He also took aim at climate sceptics and appealed for urgent actions to be taken by world leaders at COP30.

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, turned 90 in exile in India, and also made a call for peace in the world. To the delight of his followers, he made clear that he would be reincarnated and that only his trusted inner circle of monks would have the “sole authority” to locate his successor. China swiftly rebuffed his declaration, saying his successor must be approved by Beijing.

In 2025 the world marked 80 years since the end of the Second World War. Minoru Harada, a Buddhist monk and head of Soka Gakkai, recalled his childhood experience of the fire-bombing of Tokyo and pledged his organisation’s determination that no one should have to endure the horrors of war.

Farhana Haque Rahman is Senior Vice President of IPS Inter Press Service and Executive Director IPS Noram; she served as the elected Director General of IPS from 2015-2019. A journalist and communications expert, she is a former senior official of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

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Caroline Awuor tends to tree seedlings on her farm in Siaya County, Western Kenya. She is a beneficiary of the My Farm Trees Project. Credit: Jackson Okata/IPS

By Jackson Okata
SIAYA, Kenya , Dec 8 2025 (IPS)

For years, Morris Onyango had been trying to reforest his degraded land on the shores of River Nzoia, in Siaya county, 430 kilometers from Kenya’s Capital, Nairobi. But every time he planted trees on his farm, his efforts bore little fruit, as floodwaters would not only wash away his tree seedlings but also fertile topsoil on his land.

“The land became unproductive and bare. I tried reclaiming the land through reforestation, but the trees’ survival rate was too low,” Onyango said.

Siaya County has a 5.23 percent forest cover and is ranked 44^th out of Kenya’s 47 counties. Judy Ogeche, a scientist from the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), says that the compromised forest and tree cover in the county and the lack of any gazetted forests have discouraged the integration of tree and crop farming.

“Communities here do not see tree growing as a lucrative venture. Some myths and beliefs discourage tree growing. For example, some people believe that growing the Terminalia mentalis (often known as the Panga Uzazi) tree attracts death,” says Ogeche.

According to Ogeche, another challenge is gender inequality in land ownership, with men owning most available land and making decisions on what should be planted.

“We have many women interested in restoring tree cover, but their husbands would not allow it,” Ogeche said.

Across Africa, reforestation projects struggle to survive beyond the seedling stage. However, in parts of Kenya, a groundbreaking digital innovation is transforming the landscape by empowering rural farmers to earn a living while restoring degraded lands with native trees.

Tech and Reforestation

In a bid to restore lost biodiversity and enhance tree cover in Kenya, Alliance Bioversity International and CIAT, in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), launched the My Farm Trees project, a blockchain-based platform that offers guidance to subsistence farmers on seed selection, planting, and post-plant care, ensuring that seedlings survive and thrive in harsh conditions.

Implemented in the counties of Siaya, Turkana and Laikipia, MFT emphasizes genetically robust native species that support biodiversity, improve soil health, and provide long-term ecological and economic benefits.

Ogeche observes that the My Farm Trees project has motivated communities in Siaya to grow trees.

“They are given free seedlings and taught how to plant and take care of them, and when the trees grow, they are paid,” she said.

To provide the right seedlings, the project is partnering with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), the Kenya Forest Services (KFS) and private tree nursery operators in the respective counties.

For farmers like Onyango, the My Farm Trees Project gave them the much-needed solution to their degraded lands and soils

“The project gifted me 175 seedlings of various trees, which I planted along the riverbank. The trees have helped me reclaim my land, prevent erosion and get paid for taking care of my own trees,” Onyango says.

How it Works

In the My Farm Trees project, participating farmers are registered on the MyGeo Farm App, which allows them to monitor seedlings from planting to growing. Through the app, farmers can track and report progress.

Francis Oduor, the National Project Coordinator, says since its rollout, the project has seen over 1,300 farmers registered on the MyGeo Tree App, and over 100,000 seedlings have been planted across the three counties.

“The project is especially interested in using indigenous trees for landscape restoration, which are native to specific areas, and to enhance genetic diversity,” says Oduor.

Oduor explains that My Farm Trees uses monitoring, verification, and incentives to empower local communities to become leaders and stewards of tree-planting projects that provide immediate short-term benefits.

“The project does not just focus on payment to farmers but the long-term benefits of restored landscapes for improved agricultural productivity, water regulation, and climate resilience,” said Oduor.

To ensure the use of native varieties and guarantee the production of quality tree seedlings, the project team collaborates with KEFRI to provide technical assistance to local tree nursery operators.

Lawrence Ogoda, a tree nursery operator, is among the project beneficiaries. He has been trained on seed collection, raising seedlings and record keeping.

“Through the MyGeo Tree and MyGeo Nursery Apps, I can collect data and track progress on seed collection, propagation and development at the nurseries.”

Before joining the My Farm Trees project, Caroline Awuor had not given much attention to growing trees. She received 110 seedlings, 104 of which have successfully survived and are earning her cash incentives.

“Most of them are fruit trees, including mangoes, avocado and jackfruit, while there are also some timber trees. In addition to the incentives from the project, I also earn money by selling the fruit,” she says.

Caroline intends to plant an additional 1,000 tree seedlings on her land, strategically located near the River Nzoia.

According to Joshua Schneck, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Portfolio Manager for Global Programs at IUCN, My Farm Trees is an innovative project driven towards sustainable transformation.

The Impact

In Kenya, My Farm Tree has supported 3,404 farmers, 56 percent of whom are women. A total of 210,520 trees have been planted, with a survival rate of over 60 percent beyond the first year, with 1,250 hectares of land being restored across Siaya, Turkana, and Laikipia counties.

The program has released KES 26 million (approximately USD 200,000) in digital payments, directly benefiting 1,517 farmers. Additionally, 13 local nurseries have been strengthened in partnership with the Kenya Forestry Research Institute.

Also implemented in Cameroon, the project has seen the restoration of 1,403 hectares of forest land with over 145,000 seedlings being planted and 2,200 farmers registered on the platform. The project has also seen the restoration of 423 community lands and 315 sacred forests, with USD 130,000 in incentives distributed to farmers.

Oduor noted that the My Farm Trees project offers a scalable blueprint for  forest restoration by combining science and Blockchain technology in tree selection, post-planting support, and farmer incentives, which gives it  global relevance.

“MFT is a scalable model that aligns with climate action, poverty reduction, and ecosystem recovery. This approach supports the goals of the Paris Agreement, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration,” Oduor said.
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COP30 in Belém is not just another annual climate meeting; it is the 32-year report card of the world governance architecture that was conceived at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992. And that is what report card says: delivery has been sporadic, cosmetic and perilously disconnected with the physics of climatic breakdown.

M. Zakir Hossain Khan

The Amazon, which was once regarded in Rio as an ecological miracle of the world, is now on the verge of an irreversible precipice. Even the communities that struggled to protect it over millennia also demonstrate against COP30 to make it clear that they do not oppose multilateralism, but because multilateralism has marginalized them many times.

Rio Promised Rights, Take Part, and Protection, But Delivery Has Been Fragmented

Rio Summit gave birth to three pillars of international environmental control: UNFCCC (climate), CBD (biodiversity) and UNCCD (desertification). Every one of them was supposed to be participating, equitable and accountable. But progressively delivery disintegrated:

• • Rio has only achieved 34 per cent biodiversity commitments (CBD GBO-5).

• • CO₂ emissions rose over 60% since 1992.

• • The globe is headed to 2.7 o C with the existing policies (UNEP 2024).

• The funding obligations are in a chronic state of arrears, adaptation requirements are three times higher than the real flows.

Rio gave the world a vision. COP30 demonstrates the fact that that vision is yet to be developed.

The Rights Gap: The Key Failure between Rio and Belém

Although Rio pledged to involve Indigenous people, Indigenous people today are only getting less than 1 percent of climate finance. In addition, it caused a rising trend of carbon market-related land grabs and resource exploitation, because of the lack of binding power in the decisions regarding climate. This is not a delivery gap but a right gap. COP30 has been improved technically but has failed to redress the inherent imbalance at Rio that remained unaddressed: decision-making in the absence of custodianship.

The Sleepiness Menace Came to Rio and Detonated by COP30

Rio established three overlapping conventions that lacked a single governance structure. Climate to oceans, food, forests, finance, security, and technology; CBD to traditional knowledge, access and benefit-sharing, and UNCCD to migration, peace and livelihoods all increased over the decades.

The outcome is an institution that is too broad to govern effectively, making watered-down decisions and poor accountability. COP30 is being developed, however, within a system that was never intended to deal with planetary collapse on this level.

The Amazon: The Ultimate Test of Rio on Prognosis

Rio glorified forests as the breathing organs of the world. However, three decades later:

• • Amazon was deforested by 17 per cent and was close to the 20-25 per cent dieback mark.

• • Native land protectors become increasingly violent.

• Carbon markets run the risk of stimulating extraction in the name of green growth.

Another pledge is not required by Amazon. It requires energy from its protectors. That was missing in Rio. It is still missing in COP30. Indigenous people depicted in CoP30 in all their frustration and agitation are the consequences of the system failure to provide them with a say in the decision-making process and the unceasing denial of their natural rights.

Young: The Post-Rio Generation that was Duped by Incrementalism

The post-Rio generation (those that were born after the year 30) is more than 50 percent of the world population. They left behind a) tripled fossil subsidy regime; b) soaring climate debt; c) ever-turbid biodiversity collapse; d) rising climate disasters; and e) inability to send up $100B/year finance on time.

They are only impatient not because of emotions. They observe that a system that was developed in 1992 to address a slow-paced crisis can no longer be applied to the fast emergency of 2025.

Natural Rights Led Governance (NRLG): Making Good What Rio Left, but Left Incomplete

Natural Rights-Led Governance (NRLG) provides the structural correction that Rio has evaded: a) Nature as a law-rights holder, not a resource; b) Indigenous peoples as co-governors, not consultants; c) Compulsory ecological and rights-based control, not voluntary reporting; d) Direct financing to custodians, not bureaucratic leakage; e) Accountability enforceable in law, not conditional on political comfort. NRLG is not the alternative to the vision of Rio, it is the long-deserved update that will turn the arguments of Rio into reality.

The Verdict: COP30 Moves forward, yet Rio Business Unfinished Haunts it

The advancement of COP30 with its stronger fossil language, more comprehensible measurements of adaptation, new pressure on financing is a reality that is inadequate. It advances the paperwork. It is yet to develop the power shift that would safeguard nature or humanity. As long as rights are not yet non-negotiable, the Rio-to-COP30 trip will be a tale of great promises, half-fulfilled and increasingly dangerous.

What the World Must Do Now

Include nature and Indigenous rights in the COP document; construct governance based on custodianship and co-decision; a system of NCQG to deliver finance to communities; no longer voluntary but obligatory commitments reflecting the final Advisory of ICJ assuming integration of natural rights as a prelude to human rights; and use NRLG as the backbone to all future multilateral climate action.

Rio taught us what to do. COP30 is an education about the consequences of procrastinating. The 30-year period is not going to forgive the errors made in the previous 30. The world should stop being a promise and change to power, negotiate to justice, Rio dream of NRLG deliveries. The deadline is not 2050. It is now.

Rio had sworn justice and rights, but COP30 taught a crueler lesson: the world made promises and not protection. Emission increased, ecosystems failed, money is not spent on fulfilling the finances and Indigenous guardians, to the last remaining forests, continue to get less than 1% of climate money and nearly no say. It is not a policy gap but a failure of rights and governance. If the leaders of the world do not recalibrate climate architecture based on natural rights, since co-decision of the Indigenous and on binding commitments rather than a voluntary one, COP30 will be remembered as the moment when the system was exposed as limiting, not as the moment when the system was fixed. This is no longer a promising problem it is a power problem. And the deadline is not 2050. It is now.

M Zakir Hossain Khan is the Chief Executive at Change Initiative, a Dhaka based think-tank, Observer of Climate Investment Fund (CIF); Architect and Proponent of Natural Rights Led Governance (NRLG).

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Delegates met at the Global Climate-Smart Agriculture Conference in Brasília before the COP30 climate talks. Credit: 2025Clim-Eat/Flickr

By Ana Maria Loboguerrero and Dhanush Dinesh
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 20 2025 (IPS)

The language of agricultural sustainability changes like the seasons—from “climate-smart” to “regenerative,” “agroecological,” and “nature-positive.” Each term reflects good intentions, but the growing list risks duplication, confusion and delays.

The recent CSA Conference in Brasília gathered leaders from policy, science and finance ahead of COP30 to focus not on buzzwords but on the shared foundations of sustainable food systems, which is all the more important in the Grave New World. For all the various theories of change, many share the same principles of soil health, crop innovation, inclusive finance and resilient livestock production.

In the midst of the COP30 climate talks, consensus will depend on recognizing that climate action and protecting livelihoods must advance together. Leaders must challenge themselves to measure success not only in emissions reduced, but also in the quality of life sustained by a thriving and resilient rural economy. With Brazil’s COP presidency determined to accelerate agreements into action, the challenge now is to accept and advance context-specific approaches in pursuit of a shared goal.

At present, fragmentation continues to divide institutions, donors, NGOs and producers, with competing ideologies slowing progress toward sustainability at the speed and scale required. For example, while a vast number of organizations are currently backing the concept of regenerative agriculture, others tread the paths of sustainable intensification or climate-smart agriculture. But some of the practices, such as agroforestry, could fall under each of these concepts.

And the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA), established prior to COP26, has been succeeded by Sharm el-Sheikh Joint Work on the Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture and Food Security and yet farmers are still waiting for clear national strategies to emerge from years of workshops and working papers. While the principles underpinning these joint work programs are sound, they have not generated action at the speed needed.

On the other hand, the six CSA Conference themes—from soil health and crop innovation to finance and policy—offer a fundamental framework around which there is already much agreement and can deliver results under whichever buzzword it is categorized. The themes also reflect the priorities of Brazil’s Action Agenda and ABC+ Plan, highlighting practical areas of consensus.

Brazil’s experience offers tangible examples of how shared priorities can move from discussion to delivery. The ABC+ Plan (2020–2030) forms the backbone of the country’s low-carbon agriculture strategy, integrating sustainable practices like no-till farming, pasture recovery and biological nitrogen fixation into a coherent national framework. It represents a direct contribution to the COP30’s Action Agenda’s agricultural pillar, transforming abstract goals on soil health and productivity into measurable outcomes.

Building on this, Brazil’s RENOVAGRO is the financing arm that enables the implementation of the ABC+ Plan, demonstrating how public policy can activate private investment to move all Action Agenda ambitions forward together. By tying credit eligibility to verified adoption of low-carbon practices, the program allows farmers to commit to transitions that would otherwise be out of reach. This realizes the ABC+ Plan’s policy objectives and shows that progress depends not necessarily on new ideas, but on acting decisively on the systems that already work.

At COP30, the challenge is not to settle on the right language but to sustain the right actions—whatever this might look like according to local circumstances and resources. Progress depends on scaling what we already agree on: sound policies, accessible finance that doesn’t exclude vulnerable populations and resilient food systems that keep production within environmental limits. The next phase must prioritize implementation over invention.

Leaders have an opportunity to move from promises to performance. The task ahead is to scale what already works—not to define new concepts, but to deliver proven solutions faster.

Brazil’s example shows that integration works better than focusing on the continued search for a universal solution. There is no single path forward, only a combination of context-specific approaches bound by diplomatic agreement and sustainable financing.

By focusing on fundamentals, we can avoid the paralysis of competing definitions and begin to act collectively by applying the policies and practices we know work in ways that fit local realities.

Ana Maria Loboguerrero, Director, Adaptive and Equitable Food Systems at Gates Foundation
Dhanush Dinesh, Chief Climate Catalyst at Clim-Eat

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General Plenary Session of Leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 30. Credit: Ueslei Marcelino/COP3

By James Alix Michel
VICTORIA, Nov 12 2025 (IPS)

COP30 Brazil, though shadowed by the absence of many world leaders, remains a pivotal milestone in the global fight against climate change, tasked with building on the Paris Agreement’s momentum. Yet the glaring lack of commitment, coupled with withdrawals from the accord, casts a grim shadow over the future. The planet continues to warm, and scientists warn that current targets may not prevent a catastrophic temperature spike. While the summit’s focus on implementation not just new promises—is a welcome shift, it’s clear: words alone won’t cool the Earth.

James Alix Michel

Brazil’s leadership in championing nature-based solutions, like safeguarding the Amazon rainforest, is a beacon of hope. The conference ignited critical discussions on climate finance, adaptation, and resilience for vulnerable nations. The Baku-to-Belem Roadmap’s goal of mobilizing $1.3 trillion annually for developing countries is ambitious but necessary. Yet challenges loom large: wealthy nations’ apathy, geopolitical fractures, and the lingering impact of the U.S. withdrawal from Paris. COP30’s success hinges on action.

The Stakes Are Dire

The IPCC warns: we’re on track for 2.5–3°C warming by 2100 if pledges are not met. This spells ruin: crippling droughts, unlivable cities, mass migration, and ecosystems collapsing. The Amazon, a vital carbon sink, is nearing a ‘tipping point’ of irreversible dieback. Island nations face existential threats. The climate crisis is not a distant threat—it’s here.

Why COP30 Matters

1. Implementation Over Pledges: Past summits yielded lofty goals, but delivery has lagged. COP30 must hold nations accountable. No more empty vows.

2. Climate Finance: Developing countries need predictable funding, not charity. The $100 billion/year promise remains unfulfilled. Wealthy nations must pay their share.

3. Adaptation and Resilience: Frontline communities in Africa, Small Island States, and the Global South can’t wait. Funding for early warnings, flood defenses, and drought-resistant crops isn’t a favor; it’s justice.

4. Global Unity: Geopolitics must not derail progress. The world needs cooperation, not competition.

The Human Cost:

Millions already suffer. Cyclones, wildfires, famine, mass migration, and sea-level rise. This isn’t ‘someday’; it’s now. Indigenous groups, youth activists, and scientists plead: stop debating. Act.

Yet amid the urgency, COP30 saw glimmers. Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pushed for Amazon protection. African nations demanded reparations for historical emissions. The Global South called for “Equity first.”

The Road Ahead: COP31 and Beyond.

Future summits must:

• • Enforce transparency: Track emissions cuts, not just promises.
  • Prioritize loss & damage: Compensate those already paying the price.
  • Work towards ending fossil fuels: No new coal projects.
  • Empower youth: Include communities, not just politicians.

A Call to Leaders: Pledges Aren’t Leadership

When leaders make commitments, they bind their nations to honor them. Empty promises are not leadership. The world isn’t a battleground for wars—it’s our only home. We’re all in this together. No more excuses. Action isn’t optional.

The clock ticks. The Amazon burns. The oceans rise. We need solutions. And we know what the solutions are. Now we need action.

Let’s choose life. For the planet and for ourselves.

James Alix Michel, Former President Republic of Seychelles, Member Club de Madrid, Founder James Michel Foundation.

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Belém—30th Conference of the Parties (COP30). Credit: Antônio Scorza/COP30

By Erik Solheim
OSLO, Norway, Nov 11 2025 (IPS)

When world leaders now gather in Belém, Brazil for the UN climate conference, expectations will be modest. Few believe the meeting will produce any breakthroughs. The United States is retreating from climate engagement. Europe is distracted. The UN is struggling to keep relevant in the 21st century.

But step outside the negotiation tents, and a different story unfolds—one of quiet revolutions, technological leaps, and a new geography of leadership. The green transformation of the world is no longer being designed in Western capitals. It is being built, at scale, in the Global South.

Ten years ago, anyone seeking inspiration on climate policy went to Brussels, Berlin or Paris. Today, you go to Beijing, Delhi or Jakarta. The center of gravity has shifted. China and India are now the twin engines of the global green economy, with Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia closely behind.

Erik Solheim

China has made the green transition its biggest business opportunity, turning green action into jobs, prosperity and global leadership. China is now making more money from exporting green technology than America makes from exporting fossil fuels.

India, too, is reshaping what green development looks like. I was in Andhra Pradesh last month, when I visited a wonderful six-gigawatt integrated energy park—solar, wind, and pumped storage. It delivers round-the-clock clean power. There is nothing like that in the West. In another state, Tamil Nadu, an ecotourism circuit is protecting mangroves and marine ecosystems while creating local jobs in tourism. The western state of Gujarat, long a laboratory for industrial innovation, has committed to 100 gigawatts of renewables by 2030, with the captains of Indian business – Adani and Reliance – driving large-scale solar and wind investments with the state government.

These are not pilot projects. They are national strategies. And they are succeeding because the economics have flipped.

The cost of solar power has fallen by over 90 percent in the last decade, largely thanks to the intense competition between Chinese solar companies. Battery storage is now competitive with fossil fuels. What was once an environmental aspiration has become a financial inevitability. In Indian Gujarat, solar-plus-storage projects are already cheaper than coal. Switching to clean energy is no longer a cost—it is a saving.

That is why climate action today is driven not by diplomacy, but by economics. The question is no longer if countries will go green, but who will own the technologies and industries that make it possible.

Europe, long the moral voice of the climate agenda, now risks losing the industrial race. After years of blocking imports from developing countries on grounds of “inferior” green quality, it now complains that Chinese electric vehicles are too good— too cheap and too efficient. Europe cannot have it both ways. The world cannot build a green transition behind protectionist walls. The markets must open to the best technologies, wherever they are made.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil understands this new reality. That is why he chose Belém, deep in the Amazon, as the site for climate talks. The location itself is a statement: the future of climate policy lies in protecting the rainforests and empowering the people who live within them.

Forests are not just carbon sinks; they are living economies. When I was Norway’s environment minister, we partnered with Brazil and Indonesia to reward them for reducing deforestation. Later, Guyana joined our effort—a small South American nation where nearly the entire population is of Indian or African origin.

Guyana has since turned conservation into currency. Under its jurisdictional REDD+ programme, the country now sells verified carbon credits through the global aviation market known as CORSIA. In the third quarter of this year, these credits traded at USD 22.55 per tonne of CO₂ equivalent, with around one million credits sold through a procurement event led by IATA and Mercuria.

The proceeds go directly to forest communities—building schools, improving digital access, and funding small enterprises. It is proof that the carbon market can deliver real value when tied to real lives. You cannot protect nature against the will of local people. You can only protect it with them. Last year in Guyana, I watched children play soccer and cricket beneath the jungle canopy—a glimpse of life thriving in harmony with the forest, not at its expense.

That, ultimately, is what Belém should represent: not another round of procedural debates, but a vision for linking markets, nature and livelihoods.

The Global South has also sidestepped one of the West’s greatest political failures: climate denial. In India, there is no major political party—or public figure, cricket star or Bollywood artist—questioning the reality of climate change. Leaders may differ on ideology, but not on this. Across Asia, from China to Indonesia, climate action unites rather than divides. Because here, ecology and economy move together.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India puts it simply: by going green, we also go prosperous. President Xi Jinping of China and President Lula of Brazil share that same message—a vision that draws people in, instead of lecturing them. It is this integration of growth and sustainability that explains why the Global South is moving faster than most of the developed world.

None of this means diplomacy is irrelevant. The UN still matters. But its institutions must evolve to reflect the realities of the 21st century. The Security Council, frozen in 1945, still excludes India and Africa from permanent membership. Without reform, multilateralism risks losing its meaning.

Yet, while negotiations stall, transformation continues. From solar parks in Gujarat to high-speed rail across China, from mangrove tourism in Tamil Nadu to carbon markets in Guyana—climate leadership is happening in real economies, not in press releases.

Belém will not deliver a grand agreement. But it doesn’t need to. The world is already moving—faster than our diplomats.

The story of Belem will not be written in communiqués, but in kilowatts, credits, and communities.

The real climate leaders are no longer in Washington or Brussels.

They are in Beijing, Delhi, São Paulo, and Georgetown.

The future of climate action is already here.

It just speaks with a southern accent.

The author is the former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and Norway’s Minister for Environment and International Development.

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Secretary General of CIVICUS, Mandeep Tiwana, at International Civil Society Week 2025. Credit: Civicus

By Zofeen Ebrahim
BANGKOK, Nov 1 2025 (IPS)

It is a bleak global moment—with civil society actors battling assassinations, imprisonment, fabricated charges, and funding cuts to pro-democracy movements in a world gripped by inequality, climate chaos, and rising authoritarianism. Yet, the mood at Bangkok’s Thammasat University was anything but defeated.

Once the site of the 1976 massacre, where pro-democracy students were brutally crushed, the campus—a “hallowed ground” for civil society actors—echoed with renewed voices calling for defending democracy in what Secretary General of CIVICUS, Mandeep Tiwana, described as a “topsy-turvy world” with rising authoritarianism—a poignant reminder that even in places scarred by repression, the struggle for civic space endures.

“Let it resonate,” said Ichal Supriadi, Secretary General, Asian Democracy Network. “Democracy must be defended together,” adding that it was the “shared strength” that confronts authoritarianism.

Despite the hopeful spirit at Thammasat University, where the International Civil Society Week (ICSW) is underway, the conversations often turned to sobering realities. Dr. Gothom Arya of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development and the Peace and Culture Foundation reminded participants that civic freedoms are being curtailed across much of the world.

Citing alarming figures, he spoke bluntly of the global imbalance in priorities—noting how military expenditure continues to soar even as civic space shrinks. He pointedly referred to the United States’ Ministry of Defense as the “Ministry of War,” comparing its USD 968 billion military budget with China’s USD 3 billion and noting that spending on the war in Ukraine had increased tenfold in just three years—a stark illustration of global priorities. “This is where we are with respect to peace and war,” he said gloomily.

Ichal Supriadi, Secretary General, Asian Democracy Network. Credit: Civicus

At another session, similar reflections set the tone for a broader critique of global power dynamics. Walden Bello, a former senator and peace activist from the Philippines, argued that the United States—especially under the Trump administration—had abandoned even the pretense of a free-market system, replacing it with what he called “overt monopolistic hegemony.” American imperialism, he said, “graduated away from camouflage attempts and is now unapologetic in demanding that the world bend to its wishes.”

Dr. Gothom Arya of the Asian Cultural Forum on Development and the Peace and Culture Foundation. Credit: Civicus

Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist and author, echoed the sentiment, expressing outrage at his own country’s leadership. He condemned Pakistan’s decision to nominate a “psychopath, habitual liar, and aggressive warmonger” for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that the leadership had “no right to barter away minerals and rare earth materials to an American dictator” without public consent.

Hoodbhoy urged the international community to intervene and restart peace talks between Pakistan and India—two nuclear-armed neighbors perpetually teetering on the edge of renewed conflict.

But at no point during the day did the focus shift away from the ongoing humanitarian crises. Arya reminded the audience of the tragic loss of civilian lives in Gaza, the devastating fighting in Sudan that had led to widespread malnutrition, and the global inequality worsened by climate inaction. “Because some big countries refused to follow the Paris Agreement ten years ago,” he warned, “the rest of the world will suffer the consequences.”

That grim reality was brought into even sharper relief by Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a Palestinian physician and politician, who delivered a harrowing account of Gaza’s devastation. He said that through the use of  American-supplied weapons, Israel had killed an estimated 12 percent of Gaza’s population, destroyed every hospital and university, and left nearly 10,000 bodies buried beneath the rubble.

“Even as these crises unfolded across the world, the conference demonstrated that civil society continues to persevere, as nearly 1,000 people from more than 75 organizations overcame travel bans and visa hurdles to gather at Thammasat University, sharing strategies, solidarity, and hope through over 120 sessions.

Among them was a delegation whose presence carried the weight of an entire nation’s silenced hopes—Hamrah, believed to be the only Afghan civil society group at ICSW.

“Our participation is important at a time when much of the world has turned its gaze away from Afghanistan,” Timor Sharan, co-founder and programme director of the HAMRAH Initiative, told IPS.

“It is vital to remind the global community that Afghan civil society has not disappeared; it’s fighting and holding the line.”

Through networks like HAMRAH, he said, activists, educators, and defenders have continued secret and online schools, documented abuses, and amplified those silenced under the Taliban rule. “Our presence here is both a statement of resilience and a call for solidarity.”

“Visibility matters,” pointed out Riska Carolina, an Indonesian woman and LGBTIQ+ rights advocate working with ASEAN SOGIE Caucus (ASC). “What’s even more powerful is being visible together.”

“It was special because it brought together movements—Dalit, Indigenous, feminist, disability, and queer—that rarely share the same space, creating room for intersectional democracy to take shape,” said Carolina, whose work focuses on regional advocacy for LGBTQIA+ rights within Southeast Asia’s political and human rights frameworks, especially the ASEAN system, which she said has historically been “slow to recognize issues of sexuality and gender diversity.”

“We work to make sure that SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sex Characteristics) inclusion is not just seen as a niche issue, but as a core part of democracy, governance, and human rights. That means engaging governments, civil society, and regional bodies to ensure queer people’s participation, safety, and dignity is part of how we measure democratic progress.”

She said the ICSW provided ASC with a chance to make “visible” the connection between civic space, democracy, and queer liberation and to remind people that democracy is not only about elections but also about “who is able to live freely and who remains silenced by law or stigma.”

Away from the main sessions, civil society leaders gathered for a candid huddle—part reflection, part reckoning—to examine their role in an era when their space to act was shrinking.

“The dialogue surfaced some tough but necessary questions,” he said. They asked themselves: ‘Have we grasped the full scale of the challenges we face?’ ‘Are our responses strong enough?’ ‘Are we expecting anti-rights forces to respect our rules and values?’ ‘Are we reacting instead of setting the agenda? And are we allies—or accomplices—of those risking everything for justice?’

But if there was one thing crystal clear to everyone present, it was that civil society must stand united, not fragmented, to defend democracy.

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Brazil has become a major producer of ethanol, a biofuel that competes with gasoline. Monocultures of sugar cane form a monotonous landscape in the southern state of São Paulo and in the country's central-west region, but they help decarbonize transport in the country. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 22 2025 (IPS)

Quadrupling the production and use of sustainable fuels by 2035 is the goal of a new international initiative to drive energy transition and mitigate the climate crisis, which will be launched during Brazil’s climate summit in November.

The Belem Commitment on Sustainable Fuels, led by Brazil with the support of India, Italy, and Japan, awaits the support of other countries after its official launch during the so-called Climate Summit on November 6 and 7 in Belem, northern Brazil.

The meeting of heads of state and government will this time precede the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) on climate change, which will be hosted by Belem from November 10 to 21. The unusual separation between the COP and the summit aims to mitigate the accommodation problems of the Amazonian city.

The commitment, nicknamed “Belem 4x,” is based on a report by the International Energy Agency that points to the possibility of quadrupling the volume, adding new alternatives such as green hydrogen, sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), and shipping and synthetic fuels to ethanol and biodiesel.

At COP28, held in 2023 in Dubai, it was agreed to initiate “a transition away from fossil fuels” as an indispensable measure to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In Belem, the goal is to implement that consensual decision.

“Brazil was careful not to limit the initiative to biofuels in order to include various sustainable fuels, an important distinction because there are countries, especially in Europe, that oppose biofuels,” warned Claudio Angelo, international policy coordinator for Climate Observatory, a Brazilian coalition of 133 social organizations.

Objections to biofuels include potential environmental damage, land conflicts, and competition with food production, he said by phone to IPS from Brasilia.

Extensive cattle ranching has degraded 100 million hectares in Brazil. One third of this area can be recovered for the cultivation of sugar cane, corn, and oilseeds to double biofuel production, according to a study by the Institute for Energy and Environment. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Biofuels market

It is an old Brazilian dream to create a large international biofuels market, due to its large ethanol production and its potential to expand it.

Brazil tried, unsuccessfully, to promote this market in the 1990s and early 21^st century, based on the existence of many sugar cane producing countries, the crop with the highest productivity for this biofuel.

Cuba, once the world’s largest sugar exporter, rejected the proposal with the argument of prioritizing food, despite the decline of its sugar industry and its lack of energy, due to its dependence on imported oil, which became scarce after the fall of the Soviet Union, its major supplier, in 1991.

Brazil became the largest sugar exporter in the mid-1990s, two decades after launching its National Alcohol Program to replace part of its gasoline with ethanol.

It sought to mitigate the economic crisis caused by the rising oil prices, which tripled in 1973 and doubled again in 1979. At that time, the country imported about 80% of the crude oil it consumed; today it exports oil and ethanol.

Many countries use ethanol, blended into gasoline, as a way to reduce pollution. In Brazil, the blend already reaches 30%, and pure ethanol is also used as automotive fuel.

But most passenger cars in the country today are “flex,” consuming gasoline or ethanol and blends in any proportion.

In 2023, the Global Biofuels Alliance was born in New Delhi during the annual summit of the Group of 20 (G20) most relevant industrial and emerging economies, in a new attempt to promote its production.

The City Park, under construction in January, in the Amazonian city of Belem, which will host the debates and negotiations among government delegations and the United Nations at COP30, from November 10 to 21. Credit: Rafa Neddermeyer / COP30

Ambitious goal

Now, at COP30, the aim is to expand the attempt to replace fossil fuels with an ambitious goal: to quadruple the current production of alternative fuels within 10 years.

This follows the path charted at COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, where it was agreed to initiate “a transition away from fossil fuels” as an indispensable measure to contain global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In Belem, the goal is to implement that consensual decision.

Currently, this production, basically of biofuels, reaches 175 billion liters, about two-thirds ethanol and one-third biodiesel. The United States surpasses Brazil as the largest producer.

Brazil produced 36.8 billion liters of ethanol and 9.07 billion liters of biodiesel in 2024. In recent years, production of corn-based ethanol has grown, utilizing the surplus of this grain in the country’s central-west region. Its share is already close to 20% of the total.

A study by the Institute for Energy and Environment (Iema), released on October 9, states that Brazil will be able to double this production by 2050 without deforesting new areas. The utilization of degraded pastureland would be sufficient to achieve the goal.

The country has about 100 million hectares of such pastureland, almost entirely abandoned. This is equivalent to twice the territory of Spain and is set to increase, as Brazil has 238 million cattle, far exceeding its 213 million human inhabitants.

From this total, the cultivation aimed at doubling biofuels could occupy 25 to 30 million hectares. Plenty of land would remain for the expansion of food agriculture, emphasized Felipe Barcellos e Silva, a researcher at Iema and author of the study.

According to his calculations, a portion of the pastureland would be allocated to reforestation for biome restoration and environmental protection areas, another part to the recovery of the pasturelands themselves for more productive cattle ranching.

Between 55 and 60 million hectares would remain for energy and food agriculture, with about half for each.

The area for biofuels would vary depending on the choice for more biodiesel, which requires the cultivation of oilseeds, or more ethanol, in which case expanding the area of sugar cane or corn.

The alternatives comprise six scenarios that combine priorities for different raw materials and the option to produce other fuels, such as SAF and green diesel, which is different from biodiesel.

Soy is another monoculture that occupies vast expanses of land in central-western and southern Brazil. Its oil fuels the biodiesel industry by offering surpluses at a low price, since soybean bran is the most in-demand byproduct for livestock feed. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Persistent alternatives

“Biodiesel has a problem because it is a degradable organic compound,” unstable, while green diesel is a product of the same vegetable oil but subjected to hydrotreatment and has “physicochemical properties similar to mineral diesel,” explained Roberto Kishinami, a physicist and strategic specialist at the non-governmental Institute for Climate and Society.

Green diesel, he assured, fully replaces fossil diesel without damaging vehicles and has the advantage of emitting fewer urban pollutants than biodiesel, such as fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide.

“The dozens of biodiesel plants (installed in Brazil) will disappear at some point. They were a temporary solution, favored by the soybean oil surplus, when soybean bran had growing demand,” as livestock feed, Kishinami told IPS by phone from São Paulo.

In his assessment, the energy transition and the decarbonization of transport and industry need sustainable fuels, since electrification is not economically viable for all activities. A combination of the two solutions will have to prevail.

The creation of an international market for these fuels, especially biofuels, depends on standardizing norms and patterns worldwide, a difficult task especially given the rigid European demands.

Furthermore, it faces geopolitical issues, such as “the US-China trade war that will dominate the coming decades,” concluded Kishinami.

Biofuel production in Brazil is growing not only through the expansion of crops but also through technological advances and the utilization of waste.

Second-generation ethanol is already being produced from cane straw, and biomethane, which is equivalent to natural gas, is produced through the biodigestion of vinasse generated in ethanol production, noted Silva.

There is also the beginning of cultivation of the macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata), which has different names in Latin America and has high oil productivity.

Electrification will take time. It is relatively fast for light vehicles but slow for heavy vehicles, whose useful life reaches about 20 years. This is where decarbonization is achieved through biofuels, argued Silva.

“The transition in transport will continue until at least 2050,” after which biofuels will be able to meet other demands, including power generation, he concluded in a telephone interview with IPS from São Paulo.

The commitment to quadruple sustainable fuels is positive, but it cannot in “any way” dominate the energy debate at COP30, warned Angelo.

“The success of COP30 depends on promoting the implementation of a just, orderly, and equitable transition to eliminate fossil fuels, which are the main cause of global warming,” he concluded.

Marceline, a farmer from the Gwiza Cooperative in Rwamagana district, Rwanda, shows her beds of newly planted cabbage. Credit: ISF/Henry Joel

By Michael Keller
NEW YORK, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

When you think of climate action, images of wind farms, solar panels, bicycles or electric vehicles may come to mind. Perhaps lush forests or green landscapes. What you may not think of is the humble seed.

Yet seeds are among our most powerful tools to cut emissions, adapt to rising temperatures, and reduce food waste and loss. They underpin reforestation efforts, and have the power to unlock climate-resilient, lower-emission, longer-lasting crops.

If the world is to meet its climate goals while feeding a growing population in a hotter, less predictable world, it must unleash the full potential of the seed industry. That means supporting innovation, investment, and strong collaboration between the public and private sectors.

The strong engagement at Climate Week NYC helped set the stage for the discussions we must now advance on the road to COP30 in November to fully harness the potential of seeds for a climate-resilient future.

Global temperatures continue to rise, driving more frequent extreme weather events and straining ecosystems. The fallout is global. Food security, health, migration and economic stability are all impacted, especially in the poorest nations, which have contributed the least to the problem.

Agriculture is often hit the hardest, as crops depend on stable weather, yet droughts, floods and heatwaves devastate harvests, while warmer and more humid temperatures fuel germs, spoilage and food loss. Already, one fifth of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted before people consume it.

Yet one of the most powerful tools to adapt, cut emissions, and reduce hunger remains underutilized: improved seeds. Compelling examples of the potential impact of seeds can be found scattered around the world, waiting to scale and take root.

For example, in Brazil, dedicated orchards of native trees, such as the Araucaria, are meticulously managed through a process of raising seedlings in nurseries and planting them in restoration sites. This crucial work is foundational for climate-resilient reforestation, ensuring that future forests are diverse, robust and stable in the face of changing environmental conditions.

Further afield, in Mexico, the agricultural landscape has been significantly transformed through the development and widespread adoption of climate-adapted hybrid maize varieties. This innovation has revolutionized the country’s maize production, contributing to food security and economic stability.

Simultaneously, in Rwanda, sustainable seed systems are being built from the ground up, with newly tested varieties demonstrating remarkable improvements, yielding up to nine times more than traditional seeds. These efforts highlight the power of localized, tailored seed solutions.

Looking into the future, scientific advancements are continuously pushing boundaries. Researchers are actively developing new varieties of staple crops, such as tomatoes, utilizing cutting-edge CRISPR technology. This innovative approach aims to increase the shelf life of produce and significantly limit food waste, addressing critical challenges within the global food supply chain.

To get the most out of seeds, they need to move from the margins to the mainstream of climate action to the front of people’s minds. This shift is crucial for unlocking their full potential in building a more sustainable and resilient future.

Firstly, mainstreaming seeds in climate finance would accelerate the development and delivery of climate-resilient low-emission varieties. This involves directing significant investment towards research, breeding, and distribution programs that focus on developing crops capable of thriving in changing climatic conditions while minimizing environmental impact. This can be a part of a long overdue reinvestment in agrifood systems, which currently receive just 4 per cent of climate finance.

Second, integrating seed innovation into national strategies and Nationally Determined Contributions, would ensure countries see seeds as the critical infrastructure they are. By acknowledging seeds as fundamental to food security and climate adaptation, governments can prioritize their development and deployment in national development plans, agricultural policies, and climate action frameworks.

More public-private partnerships would help to drive innovation at scale, with governments, researchers and the private sector driving towards solutions. These collaborations, like ISF’s with CGIAR, can pool resources, expertise, and technologies, fostering a dynamic ecosystem where cutting-edge research translates into practical, scalable solutions for farmers worldwide.

In 2025 — following the hottest year ever recorded — we can’t afford to overlook one of our most effective tools for climate action: seeds. These tiny powerhouses hold immense untapped potential to help us adapt to rising temperatures, cut emissions, improve carbon sequestration, and minimize waste across agricultural systems.

But to truly unlock that potential, they must be given the spotlight on global stages, where consequential decisions are being made and long-term priorities are set for the planet’s future.

As we enter the second half of this crucial decade for climate action, the message from the seed sector is clear and urgent: we are ready to continue contributing to the fullest of our potential.

It is imperative that policymakers and stakeholders plant the seed of a climate-resilient future now, before it is too late to reverse the devastating impacts of a warming world.

IPS UN Bureau

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Excerpt:

The complexity of the Brazilian electricity system has evolved from a model based on hydroelectricity supplemented by thermoelectricity to a combination of diverse sources, without planning and with little control, whose excess intermittent generation threatens to cause blackouts. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 25 2025 (IPS)

Wind and solar power sources, essential for the energy transition to mitigate the climate crisis, have become a risk of power outages in Brazil.

It is a remedy that, in excess, becomes poison. The rapid and unplanned growth of these alternatives has created operational difficulties for the Brazilian electricity system, which is nationally interconnected.“Brazil has one of the most complex electricity systems in the world. No other country has such a diversity of sources”–Luiz Barata.

A blackout on August 15, 2023, which affected 27% of the supply throughout most of the country, was a major wake-up call about insecurity. It began with the transmission of wind and solar power plants in the state of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil.

It almost happened again in April and August of this year due to excess generation, according to the  National System Operator (ONS), a private organization that represents consumers and all sectors involved, which coordinates and controls supply nationwide.

A functional electrical system requires surpluses; energy must be available at all outlets for eventual consumption. But “too much excess causes problems,” said Luiz Barata, former director general of the ONS and current president of the non-governmental National Front of Energy Consumers.

The proliferation of solar and wind power plants in Brazil has created imbalances between supply and consumption that caused operational difficulties in effective distribution, such as power outages in 25 of Brazil’s 26 states on August 15, 2023. Credit: Fotos Públicas

Renewables in question

The intermittent nature of wind and solar power, which have grown the most in the last decade, exacerbates the risks due to their uncontrollable origin. This type of energy depends on nature, on when there is wind and sun.

The plot thickens with distributed generation, also known as decentralized generation, which turns consumers into producers of their own electricity in 3.8 million residential micro-plants or groups of individuals or small businesses.

This dispersed generation already exceeds 43 gigawatts of power, according to data from the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), the sector’s regulatory body.

This amounts to 18% of the country’s total generating capacity, with solar photovoltaic power dominating the segment with a 95% share.

“In addition to being uncontrollable, because it depends on the sun, distributed generation cannot be interrupted, as it is beyond the control of the ONS,” warned Barata, an electrical engineer.

What the ONS does is curtail the contribution of some generating sources when excess supply threatens the system. In general, the interruption affects wind and solar generation, which are further away from the area of highest consumption.

The Northeast, favored by strong and regular winds and solar radiation, concentrates most of these sources, while the highest electricity consumption occurs in the Southeast, Brazil’s most populous and industrialized region.

Wind farms occupy hills and mountains throughout the Northeast region of Brazil, which has become a supplier of electricity for the entire country. The intermittency of this source, with generation concentrated at night, contributed to the risk of blackouts in the country. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Uncertain future

The trend is for operational problems in the electricity system to worsen because distributed generation continues to expand, due to the legal incentives it enjoys, and without planning, as it is the result of individual decisions.

From January to August 2025, the ONS discarded 17.2% of the country’s potential wind and solar generation, which corresponds to 7% of the country’s monthly consumption. This tripled the cuts compared to the same period in 2024, according to an analysis by Volt Robotics, an energy consulting firm.

In August, the rejection reached 57% of new renewable generation due to excess supply.

“Brazil has one of the most complex electricity systems in the world. No other country has the diversity of sources that we have,” Barata told IPS by telephone from Brasilia.

Of a total of 236 gigawatts of installed capacity at the end of 2024, hydroelectricity continues to account for a majority, with 46.5% of the total, according to the state-owned Energy Research Company. But it is no longer as dominant as it was in 2000, when it accounted for 89%.

Solar energy, with 20.5%, wind energy with 12.5% and thermal energy, which consumes fossil fuels and biomass, with 18.6%, already exceeded hydroelectricity in 2024, with a trend towards further growth.

Necessary reform

There has been a change in the electricity matrix, which has shifted from hydrothermal, basically hydroelectric and supplemented by thermal power plants, to a growing incorporation of new renewable sources, given the lower cost of their implementation and distributed generation, Barata pointed out.

However, legislation and regulations have not kept pace with this transformation, said the expert, who believes the sector needs a comprehensive structural reform in order to reduce risks and restore better operating and planning conditions.

“It is a complex system that cannot be solved with simple measures,” he said.

Joilson Costa, coordinator of the non-governmental Front for a New Energy Policy for Brazil and also an electrical engineer, considers it “incorrect” to attribute systemic risks solely to excess wind and solar generation.

“Excess supply is only part of the problem, not the only one. Another cause is the deficiency of the transmission system, which makes it impossible to transport the energy generated in the Northeast to other regions at certain times. This then necessitates a cut in generation,” he argued.

Nor can it be said that distributed generation is outside the scope of planning. The Energy Research Company, part of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, does consider this modality in its plans because “its studies and simulations allow it to make estimates,” even though it cannot control the expansion of microplants, Costa noted.

Electricity distribution companies also monitor the evolution of distributed generation in their networks and can update their data monthly, he told IPS by telephone from São Luis, capital of the northeastern state of Maranhão.

Distributed generation, which is small-scale and generally consists of photovoltaic panels on residential or commercial roofs, already accounts for 43 gigawatts of installed capacity in Brazil. There are 3.8 million plants benefiting seven million consumer units, without the necessary control over the operation of the national electricity system. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Daily asynchrony

The major risk factor, however, is the lack of synchrony between the generation and consumption of new sources of electricity in their daily cycles.

Solar generation occurs during the day, peaking around noon, when consumption is low. It declines just as consumption increases at the end of the day and beginning of the night, when lights and household appliances are turned on, especially electric showers, which are widely used in Brazil.

Wind farms, concentrated in the Northeast, generate electricity mainly late at night, when consumption drops again.

Pericles Pinheiro, director of New Business at CHP, a gas generation equipment and solutions company in Rio de Janeiro, identifies a trend toward crisis in the Brazilian electricity system in his ongoing analysis of the sector. “Every summer, new emotions,” he jokes.

In previous years, he identified a risk in the proliferation of diesel generators that many companies used to avoid the higher cost of electricity during peak consumption hours in the early evening.

But they abandoned this resource because they migrated to the free market, which has expanded in Brazil in recent years, lowering energy costs for large consumers by allowing them to choose their supplier.

Diesel generators, which helped reduce the upward curve of consumption during peak hours, disappeared or declined, exacerbating daily fluctuations in demand, in cycles opposite to those of wind and solar sources, Pinheiro told IPS.

Distributed generation reduces demand on the grid and the share of electricity managed by the system operator, in a trend that exacerbates insecurity, he added.

The ONS estimates that by 2029 it will control less than half of the country’s installed generation capacity, increasing the operational uncertainty of the national interconnected system.

The proliferation of digital data centers in Brazil, which the government is trying to promote, is seen as a way to balance electricity consumption and supply in the country.

But these huge energy sinks would consume the excess during the day but increase demand at night, as they operate 24 hours a day, warned Pinheiro, who identifies another risk in electric vehicles whose batteries consume the electricity of several homes when recharging.

A wind farm in the state of Baja California, in Northwestern Mexico. This territory depends on fossil fuels for electricity generation, while the contribution of renewables is still low, but it is gradually moving towards residential solar generation. Credit: Sempra

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO, Sep 15 2025 (IPS)

Over the past four months, Mexican researcher Nicolás Velázquez has paid around US$23 for electricity, thanks to the photovoltaic system installed in his home in the northern city of Mexicali.

“You can see the direct benefit. My neighbor received a bill over US$400. The problem is the high temperatures, which double demand” from March to August, said Velázquez, coordinator of the  Center for Renewable Energy Studies at the Engineering Institute of the public Autonomous University of Baja California.

Due to the high temperatures in cities such as Mexicali, capital of the northwestern state of Baja California, people need air conditioning systems during the summer, which increases electricity consumption in a state with 3.77 million inhabitants, affected by a shortage of infrastructure and generation.“Distributed generation is better for us. It is done by Mexican companies. We import the technology, but there is a chain of Mexican participation. We participate from engineering onwards, activating the economy to a certain level, helping the residential sector”–Nicolás Velázquez.

In late August, residents of several neighborhoods in Mexicali blocked the highway between that city and neighboring Tijuana due to a lack of electricity.

In an attempt to alleviate the situation, the Mexican government launched the Techos Solares del Bienestar (Solar Roofs for Welfare) program in March, aimed at low-income homeowners who pay high rates and consume between 400 and 1,000 kilowatt hours between July and August, so they receive solar panels for their homes in Mexicali and the neighboring municipality of San Felipe.

It is one of the steps to relaunch the energy transition to less polluting sources that the previous government halted in 2018.

The initial plan is to install solar panels in 5,500 homes in Mexicali with an investment of around US$10 million. The ultimate goal is to cover 150,000 homes by 2030. The scheme promises to reduce electricity bills from 49% to 89%.

For Velázquez, the central question revolves around the advisability of resorting to centralized or distributed generation, which consists of electricity production by systems of many small generation sources close to the end consumer.

“Distributed generation is better for us. It is done by Mexican companies. We import the technology, but there is a chain of Mexican participation. We participate from engineering onwards, activating the economy to a certain level, helping the residential sector,” he said from Mexicali.

In his opinion, “there has to be a balance between centralized and distributed generation, because there will not be a single solution. More energy justice is achieved through distributed generation.”

In Mexico, home to some 129 million people, there are at least 12,000 communities without electricity and some 9,000 homes without connection to the national grid, a quarter of which are located in Mexicali, which had 1.05 million inhabitants according to the 2020 census.

Small-scale or distributed generation is on the rise in the country.

Since 2007, the government’s Energy Regulatory Commission has authorized 518,019 licenses for a distributed energy generation capacity of 4,497 megawatts (MW). In 2024, it approved 106,934 interconnections for 1,086 MW.

The western state of Jalisco and the northern states of Nuevo León and Chihuahua top the list, while Baja California ranks 14th among the 32 Mexican states.

In July, the government’s National Energy Commission updated the regulations for interconnected self-consumption for installations between 0.7 and 20 MW, which expands the margin for distributed generation, also known as citizen generation.

Solar panels in a community in the municipality of Ensenada, in the northwestern state of Baja California. The existing microgrid in that town provides electricity to the small community. Credit: Secihti

More promises

The energy policy of president Claudia Sheinbaum, in office since October 1, has so far been marked more by proposals than by concrete actions, and Baja California is no exception to this dynamic.

Her government will allocate US$12.3 billion for electricity generation, US$7.5 billion for transmission infrastructure, and US$3.6 billion for decentralized photovoltaic production in homes.

The plan would add 21,893 MW to the national energy matrix, reaching 37.8% clean energy from the current 22.5%, so that the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) would hold 54% of the market, with the rest going to private and individual entities.

On August 26, the president announced the construction of two solar thermal plants in the state of Baja California Sur, which shares a peninsula with Baja California, with a public investment of US$800 million to generate more than 100 MW. The territory is also isolated from the national grid and suffers from a chronic energy deficit.

Solar thermal energy converts solar radiation into electricity using mirrors to generate steam and drive turbines, as well as enabling energy storage.

The CFE plans to tender phase II of the Puerto Peñasco photovoltaic plant, in the town of the same name in the northern state of Sonora, with a capacity of 300 MW and 10.3 MW of battery backup. The first 120 MW phase of this facility has been operating since 2023. Completed in 2026, it will contribute 1,000 MW at a cost of US$1.6 billion.

However, the Mexican government continues to promote fossil fuels, despite the urgency of phasing them out, as it seeks to strengthen the CFE and the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos.

All of this impacts places such as Baja California, where 16 public and private power plants operate, with an installed capacity of 3,461 MW, including three wind farms with more than 300 MW of capacity and three solar farms with 50 MW.

The private company Sempra Infraestructura, a subsidiary of the US company Sempra, is building a wind farm with a capacity of 300 MW, which is expected to be operational in 2026. In addition, CFE operates a 340 MW geothermal plant.

Despite its shortcomings, the state exports around 1,100 MW to the neighboring US state of California and imports around 400 MW. Baja California could produce 6,550 MW of solar power, 3,495 MW of wind power, and 2,000 MW of geothermal power.

In addition, CFE is building two combined-cycle power plants in Baja California that burn gas and generate steam to drive turbines, which would reduce blackouts.

The country faces insufficient production to meet annual demand growth of about 4% and an obsolete power grid.

In the first half of 2025, the country generated 310.49 terawatt-hours, virtually the same as during the same period last year. Some sources, such as gas, hydroelectric, wind, and photovoltaic, increased, but others, such as thermoelectric and nuclear, decreased.

In Mexico, electricity generation depends mainly on fossil gas, followed by hydroelectricity and nuclear energy. Renewable sources have a capacity of 33,517 MW, but only contribute one-fifth of the electricity produced.

Energy map of the northern Mexican state of Baja California. Electricity generation is not enough to meet growing demand, causing frequent blackouts. Credit: Government of Baja California

New schemes

Baja California’s 2022-2027 Energy Program consists of four strategies, including providing access to electricity to remote communities and unregulated housing, as well as promoting the rapid transition to decarbonization and the use of clean energies.

In addition, it envisions eight outcomes, including the promotion of two annual microgrid power generation projects for isolated communities and a 3% increase in alternative electricity generation. However, there is no evidence of progress toward these goals.

If it so desired, the Mexican government could transform its national electricity subsidy of more than US$5 billion annually into distributed generation.

The Universal Electricity Service Fund is a case in point. Intended to cover marginalized communities, available data indicate that it has covered more than 1,000 municipalities out of a total of 2,469, including two in Baja California, since 2019.

Velázquez proposed that these funds could finance solar panels and microgrids.

“Year after year, they give a subsidy, but if these families were provided with a photovoltaic system, it would solve the problem at its root. We need to look for more far-reaching measures; the actions have to be different,” he said.

In December 2023, during the climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mexico joined the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, which consists of tripling alternative installed capacity and doubling the energy efficiency rate by 2030. In comparison, Sheinbaum’s plans fall short.

The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh. Credit: Unsplash/Youssef Abdelwahab

By Maximilian Malawista
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18 2025 (IPS)

In the Arab region, a thought-to-be oil oasis, green jobs constitute 29 percent of energy sector roles, and 23 percent of the oil and gas sector. These numbers signify a push towards sustainable business and practices, with the Arab region striving to get away from oil, in their advancement towards the completion of the SDGs on time for 2030.

New primary data from the UNESCWA Skills Monitor shows that the entire region is on a steady upward trajectory in terms of the share of green jobs in the online job market space. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asis (UNESCWA), these postings only consist of 5.06 percent of postings as of 2024, but it represents significant growth from just around 3.5 percent in 2021.

The total share of green jobs by country in the Arab region, and the United States by comparison. Credit: Maximilian Malawista

Saudi Arabia has led this shift in sustainable energy roles with green jobs accounting for 6.22 percent of their job market. This movement reflects their significant investment into economic diversification and green initiatives in line with Saudi Vision 2030, which closely mirrors the UN 2030 agenda.

In Qatar and Oman the rates are lower, with green jobs comprising 4.59 percent and 3.53 percent of their respective job markets, followed by the rest of the region shortly behind. In contrast, a leading share of green jobs globally, the United States, features 11.40 percent, which is 7.55 percent higher than the average of 3.85 percent set by the Arab region. These numbers appear not to be linked by wealth as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt are below Qatar in energy roles, while the UAE has a 514 billion nominal GDP followed by Egypt with a 396 billion nominal GDP compared to Qatar’s 213 billion nominal GDP.

Green job integration

In the oil and gas sectors, Saudi Arabia leads again with 28 percent of their roles being green, followed by Oman (22.5 percent), Qatar (16 percent) and the UAE (15 percent). Data from UNESCWA shows that managerial and engineering positions account for the majority of occupations with the highest green demand in the Arab region. The top six jobs leading with the highest green shares are: project managers, health and safety engineers, health safety and environmental managers, electrical engineers, construction engineers, and civil engineers. The presence of engineering jobs with the highest combined share of green demand represents the Arab region’s full push to turn its infrastructure into a green oasis.

In the United States, the composition across specific industries is different, with technician roles for energy production and the environment being much higher in share than that of engineering roles. As UNESCWA noted in their brief: “These differences reflect diverse national approaches to sustainability, shaped by energy policies and strategic investments in green technologies.”

From only one year ago, green jobs within the energy sector in the Arab region represented 23.26 percent of the entire market of energy, however this number jumped up to 29.10 percent, marking a 5.93 percent jump in a very short amount of time.

The Arab region, as the report reiterates, leads in energy transformation across the oil and gas sectors. This push represents multiple nations — mostly Gulf Cooperation Council members — pushing for economic diversification away from majority oil-dominated economies, especially in Saudi Arabia. In these countries’ pursuits of further economic diversification, the result will be the creation of massive quantities of green energy roles, which will only increase at a faster rate to the point of a near carbon-zero future.

UNESCWA proposed four policy recommendations which seek to encourage green job growth:

• • Boost green investments and corporate sustainability – by expanding green bonds, medium and small sized enterprise funding, and sustainability linked loans for clean technology and renewable energy.

• • Enhance education and workforce development for green jobs – integrating sustainability into national curriculums, expand vocational and technical education and training programs, provide re-skilling initiatives for workers within high-carbon industries.

• • Integrate green jobs into national development strategies – strengthen regional cooperations for green job creation, climate action plans, economic recovery programs which align workforce planning with sustainability goals, and embedded green employment targets within industrial policies.

• Strengthen data and monitoring for green job growth – make data publicly available to help policymakers, businesses, and education institutions in shaping the green workforces.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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The first harvest of Amazonian fish from one of the ponds contributing to the food security of indigenous families, using solar energy. The initiative is expected to be replicated in a second phase, reaching more indigenous communities in two provinces of the Peruvian Amazon. Credit: Corpi-SL

By Mariela Jara
LIMA, Aug 8 2025 (IPS)

“Our organization is showing that it is indeed possible to move toward energy transition and not depend on oil,” said Elaina Shajian, president of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo (Corpi-SL), in the Peruvian Amazon.

Shajian is an Awajún leader, one of the 51 indigenous peoples of the Amazon in Peru, a South American country known for its multicultural and multiethnic diversity. With an estimated population of 34 million, nearly 17% speak a native language as their mother tongue."Due to oil spills, our people have nothing to eat because fish in the rivers are dwindling, and those that remain are contaminated. Now we have two ponds with over two thousand fish, which we manage using solar energy," -Elaina Shajian.

Despite stable macroeconomic indicators, poverty affects nearly a third of Peru’s inhabitants, with indigenous populations bearing the brunt. This includes the eight indigenous groups represented by Corpi-SL in the provinces of Datem del Marañón and Alto Amazonas.

These provinces are part of the eight that make up the Amazonian department of Loreto, the country’s largest region, covering 28% of its territory. Of its population of just over one million, 43% live in poverty, according to official data. In the two provinces where Corpi-SL operates, the poverty rates reach 52% and 56%.

Food insecurity in the area is worsened by water source contamination from spills in the Norperuano oil pipeline, which has crossed their territory for 50 years. This reality inspired an initiative to provide food for the population, generate income for the organization, and utilize solar energy.

“The idea of the fish farm arose from a need, in dialogue with the organization Mocicc. Because of the oil spills, our people have nothing to eat—fish in the rivers are disappearing, and those left are polluted. Now we have two ponds with over two thousand fish, managed through solar energy,” Shajian told IPS from San Lorenzo, the capital of Datem del Marañón.

Elaina Shajian, an Awajún indigenous leader and president of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo in Peru’s Loreto region. Her organization leads a sustainable fish production initiative supported by solar energy. Credit: Corpi-SL

The effects of climate change and extractive industries are harming the well-being of indigenous communities in the area. Finding food is a challenge—fish, a staple of their diet, is increasingly scarce and expensive. It is harder to catch in rivers, and its market price is unaffordable, sometimes exceeding US$12 per kilogram, explained the president of Corpi-SL.

The impact on children’s health and well-being is direct. Official figures report that in 2024, anemia among children aged six to 35 months living in rural areas of the country, such as the two provinces mentioned, reached around 52%, exceeding the national average of 43%.

Beyond being an alternative to improve their nutrition through autonomous decisions tailored to their communities’ needs, the fish farming initiative is local proof that other energy sources beyond fossil fuels—which cause environmental damage and harm human health, as evidenced in the area—can be utilized.

“Corpi-SL is like the father of indigenous peoples, encompassing 579 communities that can now see that energy transition is possible. It’s not just talk—they can see real solutions to ensure our food security today and in the future, without depending on oil for the energy needed to develop and replicate our initiatives,” emphasized Shajian.

Solar panels installed by the technical team of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo, in Peru’s Amazonian Loreto region, in partnership with the Citizens’ Movement Against Climate Change, to promote sustainable fish farming in their communities. Credit: Corpi-SL

Solar Energy as an Ally 

At the Yachaykuna farm (meaning “school of knowledge” in Kichwa, one of the Amazonian languages), a 51-hectare property owned by Corpi-SL near San Lorenzo, two fish farming ponds operate with solar energy as a key ally.

The initiative is supported by the Citizens’ Movement Against Climate Change (Mocicc), a Peruvian civil society platform with 16 years of experience promoting responses to the climate crisis and community development.

Augusto Durán, coordinator of its energy transition area, told IPS at the institution’s headquarters in Lima that it is crucial to link public policy proposals with on-the-ground work in areas affected by extractive industries like oil.

This is how the proposal with Corpi-SL came together to implement a pilot project that would make use of a space where fish farming had been attempted before but failed, partly because the farm lacked electricity.

“We agreed to install a small solar panel system to provide electricity to the fish farming center in its first phase. And to complete the energy transition experience, this renewable energy would serve as an alternative to oil,” Durán explained.

He explained that with the center energized and the first pond operational, they purchased 3,000 fingerlings of two Amazonian species: paco (Piaractus brachypomus) and gamitana (Colossoma macropomum). With the second pond, the fish were distributed in a larger space and fed balanced feed, allowing them to grow up to 600 grams.

After six months of stocking the fish in their two ponds, members of the eight indigenous peoples that make up a corporation in the Peruvian Amazon shared a lunch on June 14 at a collective farm, featuring the two harvested species: paco and gamitana. Credit: Corpi-SL

Their delicious flavor was enjoyed during the first harvest on June 14, at a communal lunch following the assembly of the expanded council of the 31 federations that form Corpi-SL. Six months had passed since the first fish were stocked.

Durán highlighted the system’s performance: six solar panels with 900 kilowatts were installed on a four-legged structure, while the farm’s security hut housed the batteries that store solar energy during the day and redistribute it at night.

“The system is automatic—as soon as the sun rises, it generates electricity, which is gradually stored in three large batteries that can power appliances, a freezer, TV, radio, lighting for the area, and maintain the two oxygenation units and other pond equipment,” he added.

He also explained that the lithium batteries have a lifespan of 10 years, extendable to 20 with proper care, while the panels can last over a decade.

“The kit of panels, batteries, converter, and cables cost around 6,000 soles (about US$1,675). It’s a significant investment because it provides low-cost energy to develop productive initiatives and replicate them,” Durán noted.

The farm previously had no electricity, and if they had to pay for the service, the cost would average US$28 per month—meaning they would recoup their investment in six years.

Augusto Durán, energy transition coordinator of the Citizens’ Movement Against Climate Change, believes it is a priority to advance toward an energy transition that considers the unique conditions of Peru’s territories, particularly its Amazonian indigenous communities. Credit: Mariela Jara / IPS

Round-the-clock Energy 

To make the initiative sustainable, Corpi-SL developed a plan that includes selling paco and gamitana in local restaurants and markets. The income will be used to purchase another 3,000 fingerlings to replenish and expand the harvest while strengthening the organization.

“A second phase of the project includes a fingerling breeding center that will also operate on solar panels,” Durán revealed.

The proposal also involves training the federations under the Coordinator so they can eventually establish their own fish farming centers, multiplying the initiative’s impact.

Alan Ruiz, a Corpi-SL technician, oversees fish production, pond preparation, stocking, monitoring, and harvesting, as well as training communities for technology transfer.

From San Lorenzo, he explained to IPS that the key is having 24-hour photovoltaic energy through the solar panels.

Regarding the organization’s plans, he stated that the goal is to establish an Amazonian fish reproduction center—not just for fattening—which will require upgrading the panels and batteries to meet new demands.

“Solar energy is an ally in aquaculture. The indigenous movement manages Amazonian fish, and it helps us improve processes at different stages of cultivation and production,” he emphasized.

One of the water sources where fingerlings of two Amazonian fish species were stocked for fattening and later harvest, in an initiative led by an indigenous peoples’ coordinator with solar energy support, in Datem del Marañón province, Loreto region, Peru. Credit: Corpi-SL

A Fair and Popular Energy Transition 

Moving away from fossil fuels and embracing renewable energy is part of Mocicc’s agenda, aligned with two priorities: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and halting ecosystem loss in the Amazon, which is harming residents’ quality of life.

Micaela Guillén, the institution’s national coordinator, explained this in an interview with IPS.

“A fair energy transition, driven by the people, is urgent. That’s why we call it a fair and popular energy transition. It’s a process to ensure communities have energy while also addressing remediation, reparation, and improving living conditions in impacted areas,” she said.

She explained that this is how the idea emerged, developed together with Corpi-SL, that the political demand for energy transition cannot be separated from economic issues.

“We’re talking about communities that have historically depended on oil extraction due to the economies built around it, and the state’s position that the only way to continue supporting them is by maintaining the current extractive model,” she stated.

Guillén emphasized that, like the fish farming center, other alternative economic initiatives exist in the Amazon to counter the precarious conditions faced by communities due to extractivism.

Given this reality, “it is shocking that the state denies the potential of these local economies and the revitalization of alternatives—even for something as basic as food security,” she said.

She criticized the government’s lack of political will, reiterated in the latest presidential address by Peru’s widely unpopular leader, Dina Boluarte.

“She spoke of further expanding extractive activities, even linking them to the Global North’s energy transition—where they’re changing their energy mix but not their consumption patterns,” Guillén noted.

She condemned how “they’re pursuing renewables, but to meet the energy demands of big corporations and cities, they need massive quantities of solar panels and wind turbines.”

Oil tankers entering and departing a busy port. Credit: Unsplash/Ramona Flwrs

By Maximilian Malawista
NEW YORK, Jul 28 2025 (IPS)

Two-thirds of the developing world, or ninety-five out of 143 economies, are dependent on commodities for export value, making up 60 percent of their merchandise exports. For the least developed world, this number rises to 80 percent, leaving entire nation’s revenue vulnerable to price swings, fiscal shocks, and evolving trade compositions. Hidden behind the numbers lies a deeper transformation, one disrupting fossil fuel trade, triggering a higher reliance on mineral exports, particularly on mining essential for green technologies.

In 2024, during a special climate panel, on critical energy transition minerals, UN Secretary-General António Guterres remarked, “A world powered by renewables is a world hungry for critical minerals. For developing countries, critical minerals are a critical opportunity – to create jobs, diversify economies, and dramatically boost revenues. But only if they are managed properly.”

Guterres signaled a clear message that this change can indeed boost economies and create jobs, especially in the places which need it most, but only if those countries are then willing to invest in diversification strategies through proper economic management.

At this year’s UN High Level Political Forum Guterres reaffirmed his stance on July 22, stating: “Fossil fuels are outdated. The sun is rising on a new era − the era of clean energy.” Guterres present a six-point action plan forward, which would phase out fossil fuels and secure energy access to all, by outlining methods of financing green transition.

A shift in the tides: oil to ore

Between 2012-2014 and 2021-2023, the share of commodity exports in of global trade have slightly declined, from 35.5 percent to 32.7 percent. At the same time, overall merchandise trade grew by 25.6 percent, with commodity exports growing by 15.5 percent. This 10 percent gap accounts for a 619 billion dollar shortfall due to declining and stagnating energy exports, which currently dominate the commodity trade.

Energy exports once led the commodity trade but are now showing obvious signs of stagnation and future decline. From 2021 to 2023, global energy exports amounted to 3.16 trillion on average, slightly decreasing 1.3 percent from the 2012-2014. The acceleration of renewable energy projects and the UN’s 2030 Agenda have been main proponents in this, driving down the reliance on oil and coal, and improving energy efficiency through global investment in green technologies.

Western Asia, once a dominant region in energy exports, particularly oil, saw its share fall from 31.3 percent to 24.7 percent over the past decade. Russia, once the world’s top energy exporter saw its export value drop by 26.6 percent.

However, in this same period, the United States became the world’s leading energy exporter, driven by its massive quantities of liquefied natural gas and shale oil mining. This shift too even reflects a greener transition, as liquefied natural gas is seen increasingly as a bridge to clean energy, as it presents cleaner effects on the environment, and is overall considered cleaner than oil and coal by a large margin.

In contrast to this overall decline in energy demand, mining exports have been surging. In Asia and Oceania, the regions’ share grew from 33.8 percent to 37.6 percent. Looking at Australia alone, they grew their mining export value from USD 105.7 billion to USD 171 billion due to higher demand from China and other global consumers for metals like copper, cobalt, and lithium. These materials are necessary for solar panels, wind turbines and electric car batteries, which are all considered essential components to a green economy.

Suppliers of the green future: Africa

While much of the world is expanding looking towards the future, Africa is still largely behind in development, creating lags in green agendas. Most of the continent lacks basic access to electricity. Africa is home to twenty of the world’s thirty-three mining export-dependent economies, making them the provider of many materials for green technologies, but not the constructors.

In Western and Eastern Africa, these mining exports make up 65 percent and 57 percent of all merchandise exports. Southern Africa is also particularly reliant, with nations like Botswana presenting mining exports of 91.5 percent. This lack of diversification makes African economies extremely vulnerable to supply chain shifts and price volatility, especially in the event of value chain swaps. Even in countries where mining is not as prevalent like Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, the lowering of oil prices by 20 percent in economies with an 80 percent export value on energy, shows early signs of dangerous fiscal dependency on a lacking financial flow.

The inevitable shift

Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebecca Grynspan said: “There is now an opportunity to leverage these new commodities to update our trade regime, promote structural diversification and turn the tide of commodity dependence once and for all.”

The clean energy shift is not theory, it is happening real time and its reshaping supply chains fast. Countries like the U.S. and Australia have successfully adapted their economies to this shift, preparing for a new landscape of green domination. The rise in mining exports supports a demand from advanced economies needing critical minerals, but this financial flow for the exporting countries might not stay forever, especially if more competitors break into the market driving down the price further and further: much like what is happening to oil. A country’s path to clean energy now lies as an indicator of working economic models and the ablution of outdated financial flows.

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Shenzhen China, a city made up of 47 percent clean energy, with a population of 17.56 million people. Credit: Unsplash/Robert Bye

By Maximilian Malawista
NEW YORK, Jul 22 2025 (IPS)

At the UN 2025 High Level Political Forum last week, global energy leaders warned that without urgent action in expanding access to clean energy, hundreds of millions will remain vulnerable, and the world will risk falling short of its 2030 SDG deadline.

At a packed and tense side event, “Advancing Energy Transition in the Global South,” Fu Cong, China’s Permanent Representative to the UN, opened the stage with a stark message: “At present, we are falling far short of implementing the UN 2030 Agenda.” Emphasizing energy insecurity as a large proponent in this lacking race to the finish line: requiring an acceleration of coordinated action.

No Energy, No SDGs

Xin Baoan, Chairman of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) and President of the China Electricity Council displayed how energy can be the main driver in economics and meaningful sustainable development.

“Only 17 percent of the 169 SDG targets are currently on track,” he warned, referencing the staggering USD 4 trillion annual global investment gap. “Energy is a fundamental driver of economic and social progress,” Baoan added, stating that the shift to low-carbon power systems is an “urgent priority.”

Baoan explained how China now generates over 2,100 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy, making up 60 percent of its total power mix: consisting of wind, solar, and hydropower. Baoan elaborated that the steps China has taken towards clean electrification, driving China’s progress with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), could be a guide for all countries in the Global South to follow.

Baoan proposed a three-point roadmap:

1. Ensure Energy Supply: Optimizing the allocation and efficient use of clean energy resources, providing accessible energy to disproportionate regions. Reducing the number of people living without electricity, while also ensuring sustainable energy access for all.

2. Drive Economic Growth: Using electricity infrastructure as a catalyst for supporting long industrial chains, and growth of economic sectors. Attracting investment, growing industrial development, generating employment, and activating sustained economic growth.

3. Promote Coordinated Development: Deepen south-south cooperation through sharing clean energy, turning the richer energy resources of Asia, Africa, and Latin America into drivers of growth.

A Global Imbalance between Population and Economic Output

“The Global South comprises 80 percent of the world’s population, yet contributes only 40 percent of global economic output,” said Yin Bo, Director of the Cooperation Division at GEIDCO. He discovered that from 2015 to 2022, the average annual growth rate of GDP per capita across the Global South fell below levels seen during 2010 to 2014. This suggests a deepening development crisis fueled by a lack of investment.

These inequalities directly affect not only the quality, but the quantity of sustained development. “From 2015 to 2022, average energy capacity in the Global South increased only modestly, from 155 watts to 293 watts per person,” Yin contrasted this by pointing out that “the Global North saw growth from 691 to 1,073 watts per person in the same period.” Without renewed sustainable development, this wide energy gap will continue to grow, hindering any form of sustainable development in the Global South.

West Asia and Africa

Rola Dashti, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), painted the current picture in the Arab region. “Today, over forty million people still live without electricity. Sixty million rely on unsafe cooking fuels,” she said. She continued, adding “in this region, energy is not just about climate, it is about development, opportunity, and survival.

Extreme climates, dangerous weather, war, and outdated infrastructure have created massive regional energy difficulties. However, signs of momentum are now emerging.

· In Jordan, two-thirds of new cars sold last year were electric.
· In Algeria, Chinese partnerships launched EV production lines with a capacity of 200,000 units per year.
· In Morocco, a $2 billion lithium processing facility was recently implemented, positioning Morocco as a player in global battery supply chains.
· In Dubai, “Moro hub,” a green data center built in 2023, relies on a power supply consisting of the world’s largest single-site solar PV and solar thermal power generation station. By 2030, this solar energy park will reach a capacity of 5,000 MW (the equivalence to five nuclear reactors)
· In Iraq, The GCC Interconnection Authority recently linked its grids with Iraq, supplying 600 MW to high-need communities.

Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, focused on Africa’s critical paradox of resources. “Africa possesses 60 percent of the world’s solar potential, but more than 600 million people still lack access to electricity,” said Gatete.

With Africa’s populations projected to reach 2.5 billion people by 2050, energy demand is set to be way higher than what Africa can already manage. Even worse, Gatete said that “out of the $3 trillion invested in energy globally in 2024, less than 3 percent went to Africa.” meaning investors do not see a positive return.

Gatate warned that achieving the global clean energy target of 8,000 GW would be “impossible without Africa”. He said that with platforms like GEDICO, the continent could become a key actor in the establishment of not only clean energy, but a just and inclusive energy future.

The side event “Advancing Energy Transition in the Global South” during the 2025 High-Level Political Forum in UN Headquarters, New York City. Credit: IPS/Maximilian Malawista

The Global Countdown

Navid Hanif, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, reaffirmed the already daunting facts “Two-thirds of the Sustainable Development Goals are lagging.” He affirmed that at the current rate, universal access to electricity will remain a distant goal.

Despite the strenuousness, the event closed on an optimistic note, highlighting China’s roles in strategic partnerships with the Global South. It now becomes evident that to reshape the future, China will be a key vehicle in transforming the energy access gap and fostering long term economic and sustainable development sustenance.

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An EV charging sign on the street. The growing demand for EVs requires a comprehensive framework to handle environmental impacts from used EV batteries. Credit: Unsplash/Michael Marais

By Anupam Khajuria and Sudip Ranjan Basu
BANGKOK, Thailand, Jul 22 2025 (IPS)

The Asia-Pacific region is becoming a showcase for regional solutions. As electric vehicles (EVs) rapidly gain traction, the region must confront a dual challenge: managing the environmental and health risks of end-of-life EV batteries, while actively pursuing the economic and technological opportunities of a circular economy.

By strategically combining public policy and private sector innovation, especially among micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the region can turn this policy challenge into a blueprint for inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Making the shift: The circular economy imperative

The transition to EVs isn’t merely about cleaner and sustainable transportation and energy transition options; it’s a fundamental shift in how we utilize, recover and re-purpose resources.

The circular economy, built upon the five “R” principles (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose, Recover), provides a strategic framework to maximize battery material value, minimize waste and sever the link between economic growth and climate action. These principles are essential for sustainable battery waste management.

Yet, realizing this ambitious vision extends beyond technology; it hinges on fostering a skilled workforce and cultivating innovative business models. Consequently, education and capacity-building become key drivers. Without a broad understanding of the country specific context and practical implementation of circularity principles, the promise of a truly sustainable ecosystem will not be met by 2030.

In 2025, the Jaipur Declaration on 3R and Circular Economy provided crucial ideas and solutions for transitioning to circularity in end-of-life batteries and vehicles.

Integrating policy frameworks: National, regional and global ambitions

Addressing EV battery waste demands a collaborative approach; no nation can solve it alone. Governments are crucial in establishing robust regulatory frameworks, such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, mandatory recycling targets and eco-design standards.

These policies must align with international climate agreements, like those forged at COP29 in Azerbaijan in 2024. Such global discussions underscore both ambitious emissions reduction targets and the critical importance of circular economy principles for achieving net-zero.

By legally codifying these requirements and connecting them to transparent reporting and monitoring, governments ensure that localized efforts effectively contribute to broader climate and sustainability goals.

Harnessing synergies: Circularity, finance, and multi-stakeholder policy dialogue

The transition to a circular economy for EV batteries is most effective through synergistic collaboration. At its core, this synergy involves integrating circularity principles, innovative financial mechanisms, and multi-stakeholder engagements. These engagements and dialogues should bring together government agencies, private sector leaders, MSMEs, civil society and academia.

Circularity extends beyond just recycling; it’s about fundamentally rethinking the entire value chain. National and regional engagements are crucial for facilitating the sharing of best practices, harmonizing standards and coordinating the cross-border flow of recyclable materials.

These collaborative regional and national platforms are instrumental in scaling up advanced recycling infrastructure, promoting eco-design and embedding circular economy principles at every stage from product design to end-of-life management.

Equally vital is financial innovation, which necessitates the integration of digital technology and innovative policies to facilitate widespread investment in digital public goods and infrastructure across various sectors.

National governments, often partnering with regional and international development agencies and banks, can play a pivotal role. They can provide grants, concessional loans and investment guarantees to lower barriers for MSMEs and startups entering the battery recycling and repurposing market.

By coupling financial support with technical training and capacity-building, these initiatives empower local businesses to drive innovation, create green jobs and strengthen regional supply chains.

Leveraging education: Empowering MSMEs

The ESCAP Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) Position Paper on the circular economy underscores the fundamental role of education in bridging the gap between policy and practice. Comprehensive public awareness campaigns are vital for promoting responsible EV battery disposal and educating communities about the dangers of unsafe informal practices.

Equally important is targeted capacity building and technical training for MSMEs, technicians and recyclers, which cultivates the expertise needed to safely handle, process, and innovate with battery waste, ensuring local methods meet international standards. The recent Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development also emphasized the critical need for appropriate incentives, particularly those supporting MSMEs.

Looking ahead: The region’s blueprint for a low-carbon future

The Asia-Pacific region has a transformational opportunity to elevate its knowledge-sharing and capacity-building in circular economy innovation. ESCAP stands ready to support this pivotal shift. This is not just about managing waste. It’s about reimagining the value of a circular economy: fostering green job creation, strengthening education and nurturing innovation that serves both people and the planet, a vision underscored in a recent ESCAP policy document.

Seamlessly integrating national policies with regional frameworks and global commitments is essential. So is deploying smart development financing instruments, digital tools and cultivating synergistic public-private partnerships. With the right approach, the Asia-Pacific region can transform EV battery waste from a daunting environmental challenge into a powerful engine for inclusive and sustainable economic growth, new employment opportunities and enhanced climate resilience.

Anupam Khajuria is Research Fellow and Academic Associate, United Nations University- Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo, Japan; Sudip Ranjan Basu is Chief of Sustainable Business Network Section, ESCAP, Bangkok.

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The Cauchari Solar Plant in Jujuy, Argentina, located 4,000 meters above sea level with over one million panels, was built with Chinese capital, engineering, and materials. Credit: Casa Rosada

By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Jul 18 2025 (IPS)

China, with its investments, products, technology, and innovation focused on solar and wind farms in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as on electricity networks and services, stands out as a driving force for the region’s shift toward energy less reliant on fossil fuels and increasingly cleaner and greener. 

Between 2010 and 2024, China invested US$33.69 billion in renewables in the region, with 70 transactions for as many projects, 54 of which were in non-hydroelectric energy, totaling US$13.138 billion.

These figures alone “highlight China’s importance in supporting the region’s energy transition, both through investments and infrastructure projects,” Enrique Dussel Peters, coordinator of the Latin America and the Caribbean Academic Network on China (RedALC-China), told IPS from Mexico City.“For China, Latin America as a whole is a market that geographically presents many opportunities; first, due to the availability of natural resources, which include critical minerals, and features such as access to water and natural and renewable energy sources”: Ana Lía Rojas.

Beyond money, China “has the capacity to develop technology, implement it, and scale it at the required speed,” said Ana Lia Rojas, executive director of the Chilean Association of Renewable Energies and Storage (Acera).

In a dialogue with IPS in Santiago, Chile, Rojas cited American economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and a United Nations advisor, who has argued that, in short, “the energy transition is Chinese.”

Sachs views China as a “leader in key technologies that will be essential over the next 25 years: photovoltaics, wind, modular nuclear, long-distance energy transmission, 5G (now 5.5G), batteries, electric vehicles, and others.”

The movement toward Latin America has been relentless. While there were no Chinese investments in renewable energy in the region between 2000 and 2009, eight emerged from 2010 to 2014, totaling US$3.298 billion and generating 6,000 jobs, according to RedALC’s Investment Monitor.

Between 2015 and 2019, 25 projects with Chinese financing materialized, totaling US$19.568 billion and creating 9,300 jobs. In the 2020-2024 period, 37 transactions were completed, amounting to US$10.824 billion and generating 15,000 jobs.

Investment volumes dipped in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a revealing contrast emerged: 35 of the 37 renewable energy transactions during this five-year period went to non-hydroelectric projects.

The Lagoinha Solar Complex, inaugurated in July this year and owned by the Brazilian subsidiary of Chinese group CGN. Spanning 304 hectares in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil, it features 337,000 panels that will provide electricity to 240,000 households. Credit: Government of Ceará

Interests and challenges converge

The International Energy Agency (IEA, representing major industrialized consumers) reports a “soaring increase in Chinese clean energy investments globally, particularly in renewables,” surpassing US$625 billion in 2024—nearly double 2015 levels and accounting for 30% of the world’s total, cementing China’s leadership.

Traditionally dominated by state-owned enterprises backed by public funding, China’s energy investment landscape is shifting, with the government increasingly encouraging private sector participation.

Meanwhile, Latin America and the Caribbean saw roughly US$70 billion invested in renewables from 2015 to 2024, of which over US$30.3 billion (43%) came from China, according to the IEA.

Yet the agency notes that despite steady growth in renewable investments, the region represents just 5% of global privately funded clean energy investment—a reflection of high interest rates, scarce long-term financing, and costly public debt.

This highlights the intersection between the region’s needs and challenges and what Dussel Peters describes as China’s strategic focus on technological development and disruptive innovations, from nanomanufacturing to aerospace, including new energy sources.

Chinese investment in renewables “delivers multiple benefits by advancing energy sustainability, supporting the transition to a low-carbon grid, providing critical technology, and creating skilled jobs,” Chilean academic Rodrigo Cáceres told IPS in Santiago.

A researcher at  Diego Portales University’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development, Cáceres observes China’s “sustained commitment” in areas like energy storage, smart grids, and green hydrogen, framing the China-Latin America relationship as “strategic and long-term.”

A key factor enabling this enduring partnership is the vast territorial, demographic, and resource potential Latin America and the Caribbean offers China. “If we look at the per capita income we have in the region and compare it with China’s, we have more or less the same. But Latin America has half the population of China and twice the territory of China,” observed Rojas.

Twice the territory “means that projects can be deployed differently than in the rest of the world,” noted the director of Acera.

According to Rojas, “it is evident that, for China, Latin America as a whole is a market that geographically presents many opportunities; first, due to the availability of natural resources, which include critical minerals, and features such as access to water and natural and renewable energy sources.”

“Second, because it is clearly a less densely populated region, which provides a certain degree of flexibility or freedom to develop projects in the territory that will aid the energy transition, not only for local or national economies but for the world,”she said.

The Tanque Novo Wind Complex in Bahia, Brazil, developed by Chinese group CGN. It consists of seven parks with 40 wind turbines, an installed capacity of 180 MW, and can serve 430,000 residents. Credit: Tanque Novo

Brazil, a leading hub 

In Brazil, China’s presence in the electricity sector “is deep and strategic, the result of more than a decade of investments by large state-owned companies such as State Grid and China Three Gorges (CTG),” said Tulio Cariello, research director at the Brazil-China Business Council.

“In fact, it has become the main destination for these companies’ assets outside China. Both State Grid and CTG have the majority of their international investments in Brazil, reflecting the country’s structural importance in their global projection,” Cariello told IPS in Rio de Janeiro.

State Grid is now a major electricity transmission operator in Brazil, and its massive entry into that market was solidified with the acquisition in 2016-2018 of CPFL Energia (formerly Companhia Paulista de Força e Luz), one of the country’s leading power distribution companies.

Another flagship project led by State Grid was the construction of ultra-high-voltage transmission systems, connecting the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant in the Amazon (11,200 MW) with the Southeast region, which has the highest electricity demand.

Combined, solar and wind energy sources account for a quarter of Brazil’s electricity matrix, according to its National Energy Balance.

By the end of 2024, Brazil’s installed wind power capacity—over 16% of the national electricity matrix—reached 33.7 gigawatts, with 1,103 wind farms and 11,720 wind turbines. By 2032, cumulative new installed capacity is projected to reach 56 GW.

Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind established its first factory outside China last year in Bahia, in Brazil’s Northeast, with an investment of over US$20 million to produce 150 turbines annually, ranging from 5.3 MW to 7.5 MW. This decision demonstrates strong confidence in the Brazilian market.

The volume of Chinese investment in Brazil between 2007 and 2023 reached US$73.3 billion—US$33.2 billion in the electricity sector—with 264 confirmed projects, and is on track to reach US$123.2 billion with 342 projects.

Regarding the impact of investments in renewable energy, “it can be seen on several fronts: increased generation and transmission capacity, modernization of critical infrastructure, greater stability in power supply, and job creation and technology transfer,” said Cariello.

The Los Cururos Wind Farm in Ovalle, Chile, is one of dozens of installations generating electricity in Chile thanks to the constant winds in this Pacific-facing region. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Advancing Across the Regional Map 

In Argentina, with initial financing of US$390 million from the China Export-Import Bank (Chexim), construction began in 2018 on the Cauchari solar park—one of the largest in Latin America—in the northwestern province of Jujuy.

Some 4,000 meters above sea level and equipped with 1.2 million panels, Cauchari has an installed capacity of 315 MW (with an expansion planned to add another 200 MWh) and reduces carbon emissions by 325,000 tons.

There are other solar developments with Chinese involvement, while Goldwind has acquired wind farms in the central province of Buenos Aires and the southern province of Chubut.

Researcher Juliana González Jáuregui from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Flacso) has highlighted Beijing’s participation in Argentina’s renewable energy projects, focusing on its provinces—even before the country joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2022.

In contrast, “Europe and the United States have yet to grasp the importance of engaging at the subnational level in Argentina, something China achieved quickly and significantly. The provinces hold natural resources, so the subnational component is essential,” González told Dialogue Earth.

Meanwhile, in Chile, “what has happened in the last two years is that Chinese companies have bet on the country as a gateway to Latin America and have set up several companies that create jobs,” said Rojas.

“They are interested in showcasing the quality and technological advancements they’ve achieved in these sectors, focusing on storage, inverter systems, and everything that helps stabilize power grid flows,” she stated.

In this way, China “has increasingly strengthened its presence in the electricity sector, where we have decarbonization efforts and which represents 22% of the country’s energy consumption,” particularly in the distribution segment through the acquisition of key companies to supply the population, explained Rojas.

A notable example is the Chinese group State Grid, which in 2020 acquired Chile’s Compañía General de Electricidad (CGE) from Spain’s Naturgy for US$3 billion and purchased Chilquinta, another electricity distributor in Chile, from the American company Sempra Energy for US$2.23 billion.

Additionally, it holds a stake in Transelec, the largest distributor, giving it a dominant majority position in Chile’s electricity distribution market.

Areas of Lima illuminated by the growing integration of renewable energy into electricity generation. The former Enel Perú, now Pluz Perú, was acquired by China’s CSG and serves over 1.5 million subscribers in the metropolitan area. Credit: Perú Inkas Tours

In Peru, China Southern Power Grid (CSG) acquired Enel Peru from Italy’s Enel Group in 2024 for US$3.1 billion. The company, now called Pluz Peru, operates in the market with 1,590 MW of generation from various sources and also participates in distribution.

The Peruvian firm includes a solar complex in the southern municipality of Moquegua, with 560,000 panels spread over 400 hectares, capable of generating 440 GWh annually, and a wind farm in the southwestern province of Nazca, with 42 turbines producing up to 600 GWh per year.

In Colombia, another Chinese giant, CTG, promoted the construction of the Baranoa solar plant in the northern department of Atlantico. With an investment of US$20 million and 36,000 modules, it can add 20 MW to the grid.

Though a small project far from major economic and urban centers, it reflects shared interests with Colombia, where President Gustavo Petro champions renewable energy and the decarbonization of the economy and society.

In Nicaragua, it was announced that China Communications Construction Company will build a 70 MW solar plant in the municipality of Nindirí, south of Managua, with 112,700 panels at a cost of US$80 million.

The Managua government—which recently restored relations with China in 2021 after cutting ties with Taiwan—hopes the project will not only feed into the power grid but also support drinking water supply and sanitation in the country.

In a leap across the Caribbean, China’s International Development Cooperation Agency delivered a batch of donated supplies to Cuba last March to support a photovoltaic park project with Chinese assistance in Guanajay, about 50 kilometers west of Havana.

According to data gathered by IPS in Havana, the project includes seven solar parks and will contribute 35 MW to the island’s electricity system. The remaining parks, to be developed by China’s Shanghái Electric and Cuba’s Unión Eléctrica, will add another 85 MW. Cuba’s power demand stands at 3,500 MW, with a deficit sometimes exceeding 1,500 MW.

“We hope to leverage this project as an opportunity to contribute China’s strength in ensuring energy security and promoting sustainable social development in Cuba,” said Hua Xin, China’s ambassador in Havana.

A production gondola at the new wind turbine factory in Camaçari, northeastern Brazil, installed by Chinese firm Goldwind. Wind energy is the second-largest renewable source in Brazil’s electricity supply, after hydropower. Credit: Goldwind

The Ball on the Roof 

Chilean expert Rojas noted that Chinese companies obviously aim to promote their own brands but also establish research centers or technology transfer hubs to help countries accelerate their energy transition.

“They have cutting-edge technologies that we currently see in PowerPoint presentations—but they’re already implementing them in their own cities,” she pointed out.

Experts agree that, alongside territorial potential, population, and resources, the regulatory framework of the electricity business—which varies across borders—is a key investment attraction.

This becomes even more relevant as major investors like China shift from merely selling products and technology to acquiring more assets, immersing themselves in the complexities of service networks, costs, and pricing.

For many countries in the region, the observation Jorge Arbache, an economics professor at the University of Brasilia, makes about Brazil may resonate. He analyzes how the advantages and resources enabling the energy transition are being mobilized.

He argues that “while China has used the energy transition as a pillar of its national development policy,” Brazil still treats its advantages “mainly as primary, short-term, and predatory assets—with low added value, institutional fragmentation, and a lack of coordinated strategy.”

“What China shows us is that the energy transition and natural capital, when well-coordinated, are more than just a shift in the energy matrix: they are a development strategy, a tool for sovereignty, and a source of geopolitical power,” concluded Arbache.

With reporting by Mario Osava (Brazil), Orlando Milesi (Chile) and Dariel Pradas (Cuba).

A farmer pours cow dung into the biodigester to be converted into energy. Credit: Robert Kibet/IPS

By Robert Kibet
ZOUNGOU, Burkina Faso, Jul 18 2025 (IPS)

In the heart of Burkina Faso’s drylands, in the village of Zoungou, a quiet transformation is underway. Alhaji Birba Issa, a smallholder onion farmer, bends over neat rows of lush green crops, the hum of solar-powered pumps audible in the background.

“This land used to sleep during the dry season,” he says, dusting soil from his hands. “Our diesel pump would break down. Crops died. But now, we farm all year.”

Issa leads one of 89 farmer cooperatives participating in the Renewable Energy for Agriculture and Livelihoods (REAL BF) programme, which is equipping smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, with clean energy technologies that are reshaping agricultural productivity and dignity across Burkina Faso’s drought-prone regions.

When Energy Meets Agriculture

Burkina Faso faces some of the highest levels of climate vulnerability in the world. Over 80 percent of its population depends on rain-fed agriculture, which has become increasingly unreliable due to erratic rainfall and rising temperatures.

In response, the REAL BF program—implemented by Practical Action with support from multiple development partners—has taken a holistic approach. It connects off-grid solar systems, biodigesters, and energy-efficient processing technologies to smallholder farming, helping communities extend their farming seasons, preserve harvests, and reduce reliance on polluting fuels.

By July 2024, the programme had reached 15,937 smallholder farmers, more than 80 percent of them women, and achieved 82 percent activity completion and 90 percent budget execution.

“These are not drop-and-go technologies,” says Issouf Ouédraogo, Practical Action’s West Africa Regional Director. “We co-designed the solutions with farmers, supported them to organize in cooperatives, and trained them to manage the systems. The results are community-owned, and that’s why it’s working.”

Fields that Grow Beyond Rain

In places like Komki Ipala, solar-powered irrigation now reaches 115 hectares of farmland. Farmers grow vegetables, rice, legumes, and onions throughout the year—no longer limited to the short rainy season.

“Before, we farmed three months,” says Aminata Zangre, a cooperative leader in Zoungou. “Now we plan for eight. My children eat better. We sell the surplus. And we use cow dung to generate energy. It’s like turning waste into hope.”

Zangre’s cooperative uses biodigesters to turn livestock waste into biogas and compost, reducing deforestation and creating a sustainable cycle of cooking fuel and organic fertilizer.

In Gon-Boussougou, Molle Nossira supervises a fish processing cooperative that once struggled with spoilage and smoke. “The fish used to go bad before midday. Now we use energy-efficient ovens and solar cold rooms,” she says. “Our fish stays fresh. We sell at better prices. We even sell cold drinks, which attract more customers.”

Quantifying the Impact

The numbers tell a compelling story:

• 180 MWh of clean energy is generated annually by the systems installed.
• 148 tonnes of compost and 1,268 kg of butane-equivalent biogas are produced yearly.
• 722 tonnes of firewood saved per year, helping preserve 135 hectares of forest.
• An estimated 1,437 tonnes of CO₂ emissions are avoided annually.
• Each smallholder farmer has seen a minimum income increase of 50,000 CFA francs (around USD 80) annually—often more.

“Food security has improved. Post-harvest losses are down. Women no longer spend hours collecting firewood,” says Farid Sawadogo, a field coordinator with Practical Action. “We see resilience growing in very real ways.”

Women in the Lead

While energy infrastructure is often seen as a male domain, this programme has turned that perception on its head.

In Koulpelé, Awa Convolbo leads a women’s cooperative focused on shea butter processing. “We used to work entirely with firewood, which was exhausting and harmful,” she recalls. “Now we use improved cookstoves and solar-powered water pumps. Our income has grown, and I’ve been able to support my children’s education.”

Convolbo participated in a knowledge exchange visit to Rwanda and returned home inspired to restructure her cooperative’s finances. “Clean energy didn’t just change how we cook—it changed how we lead,” she says.

Youth Shaping the Future

Young people, too, have found new roles in their communities—maintaining solar systems, managing cooperative finances, and digitizing agricultural planning tools.

“Young people now see farming and energy as a future,” says Sawadogo. “They are staying in their villages, building careers, and bringing new ideas.”

To further support access to knowledge and resources, Practical Action launched the Yiriwali Platform, a multilingual digital tool where farmers can choose clean energy technologies, find technology providers, and connect with microfinance institutions. Available in French, Moore, Dioula, and Fulfulde, the platform strengthens ties between smallholder farmers, tech suppliers, and financiers.

Scaling Lessons Beyond Borders

The REAL BF programme aligns with the UN’s Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL) and supports the Sustainable Development Goals—particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

With demonstrated success in rural Burkina Faso, the model is attracting interest from agencies like UNDP, FAO, and ECOWAS as a blueprint for scaling across the Sahel.

Practical Action hopes to expand the programme and deepen its impact through additional investment, particularly for the remaining cooperatives that could not yet be funded due to budget limitations.

“We’re showing that smallholder farmers aren’t victims of climate change,” says Ouédraogo. “They’re agents of climate resilience—when they have the right tools and power.”

Farming with Dignity

Back in Zoungou, Birba Issa reflects on the change he has seen in his community: children returning to school, women leading cooperatives, and farmers planning not just for the season but for the future.

“We’ve turned drylands into green fields,” he says. “And we farm with dignity.”

As the sun sets over the Sahel, these solar-powered communities are not just surviving—they are showing the rest of the region how to thrive.

A coal plant in Lamma Island, Hong Kong. Credit: Unsplash/Ben Tatlow

By Maximilian Malawista
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 11 2025 (IPS)

Global investments in energy exceeded USD 3 trillion in 2024, with at least USD 2 trillion being invested in clean energy technology and infrastructure. Infrastructure. Despite that progress, fossil fuel consumption continues to rise with little sign of slowing.

China led in energy transitions investments, accounting for 48 percent, followed by the United States (17 percent), Germany (5 percent), the United Kingdom (4 percent), and France (3 percent). These investments have opened the doors to green technologies like solar panels, electric vehicles, and battery storage, at an affordable rate. However, these advancements have been confined to high-income countries. Emerging markets and least developed countries (LDCs), excluding China, remain dependent on coal and fossil fuels to meet their energy needs.

The crossroads of the Asia-Pacific

The Asia and Pacific region has faced the greatest challenge in its transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. In 2023, the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 47 percent of global energy demand, with China, India, Korea, Japan, and Indonesia making up most of this share.

Consider that China occupies a unique position in that it contributes to energy transition as the largest investor in clean energy, while also being the most coal-reliant nation as a major producer and consumer. In perspective, investment in clean energy per capita globally it is at 131 dollars, while Asia and the Pacific is at 115 dollars. However, when excluding China and other high-income countries, that number drops to just 18 dollars a person.

The gaps in investment come heavily from the ten LDCs in the region. Together, these nations account for 1.4 percent of global energy transition investments from 2020 to 2023. However, at COP29, these countries announced plans aimed at increasing their renewable energy capacity from 20 gigawatts (GW) in 2023 to 58 GW by 2030, a 290 percent jump. Meanwhile in South-east Asia, the energy demand is expected to grow to 25 percent between 2024 and 2035, and it is estimated that by 2050 their energy demand may overtake the European Union.

The coal paradox

In 2023, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) reported that 81 percent of new renewable energy sources were offering cheaper alternatives to fossil fuels. Even with this margin of difference, coal continues to dominate the Asia-Pacific region without slowing down. In 2023, the Asia-Pacific region generated 45 percent of its energy from coal, which was more than any other region, using the most carbon intensive resource available. The region holds 79 percent of the world’s operating coal plants, generating 1.69 terawatts (TW) of the global 2.13 TW of coal powered energy.

To add to the coal fire, 96 percent of all planned coal capacity, or 553 GW out of 578 GW are solely in the Asia-Pacific. Of that percentage, China accounts for 53 percent of the current capacity, and 71 percent of the future capacity. India, Indonesia and Bangladesh make up the rest of the energy demand for coal. Coal is not just energy, it is money.

Three of the world’s top exporters of coal — Indonesia, Australia, and Mongolia — are in the Asia-Pacific. Indonesia is the largest exporter of coal globally, with China and India as its largest clients. Australia follows closely behind, exporting over USD 91 billion worth of coal during 2023 through 2024, and its coal mining industry employing 50,000 workers. In Mongolia, coal briquettes were their top export, amassing USD 8.43 billion in wealth.

Coal for these countries represents a vital economic tool, one which will make the transition ever more difficult.

Existing solutions

To turn around this deficit and make the world greener, we already have this technology. We have battery storage, nuclear power, low-carbon hydrogen, and even limited carbon capture technologies. The challenge is implementing these technologies and scaling them at a level which produces tangible results.

Without these shifts in investment and policy, the Asia-Pacific region risks global progress towards energy security, economic stability, and SDG compliance. Leaving many left behind, and in the stifling warm air.

To align with global net-zero carbon emission targets and SDG7, which calls for access to affordable and sustainable energy for all, the annual investment in energy must increase to between USD 2.2 and 2.4 trillion by 2030. At least 90 percent of this investment needs to be focused on clean energy.

A dangerous future

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Credit: Unsplash/Sarvesh Phansalkar

Despite the urgency of this matter, coal demand among ASEAN economies is projected to rise 5% annually, moving from 491 million metric tons in 2024 to 567 million metric tons by 2027.

This continued reliance on coal as a primary energy will only make energy diversification harder and more expensive. The time to change these outlooks is now, before diversification becomes too difficult. In consequence of these actions, some of the most polluted cities in the world, such as Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Lahore (Pakistan), and Hotan (China), have reported air pollution levels 10 to 20 times higher than what the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies as safe limits. Simply breathing air in these cities can pose a significant health risk, and yet millions do it.

The International Energy Agency Director Faith Birol warns: “Today’s energy world is moving fast, but there is a major risk of many countries around the world being left behind.”

An eye on the Asia-Pacific region

The Asia-Pacific region hosts two-thirds of the global population and account for 46 percent of the world’s GDP exists in the Asia-Pacific. This means that this region is crucial to achieving progress towards SDGs, and without their help, completion is near to impossible.

“Nowhere is this challenge – and opportunity – more urgent than in Asia and the Pacific,” said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ESCAP. She added, “This is our chance to build a more resilient, equitable and sustainable economy for all. We aim to foster solutions that are regionally grounded, technically sound and financially viable. Unless Asia and the Pacific can lead boldly, the global transition will fall short of expectations.”

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Chinese Freight Train. Credit: Unsplash/KUA YUE

By Maximilian Malawista
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 10 2025 (IPS)

Once landlocked, now connected, the UN Global Compact has bridged the gap between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: having many call it the “New Silk Road”.

On June 22nd, the UN Global Compact launched their Central Asia Network to drive SDG progress, connecting more than 140 participant companies to the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. This initiative will offer the tools and resources necessary to drive business practices which are sustainable and in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Kazakhstan will serve as the initiative’s multi-country office connecting Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Previously operating separately in silos, these five nations will now be part of a unified platform integrating a green economic strategy and promoting regional development.

“By launching a Country Network here, we are anchoring responsible investment and sustainability into this dynamic corridor, “ said Sanda Ojiambo, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “We are harnessing the region’s untapped private-sector potential to drive green growth, improve transparency and foster social cohesion.”

This region holds immense capabilities. As sixty percent of people in the region are under age thirty, this offers a powerful human capital to support a new generation of job creation, infrastructure development, and supply chain capabilities.

The Belt and Road Initiative: a new ally

In 2023, The UN Global Compact and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) formalized a partnership in Beijing, designed to align infrastructure development with long-term sustainability.

As part of this initiative, two tools were introduced:

· Global Compact Ten Principles Applied in Infrastructure Sectors under the BRI: A Practical Guide for Private Sector Players.
· Maximizing Impact towards the SDGs: Guidance and Assessment Tool for Companies to Advance Sustainable Infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative.

These resources give private sector actors a strategy to not only reach the SGDs, but also further develop infrastructure planning, finance and project implementation, thereby advancing regional connectivity.

The results of this are happening fast. During a summit held in Astana on June 22, President of Xinhua News Agency Fu Hua exchanged a cooperation agreement with Arman Kyrykbayev, Assistant to the President of Kazakhstan, which outlined a collaboration facilitating big data-computing centers, and the creation of a China-Kazakhstan Exchange and Cooperation Center. The new hub will support the facilitation of trade, currency settlement, and cross border intellectual property transactions, reflecting BRI’s vital role in molding a more connected and integrated central Asia. The center is only one of four key regional centers that were launched under the umbrella of China-Central Asia collaboration, with the other three dedicated to poverty reduction, education exchange and desertification control.

In that same week, speaking in Astana, President Xi Jinping of China introduced the “China-Central Asia Spirit,” which he characterized it as a show of “mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit and mutual assistance for the joint pursuit of modernization through high-quality development”. During the summit, Xi, and the leaders of five Central Asian countries signed the treaty of permanent good-neighborliness and friendly cooperation, formalizing a shared vision for an expansive future.

The impact of these economic and diplomatic participations has been clear. China-Central Asia trade in 2024 reached 94.8 billion USD, yielding an increase of 5.4 billion dollars from the previous year. In perspective, this volume of trade is the equivalent of Uzbekistan’s entire GDP, a staggering development for a region previously left behind in the world of trade and commerce.

Infrastructure: the rails and ships of now

A port in the Yantian District in Shenzen, China. Credit: Unsplash/Leoon Liang

While policy and values have paved the way, infrastructure is laying the foundation. New railway and freight hubs are rapidly transforming Central Asia from a previously landlocked entity to a vital logistics mega hub.

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and the China-Europe Caspian Sea Express are examples of this. These new routes link Central Asia to the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe, expanding its market access exponentially. Chinese cities are opening freight train routes and direct flights to Central Asia, further enhancing supply chains, and making travel ever more efficient.

On June 30, the China-Europe Caspian Sea Express launched, making its multimodal journey to its destination in Baku from Beijing. The journey took approximately fifteen days, cutting travel by more than half. The train was loaded with 104 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units), carrying approximately 2,300 tons of export goods, journeying across more than 8,000 kilometers. The corridor will also distribute cargo to Georgia, Türkiye and Serbia, among other regional entities.

The reality of regional cooperation

The transformation of Central Asian supply chains is not theoretical. This is happening in real time, with a new agreement being signed each day. While once fragmented and landlocked, Central Asia is becoming the new bridge between the East and the West: fast tracking expansion globally. Through the coordination of the UN Global Compact, China’s BRI, and regional partnerships, Central Asia has become the new hub for green innovation, sustainable trade, and youth driven economic revitalization.

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The Kruonis pumped-storage hydropower plant complements the one in the Lithuanian city of Kaunas. There are more than 500 of these "water batteries" in the world, and the mountainous geography favors their development in Latin America. Credit: Andrius Aleksandravicius / Ignitis

By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Jul 2 2025 (IPS)

Having hydroelectric power without damming rivers, dismantling the environment or displacing populations is possible in Latin America and the Caribbean, with reversible power plants that take advantage of their mountainous geography, and pave the way for only renewable sources to generate electricity.

“The development of these plants requires areas with a difference in altitude, for two reservoirs, one upper and one lower. And the region has hundreds of possible sites for pumped storage,” said Arturo Alarcón, a senior specialist at the Energy Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)."These plants requires areas with a difference in height, for two reservoirs, one upper and one lower. And the region has hundreds of possible sites for pumped storage. A recent IDB study identified 179 sites in 11 countries": Arturo Alarcón.

In countries crisscrossed by mountain ranges, in Brazil and even in the insular Caribbean, there are plenty of areas that could host these hydroelectric dams, says the Bolivian expert. “A recent IDB study identified 179 sites in 11 countries,” he told IPS from Washington.

Traditional hydropower plants dam the waters of a river, creating an artificial lake that provides water to drive turbines in an engine room that generates electricity. This is taken by transformers and transmission lines to consumption centres, and then the water is dumped and the river flows on to the sea.

In contrast, pumped-storage plants are fed with water from a reservoir at a certain height, which supplies the water, usually through a tunnel or canal, does the work in the engine room and deposits the water in a reservoir located at a lower altitude.

When the process is finished – after the hours of electricity generation due to increased demand, required from other sources – the water is pumped back from the lower to the upper reservoir, where it is available to start a new cycle.

These are power plants that can complement solar or wind energy parks, which are fed by solar radiation or wind power, thus subject to hourly and seasonal variations that require energy to be stored in batteries.

Diagram of the operation of a pumped hydro power plant. When the demand for electricity grows, the flow of water from the upper reservoir activates the turbines and, when its contribution to the system is no longer needed, the flow is reversed by pumping from the lower reservoir, leaving the whole as a water battery. Credit: Iberdrola

Supplementary batteries

For this reason, pumped-storage power plants are also called “water batteries”.

By reducing the need for fossil-fuelled thermal power plants, they become tools for decarbonising the entire electricity system.

“Although these plants do not generate more energy than they consume in the pumping process (for every megawatt hour generated, approximately 1.2 MWh is consumed), they do play a critical role in the integration of variable renewable energies such as solar and wind,” says Alarcón.

For example, in Brazil, where about 90% electricity is generated from renewable sources, wind and solar installations are growing, “which depend on weather conditions and there is no constant production throughout the day,” expert Caio Leocádio told IPS from Rio de Janeiro.

“This condition creates a favourable scenario for technologies that meet these requirements, with flexibility and storage capacity, allowing energy to be stored in times of surplus and used in times of greater demand,” says Leocádio, a consultant with the Brazilian Energy Research Company (EPE).

It is not a new technology. Around the world, some 200 gigawatts (one Gw equals 1000 Mw) have been installed in 510 pumped-storage power plants, equivalent to the entire hydroelectric capacity of Latin America.

In the region, the Rio Grande Hydroelectric Complex in the central Argentine province of Cordoba, with its Cerro Pelado and Arroyo Corte reservoirs, 12 kilometres apart, has been in operation since 1986 and has an installed capacity of 750 MWh, which is currently reduced due to equipment obsolescence.

The engine room of the Río Grande Complex, a reversible power plant in the province of Córdoba in north-central Argentina. Credit: Epec

 Favorable cost

So far, the level of development of pumped hydroelectricity shows that costs are competitive, although the economic performance of each facility and in each country depends on the type of electricity market.

For example, if it is an electricity market that has hourly energy prices, or that values the ancillary services that reversible plants can provide, such as maintaining a constant voltage despite fluctuations, a good economic performance can be achieved.

In terms of prices, the region has very disparate tariffs. Residential rates in some Caribbean islands exceed 40 US cents per kWh, in Guatemala 29, in Honduras and Uruguay 25, in Colombia 20, in Brazil and Costa Rica 16, in Mexico 10 and in Venezuela six cents, according to the  Global Petrol Prices website.

“The installation cost of reversible power plants can be high due to infrastructure and technical needs, but operating and maintenance costs are relatively low once they are up and running,” Alarcón noted.

Nightlife on the famous Copacabana beach in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. The growing demand for energy and the need to maintain a stable supply with electricity generated from renewable sources opens up opportunities for pumped-storage power plants. Credit: Inoutviajes

In Brazil, “projects of this type really require high initial investments, mainly in civil works and equipment,” Leocádio said. “Values are estimates between US$1,200 and 1,600 per kilowatt (kWh) installed, within the range of medium to large projects in the sector,” he added.

In the Dominican Republic, which is considering installing pumped-storage plants in the areas of Sabaneta (northwest) and Guaigui (centre), of 200 and 300 MWh respectively, installation costs are estimated at between US$1900 and 2400 per kilowatt.

But, on the other hand, experts agree that the projects have a useful life of 50 years or more, and although the return on investment requires a long term, these plants offer a stable and predictable performance.

This is the advantage Leocádio sees in Brazil, with its highly interconnected electricity system and wealth of sites for potential installation. A recent study found that in the state of Rio de Janeiro alone (43 750 square kilometres) there are 15 locations with ideal conditions for such plants.

Brazil’s gigantic Belo Monte dam on the Xingu River has altered watercourses, displaced populations, disrupted indigenous communities, agriculture and other livelihoods, increased deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Pumped-storage power plants can avoid many of these impacts. Credit: Bruno Batista / Vice-Presidency Brazil

Regulation and environment

For Alarcón, “the biggest challenge for this technology in Latin America and the Caribbean is regulatory. Not all electricity markets have adequate remuneration mechanisms for storage technologies or those that provide flexibility to electricity systems,” he said.

Therefore, among the tasks to be addressed in the region, along with investigating the specific areas that have the greatest potential for water batteries, Alarcón identified dialogue between governments and private actors, plus conferences and regional forums “to create a regulatory framework that facilitates these projects”.

That possibility – and also the contrasts – are shown by recent cases in Chile.  The Espejo de Tarapacá project, for a 300 MWh reversible power plant that plans to work with seawater, has advanced, but another, Paposo, in the north, was rejected by the Environmental Evaluation Service.

Advocates of pumped-storage power plants point out that their construction and operation require minimal alteration of the environment, as they do not require the diversion or damming of rivers, flooding of towns or farmland, or affecting the areas of indigenous peoples and peasant communities.

Since they do not alter large areas, they do not affect biodiversity, and in some cases can be sources of water for irrigation and sites that beautify or refresh landscapes.

But the central issue is their contribution to the stability of electricity systems and to the decarbonisation required by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which propose to increase the use of renewable energies along with access to electricity for all peoples.

By February 2025, according to the most recent report by the Latin American Energy Organisation (OLADE), total electricity generation in the region will reach 152 terawatts (Twh, one million megawatts), with 68.1% from renewable sources and 31.9% using oil, gas, coal or nuclear energy.

The largest source of renewable energy is hydroelectric (53.1% of the total), followed by wind (8.5%), solar (4.5%), bioenergy (1.5%) and geothermal energy (0.5%).

A young boy in Mozambique sleeps next to a bag of food aid donated by USAID and distributed by the UN’s World Food Programme. Credit: WFP/Rein Skullerud

By Heather Stobaugh
NEW YORK, Jun 30 2025 (IPS)

On July 1st, USAID officially shuts down and transfers operations to the U.S. State Department. Amid growing uncertainty about the future of U.S. foreign assistance structures and funding, supply chains that deliver life-saving treatment to malnourished children worldwide have broken down, triggering a global nutrition crisis.

We are witnessing the dismantling of a system that has saved millions of children’s lives for decades. The consequences will reverberate across the world: from peanut farms in Georgia to remote clinics in South Sudan, creating a humanitarian catastrophe that could have been prevented.

For more than two decades, the American people have supported the production, shipment, and administration of treatment packets, called ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), to save the lives of children suffering from a severe form of malnutrition, which affects 19 million children worldwide at any given moment.

These RUTF packets of specially-formulated nutrient-dense paste, often branded as “Plumpy’nut”, boast recovery rates exceeding 90% and can bring a child from medical crisis to health in as little as 45 days. Without treatment, survival rates are low, as a malnourished child is 11 times more likely to die than a healthy one.

Today, it all hangs in the balance. Our world has seen immense progress in preventing child deaths from malnutrition; unless we act fast and funding cuts are reversed, all our progress will regress 30 years seemingly overnight.

A System in Collapse

The numbers tell a devastating story. The closure of USAID and transfer of operations to the U.S. State Department has left 90% of all USAID contracts terminated, including $1.4 billion in emergency nutrition programming that, in part, supported approximately 50 percent of the global RUTF supply.

As a result, production of RUTF has halted, with most manufacturers receiving no new orders since December 2024. Eighteen countries face RUTF stockouts set to begin this month, creating a shortage of over two million cartons that could treat over two million malnourished children.

With supply chains requiring 3-6 months to produce, transport, and deliver the life-saving treatment to children who need it, time has run out.

Countries like South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Nigeria that are already grappling with conflict, climate shocks, and displacement will be among the first and hardest hit. In South Sudan alone, nutrition response funding has been slashed nearly in half, leaving one in two severely malnourished children without treatment. UNICEF estimates that Ethiopia will run out of RUTF supplies imminently.

The reality on the ground is stark: RUTF stockouts mean mothers will bring their children to health and nutrition centers only to be turned away because there’s no available treatment. Even before the current crisis, millions of children would lose the fight against malnutrition, given limited resources. Now, that number is going to rise rapidly.

Beyond the Numbers: Human Cost

Nutrition and health services have always been integrated: Malnourished children with medical complications often require referral to health facilities for further medical care in addition to the nutrition treatment. A malnourished child with a weakened immune system who contracts malaria may not survive because their body cannot fight off the simple illness.

But now, funding cuts for health programs have drastically reduced treatment for illnesses, such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV, which, alongside cuts to nutrition programs, create a perfect storm. These preventable, treatable conditions become matters of life and death.

Progress Was Being Made:

RUTF’s introduction nearly 30 years ago has revolutionized our fight against child mortality. Experts estimate that before RUTF, child survival from malnutrition was about 25%; with RUTF, it’s over 90%. Leading scientists and researchers were conducting rigorous research investigating how to optimize the dosage of RUTF and piloting new formulations to make limited resources stretch to reach more children in need of treatment.

Other innovative research on preventing relapse through gut microbiome restoration was showing tremendous promise for sustainable solutions and conserving resources. Together with improved public health programs, our world has seen annual child mortality rates drop from 12.9 million in 1990 to 4.8 million in 2023.

With the current uncertainty around U.S. humanitarian aid funding, the immediate outlook is very bleak, and doubts grow every day regarding the longer-term projections for any continuation in reducing child mortality worldwide. From a humanitarian perspective, it’s criminally irresponsible to stop trying to give every child a chance at life past their fifth birthday.

American Communities Feel the Impact

The crisis is not confined to remote nutrition clinics in foreign countries. American agricultural communities that supply raw ingredients for the life-saving RUTF are also hit hard. Peanut farmers in rural Georgia and dairy farmers across the country, critical to the RUTF supply chain, now face canceled contracts and uncertain futures.

MANA Nutrition in Fitzgerald, Georgia – which has produced RUTF to treat 10 million children across the globe since 2010 – estimates it has enough cash to keep running through August at best if no new contracts materialize.

The irony is profound: feeding children, mothers, and families has always been a deeply bipartisan American value. Emergency food assistance aligns with foreign policy priorities: it’s measurable, cost-effective, and builds lasting goodwill. These relationships also helped American farmers put food on their own families’ tables.

Other efforts were ongoing to increase local production of RUTF in countries where it is needed the most, creating jobs, bolstering local economies, and establishing self-sustaining solutions within each country’s challenges. But these smaller and newer RUTF manufacturers in the global south can only supply a fraction of what’s needed and have less reserves to be able to withstand the gap in revenue.

A Call for Urgent Action

Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department announced approval of $50 million for RUTF, representing 1.4 million boxes of the life-saving supplies that could “nourish over one million of the world’s most vulnerable children.” While this represents welcome progress after months of uncertainty, the amount is minimal compared to the need, and still no contracts have been confirmed. So we wait.

Meanwhile, every 11 seconds, a child dies from malnutrition-related causes. These aren’t abstract statistics—they’re preventable deaths of children who could be saved for about $150 a child. The dismantling of USAID represents more than a policy change—it’s a moral choice about America’s role in the world and our commitment to the most vulnerable.

There’s nothing more devastating than looking a mother in the eyes when both of you know that her child probably won’t make it to their next birthday, or perhaps even to the end of the week. Previously, that situation was becoming less frequent. However, now, I shudder to think how many more mothers around the world will be in this situation.

The clock is ticking, and children’s lives hang in the balance. As supply chains collapse and treatment centers close, the time to act is now, before this preventable crisis becomes an irreversible global tragedy.

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Excerpt:

Community orchard in Ribeirão, a neighbourhood in Florianopolis, the capital of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. There are more than 150 such orchards in the city, which serve as a final destination for the compost produced from their organic waste. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

Living with her neighbours, getting to know them and chatting with them is what Lucila Neves enjoys most in the community orchard of Portal de Ribeirão, a neighbourhood in the south of Florianopolis, considered the most sustainable of Brazil’s 27 state capitals.

The biodegradable packaging entrepreneur chose to live in the capital of the southern state of Santa Catarina, where she came from Ribeirão Preto, 950 kilometres to the north.

She is one of the people who voluntarily take care of the huge variety of vegetables, medicinal plants and fruit trees planted on about 1000 square metres.

The neighbourhood’s residents accepted the planting started 15 months ago, because it cleaned up the area where a private company used to compost organic waste for the municipality, without the necessary care.

Gone are the mice, mosquitoes, cockroaches and the bad smell that had infested the place, said biologist Bruna do Nascimento Koti, a primary school teacher and permanent volunteer in the garden, where she was together with Neves on the day IPS visited the space.

Now the state-owned Capital Improvement Company (Comcap) also makes clean compost there, with organic waste collected by the population in closed plastic buckets distributed by the Florianopolis city government.

In addition to providing inexpensive and healthy vegetables without agrochemicals, the orchard promotes conviviality, with a Thursday tea gathering and sometimes collective cultivation on Saturdays, Koti said.

Bruna do Nascimento Koti is one of the volunteers who tends the garden at Portal de Ribeirão, in the south of the Brazilian city of Florianopolis, where community life is promoted and healthy food is provided to neighbours and volunteer gardeners. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The Florianopolis municipality has chosen composting and recycling as the main alternatives for managing the solid waste generated by the city’s 537 000 people, to which many tourists and seasonal residents are added during the southern summer.

It is estimated that of the 700 tonnes of daily waste, 43% is dry recyclable waste and 35% organic waste, the use of which is to be increased in order to reduce the proportion of waste destined for landfill. There is 22% of non-recyclable waste left over.

Currently only 13% of the total is recycled, while the remaining 87% goes to the landfill in the neighbouring municipality of Biguaçu, 45 kilometres from Florianopolis, which receives waste from 23 cities, Karina de Souza, director of solid waste at the Florianopolis Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development, told IPS.

But official statistics point to significant progress. Food waste used in composting increased more than four times, from 1175 tonnes in 2020 to 5126 tonnes in 2024, according to Souza’s records.

Green organics, as waste from tree pruning and other vegetation is called, more than doubled during that period. Glass also increased by a factor of 2.5 and materials that arrive mixed and go through separation before recycling almost quadrupled.

The ‘Zero Waste’ programme adopted by the mayor’s office in 2018 sets a target of recycling 60% of dry waste and 90% of organic waste by 2030, a goal that seems far off.

Waste already separated for recycling, in this case glass. Tyres, plastics and cardboard are other materials collected for recycling at the Waste Recovery Centre near the city centre of Florianopolis in southern Brazil. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Waste has value

The Comcap Waste Recovery Centre, located in the Itacorubi neighbourhood, near the city centre and next to the Botanical Garden, is at the heart of the municipal policy to solve the waste challenge.

It concentrates the city’s large composting yard, a central facility for separating recyclable waste and another for transferring disposable waste and compacting it into larger trucks for transport to the landfill.

It also includes a Waste Museum, especially for environmental education, and an ecopoint where residents deposit their recyclable waste, such as wood, electronics, paper, plastics and glass.

There are nine ecopoints distributed throughout the city, which receive around 11 000 tonnes of recyclable waste per year for sorting and handling.

This waste, also collected from other sources, is transferred to warehouses where glass, packaging cartons, corrugated paper, plastics and tyres are collected separately for recycling. But they arrive mixed with rubbish and have to go through human separation and sorting, called triage.

This is the area of the Association of Collectors of Recyclable Material, which, hired by Comcap, separates the waste for the buyers, generally the recycling industry.

Of the 75 members, about 40% are immigrants, mostly Venezuelans, but also Peruvians, Haitians and Colombians, according to Volmir dos Santos, the association’s president, during IPS’ visit to the facility.

Founded in 1999, the group was initially made up of street waste collectors. With the advance of municipal management, selective collection in residences, industries and commerce, in addition to the ecopoints, they became ‘triadores’, those who separate, classify and sell the waste ready for recycling.

“We suffered prejudice, discrimination and shame, now we gain respect,” Dos Santos celebrated.

Two young Venezuelans who immigrated to Brazil and found employment at the Waste Valorisation Centre in Florianopolis. Haitian and Peruvian migrants also work at the facility. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

No incineration of waste

But the broad movement of recycling workers, from various associations and cooperatives, seeks to influence municipal plans. It opposes, for example, the burning of non-recyclable waste for energy generation, an alternative that is growing among industrial countries.

There are at least 3035 solid waste combustion plants in the world, known as Waste-to-Energy, said Yuri Schmitke, president of the Brazilian Association of Energy from Waste (Abren), which brings together 28 companies in the sector.

It is the way to achieve the goal of ‘zero waste’ or the elimination of landfills, since recycling has limits –there is always a percentage that cannot be reused and incineration replaces fossil fuels, he argued.

Countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the Nordic European nations have managed to use 100% of their waste, he said, by eliminating these landfills or final solid waste deposits.

Restrictions and allegations of environmental and even sanitary damage have been dispelled in several European countries, Japan and Korea, with the implementation of these plants even in central parts of large cities, without such negative effects, he pointed out.

Paris already has three of them in its so-called extended city centre, where the population density reaches 15 000 people per square kilometre, he said.

“Incineration puts an end to the cycle, it excludes recycling definitively, and Brazil is very different from Europe, it has already had failed experiences,” countered Dorival Rodrigues dos Santos, president of the Federation of Associations and Cooperatives of Waste Pickers of Santa Catarina, which claims to represent 28,000 workers.

It calls for a broad debate between technicians and collectors on the subject, given that this alternative is beginning to gain followers in Brazil. The municipality of Joinville, with 616 000 inhabitants and 170 kilometres from Florianopolis, has plans to install a plant to generate electricity by burning waste.

Florianopolis is looking to send non-recyclable waste to the cement industry, which is interested in using it as fuel instead of fossil fuels, said De Souza, Florianopolis’ director of solid waste.

Aparecida Napoleão leads a waste collection movement in her building, an example of the benefits of separating and recycling different materials in the southern Brazilian city of Florianopolis. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Recycling first

“We defend the primacy of recycling over incineration. The goal is to improve recycling, we have not exhausted the advances,” according to Karolina Zimmermann, the engineer who works with the collectors.

Progress in recycling depends not only on new technologies, such as those that separate mixed or even melted materials, dyes and chemical elements in plastics or paperboard. The environmental education of consumers in order to separate waste is key to increase reuse.

Aparecida Napoleão is an example of how recycling monitoring has taken hold. In her building of 126 luxury flats, she spearheads a movement to separate all waste, from the small glass containers she sends to artisanal jelly producers to special papers that can be turned into notebooks, plastics and even bottle caps.

A retired social worker from the Florianopolis municipality, she has organised a chain of shelves and bins on the ground floor of the building for dozens of different types of materials. She tries to guide her neighbours, but recognises that even so, there are always those who put rubbish in the wrong place.

“It’s a lot of work, you have to be patient, explain, ask repeatedly until they understand the importance of separation,” she says.

A recycling, biodigestion and composting complex is being installed next to the landfill of the Intermunicipal Consortium of the Middle Valley of the Itajaí River (Cimvi), to take advantage of all the solid waste from 19 municipalities in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
TIMBO / FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil , Jun 13 2025 (IPS)

In 2014, Santa Catarina became the first and only state free of open-air garbage dumps in Brazil. Now, 14 of its municipalities are seeking to also free themselves from landfills and make use of nearly all urban solid waste.

The Intermunicipal Consortium of the Middle Itajaí Valley (Cimvi) expects to process in recycling, biodigestion and composting more than 90% of the garbage, surpassing the 65% benchmark reached by the Nordic countries of Europe, emphasized its executive director, Fernando Tomaselli.“We have 36 landfills in the state, only three public, the rest are private and there is little interest in changing the system, because whoever dominates the landfill also dominates the garbage collection service”: Fernando Tomaselli.

“It is a utopia,” said the executive president of the Brazilian Association of Energy from Waste (Abren), Yuri Schmitke.

“The unrealistic goal compromises the project,” he warned. Several European countries, Japan and South Korea have already eliminated sanitary landfills – the areas for the final disposal of solid waste – but resort to incineration to generate energy with non-recyclable garbage, he added.

Cimvi rules out that alternative. Its goal is to expand recycling and the circular economy of waste to an unprecedented proportion. “Our obsession is to take advantage of everything, to prove that garbage does not exist,” said Tomaselli.

But recycling has limits. Europe, after many attempts and advances, covers 25 % of waste on average and 32 % in the exceptional case of Germany. In addition, 19% of the waste still goes to landfills, according to data from Abren, which had its sixth annual congress in Florianopolis, capital of Santa Catarina, on June 5 and 6.

Cimvi was created in 1998, with only five participating municipalities, to jointly manage several issues, but not yet garbage. It reached its current composition of 14 municipalities in 2017 after taking over the management of the sanitary landfill in 2016, previously in charge of the water and sewage authorities.

Its headquarters was installed in Timbo, a town of 46 099 people, according to the 2022 national census. The 14 municipalities had 283 594 residents that year, the most populous being Indaial, with 71 549.

Fernando Tomaselli, director of Cimvi, an intermunicipal initiative that promotes circular waste management in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Landfill and recycling

The landfill receives garbage from five other “partner” cities, in addition to the 14 in the consortium, with a total of between 5,000 and 7,000 tons per month. Environmental education campaigns in schools, businesses and the streets have gradually expanded selective waste collection.

Yellow sacks were popularized and disseminated where the population put recyclable waste which, collected by the municipalities, are taken to the Waste Assessment Center (CVR I) at the Cimvi headquarters, on the outskirts of Timbo.

“Today we recover 20 to 22% of recyclable waste, against a Brazilian average of 2%. We want to reach 27%,” Tomaselli told IPS.

“We receive an average of 60 tons a day, 24 hours a day, in three shifts, Monday to Monday,” said Rosane Valério, president of the Medio Vale Cooperative, hired to separate and send the waste to purchasing companies, at CVR I, where 87 recyclers are employed.

The cooperative has another unit to process waste from two other nearby cities, Ituporanga and Aurora, with a total of 33 300 people.

“Of the material received, we still discard 30% that comes mixed or dirty with food remains, sometimes blood that attracts mosquitoes, glass and other dangerous objects such as syringes and medicines, which generate major difficulties for recycling,” explained Valério.

A bench at the entrance of Cimvi’s headquarters, made of thermoplastic produced from waste that was previously considered non-recyclable and destined for landfills. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Thermoplastic

She regretted that “we do not know the origin, there is a lack of awareness of the population in the correct disposal”. In any case, half of that 30% of discarded waste can be used for the production of thermoplastic, a hard material like concrete, which is used to make benches for squares, sidewalks, pavements and walls.

The cooperative already operates a pilot plant, with experimental production that has not yet been sold externally. “The municipalities are the initial market for the thermoplastic plates, as well as for the compost from the composting,” says Tomaselli.

Abren’s president, Schmitke, is skeptical. The consortium municipalities have a limited, insufficient demand, and the population does not trust products made from garbage, he argued.

Jaqueline Wagenknetht and Maria Eduarda Pegoretti, Cimvi’s environmental education and communication advisors, promote environmental education in the so-called European Valley to improve selective garbage collection and promote tourism and sustainable living. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

But thermoplastic has been around for four decades and now there is equipment that facilitates its production at a high temperature, 160 degrees Celsius, and as an input, half of the plastic that is added to other waste, such as textiles, is enough, countered the director of Cimvi.

The use of local waste will take a leap forward with the inauguration of CVR II, which is expected in early 2026 and will use a large part of the organic waste for the production of biogas and biofertilizers. Another part will go to composting.

“The goal is to take advantage of 100% or 98%,” for which alternatives must be sought for waste, the “common garbage” for which there are still no ways to recycle, he said.

Cimvi headquarters, in the Sunflower Park, which combines ecotourism, sanitary landfill and urban waste utilization plants for biogas generation, recycling and composting. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Bottlenecks

One stumbling block is selective collection, which needs to be perfected. “In Milan, Italy, five types of garbage are separated at the source, be it food, plastics, paper, metals or glass. Here, it’s harder because everything is mixed together,” said Tomaselli.

That is why Cimvi gives priority to environmental education, through several campaigns such as “Vale reciclar”, and sustainable tourism, which highlights the beauties of the so-called European Valley, which includes other municipalities in addition to the 14 consortium members.

The Girasol Park was also created for this purpose, a tourist complex that includes the landfill, the Cimvi facilities and the surrounding forest, with trails for walks, said Jaqueline Wagenknetht, environmental education advisor.

Design and poetry contests among local students seek to promote the valley, which is called European because its population includes many immigrants, especially Germans, Italians and Poles.

The name Sunflower was chosen for the park because, in addition to its beauty, the flower symbolizes sustainability, as a source of oil and biofuel, the advisor explained.

Design of the future Sunflower Park, in which the green buildings, in the center, are intended for recycling and energy biodigestion. In the background on the left is the landfill already covered, able to receive solar energy panels. Credit: Courtesy of Cimvi

Cimvi benefits from the experiences of São Bento do Sul, a municipality of 83 277 people, 120 kilometers north of Timbo, which has a similar program that seeks to use up to 100% of the waste.

A process of dehydration of the organic part allows a better use of the waste, explained Jacó Phoren, consultant of the company 100lixo, which is involved in the project, during his speech at the Abren congress on June 6.

Fostering new companies that generate solutions for the waste industry is another focus of Cimvi, said Tomaselli.

In Curitibanos, a city 185 kilometers southwest of Timbo, with 40 045 people, the company Inventus Ambiental claims to have invented equipment that will facilitate the separation of garbage for better energy recovery or recycling, reducing the waste that makes landfills bigger.

Its pilot project will be inaugurated in a few months and is based on the use of 90-degree heat to treat organic material, informed Dirnei Ferri, director of the company.

Santa Catarina has already eliminated open dumps, although it is ignored if all of them have been cleaned up. Now it is a matter of “breaking the landfill trench”, said Tomaselli.

“We have 36 landfills in the state, only three public, the rest are private and there is little interest in changing the system, because whoever dominates the landfill also dominates the garbage collection service,” he concluded.

Li Junhua, head of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the Secretary-General, Jérôme Bonnafont, Permanent Representative of France to the UN and Costa Rican Ambassador Maritza Chan Valverde during a press conference ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice: Credit: Twitter

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, May 28 2025 (IPS)

A greater understanding and appreciation of the world’s oceans is needed to protect them. As the global community prepares to convene for the ocean conference, they must also prepare to invest in scientific efforts and education that will bolster their joint efforts.

France and Costa Rica will co-host the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) in Nice, France, from June 9-13. Over the course of the week, governments, the private sector, intergovernmental groups, and non-governmental groups, among others, will convene over the urgent actions that need to be taken to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans.

This year’s conference will be the first to take place during the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), which brings together stakeholders in which the UN and its partners will oversee the actions that need to be taken to protect the oceans’ unique ecosystems and biodiversity and how to promote greater awareness and research into ocean sciences and how to better protect them.

UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) oversees and tracks the progress of the UN Ocean Decade, which brings together the global ocean community on the principles of understanding, educating, and protecting the oceans.

There will be an emphasis on strengthening the data-collection capacities in the global system for observing the ocean. Data scarcity and limitations in collection methods have meant that organizations have challenges grasping the full scope of the ocean and the changes they face in the wake of climate change.

Julian Barbiere, UNESCO’s Head of Marine Policy, told reporters that science-based discussions will be at the core of UNOC. For UNESCO, there will be discussions over how to translate scientific facts into tangible climate actions. This includes scaling up the current efforts at ocean-floor mapping. At present, only 26.1 percent of the seafloor has been mapped out by modern standards, with the goal to have 100 percent of the seafloor mapped out by 2030.

Seaweed is grown or farmed in the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean, off Wasini Island, Kenya, with plants tied to ropes in the water. Credit: Anthony Onyango / Climate Visuals

Joanna Post, head of the IOC’s Ocean Observations and Services, remarked that there is a “real need for recognition” of the critical functions that the system performs, such as in monitoring weather conditions, mapping the ocean floor, maritime security, and disaster risk management. She announced a new initiative that would mobilize at least 10,000 commercial and research ships to collect data and measure the ocean. Commercial and research ship vessels play a key role in tracking and collecting data on the oceans, which Post emphasized must be shared across global channels.

UNESCO’s agenda for this forum also includes encouraging stakeholders to invest in and strengthen global education efforts on the ocean. “Education is key if we want to have a new generation that is aware of the importance of the ocean system,” said Francesca Santoro, a senior programme officer in UNESCO, leading the Ocean Literacy office.

Santoro stressed that education is not limited to students and young people; private investors should also be more aware of the importance of investing in the oceans.

UNESCO aims to continue expanding the networks of schools and educators that incorporate ocean literacy into their curricula, especially at the national level. Ocean literacy emphasizes the importance of the ocean for students, educators, and local communities within multiple contexts.

One such programme is the SEA BEYOND initiative, in partnership with the Prada Group, which provides training and lessons to over 20,000 students in over 50 countries. Under that initiative, a new multi-partner trust fund will be launched at UNOC3 on June 9, which will be used to support projects and programs that work toward ocean education and preserving ocean culture. As Santoro noted, “For many people and local communities, the main entry point to start interest in the oceans… is in [identifying] what UNESCO calls ‘intangible cultural heritage.’”

Human activity, including pollution, “directly threatens” the health of the ocean, according to Henrik Enevoldsen from UNESCO-IOC’s Centre of Ocean Science.

He announced the development of a new global assessment, led by UNESCO and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), on marine pollution, to be launched on June 12.  This would be a “major leap forward,” Enevoldsen remarked, adding that this assessment would be the first of its kind that provided a global overview of ocean pollution.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Edilso Reguera, a researcher at the Center for Research in Applied Science and Advanced Technology (Cicata) of Mexico’s public National Polytechnic Institute, displays an X-ray diffractometer used to study the structure of materials for electric batteries designed to store and recharge energy. Credit: Emilio Godoy / IPS

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO, May 27 2025 (IPS)

Researcher Edilso Reguera and his team began studying electric battery manufacturing in 2016, but in 2023, they ramped up efforts to develop a lithium-based prototype for motorcycles.

Commissioned by the Mexico City government in 2022, “we developed the battery from scratch. We are the most advanced research group in the country. We tested it on motorcycles, and it works well,” Reguera explained to IPS in his small office. He is an academic at the Center for Research in Applied Science and Advanced Technology Cicata, part of the National Polytechnic Institute, located in the northern part of the capital.

The research began with funding from the city government, and Cicata took charge of designing, producing, and testing the capacitor batteries."We developed the battery from scratch. We are the most advanced research group in the country. We tested it on motorcycles, and it works well." — Edilso Reguera

In the laboratory, where around 40 students and researchers collaborate, staff analyze materials and examine substances using equipment with near-unpronounceable names, collectively worth thousands of dollars.

The Mexican government plans to promote energy storage in renewable plants and electromobility, making projects like Cicata’s crucial.

“A battery is a storage device, so it works well for multiple applications,” said Reguera, who also heads the National Laboratory for Energy Conversion and Storage under the newly created Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation.

But this vision remains aspirational in Mexico, where only two photovoltaic projects currently include storage systems. While the government has ambitious plans to boost the sector, details remain unclear.

Despite the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) having storage goals since 2004, only two private projects currently have such systems.

One is the Aura Solar III photovoltaic plant, owned by Mexican company Gauss Energía, which has been operating since 2018 in La Paz, the capital of the northwestern state of Baja California Sur. It has a generation capacity of 32 megawatts (MW) and a storage capacity of 10.5 MW.

The other is the La Toba solar park, owned by U.S.-based Invenergy, operational since 2022, also in Baja California Sur, with 35 MW of generation and 20 MW of storage.

This approach allows for savings in energy consumption and costs, as well as backup for the power grid, which is currently under strain due to insufficient generation and maintenance.

Additionally, since wind doesn’t blow constantly and sunlight is only available during the day, renewable energy requires storage capacity to compensate for variability and ensure a stable supply.

Andrés Flores, energy policy director at the non-governmental Iniciativa Climática de México, highlighted the urgency of the issue.

“We are in a high-risk situation, heavily dependent on gas for generation. Due to climate factors, we are already experiencing blackouts,” the expert told IPS.

He explained that Mexico has limited generation capacity and low power reserves, meaning “there is a need to invest in storage to minimize these risks, improve operational flexibility, and integrate more renewables in the near future.”

Flores authored the study Energy Storage in Mexico: Analysis and Policy Proposals, published in January, which identified key challenges, including a 2-gigawatt deficit in operational reserves, limited capacity during peak consumption hours, and concentrated issues during evening and nighttime demand.

The study also found little clarity in energy planning regarding the deployment of storage systems.

The private photovoltaic plant Aura Solar III is one of only two facilities in Mexico equipped with a battery bank for energy storage. Credit: Gauss Energía

Ambitions

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, in office since October, presented the 2024-2030 National Electric Sector Strategy a month later, followed in February by the Plan for Strengthening and Expanding the National Electric System, which are interlinked.

The February plan aims to boost the electricity sector through measures such as adding 574 MW across five photovoltaic plants with capacitor batteries, representing a public investment of US$ 223 million. These plants are expected to come online by 2027.

In the same vein, the Federal Electricity Commission is advancing the bidding for phase II of the Puerto Peñasco photovoltaic plant, located in the namesake town in the northern state of Sonora. This phase will add 300 MW of capacity, backed by 10.3 MW in battery storage. The plant’s first phase (120 MW) has been operational since 2023. Once completed in 2026, the full project will deliver 1,000 MW at a cost of US$1.6 billion.

For Karina Cuentas, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s (UNAM) Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology, the lag in energy storage stems from a lack of government support.

“We’re behind because not enough funding is allocated to technological development. We have all the tools to make progress, but it’s very difficult due to a lack of resources. There’s enthusiasm because the plan has been presented, along with the roadmap and scenarios to achieve it,” she told IPS from Ensenada, in the northwestern state of Baja California.

“The optimal storage solution for renewables is batteries,” she emphasized.

As president of the non-governmental Mexican Energy Storage Network—a group of around 200 specialists in the field—Cuentas believes progress will depend on “the rules of the game.”

A regulatory framework for energy storage has been in effect since March, but its implementing regulations may take up to two years to finalize, potentially delaying project development.

Additionally, critics argue that the regulation classifies storage backup as part of power generation itself and imposes restrictive guidelines on its applications.

Mexico has an installed capacity of 89,000 MW, and during the first quarter of this year, nearly 61% of electricity generation depended on fossil gas, followed by conventional thermoelectric (6%), wind (nearly 6%), hydroelectric (4.6%), solar photovoltaic (4.2%), coal-fired (3.3%), nuclear (3.2%), gas turbine (3.1%), and geothermal (1.2%).

Renewable energy sources have an installed capacity of over 33,000 MW but contribute only 21% of the electricity. To the current mix, the government’s plan would add 21,893 MW to the national energy grid, aiming to increase clean energy from the current 22.5% to 37.8%.

The electricity sector has suffered from the fossil fuel dependency of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration (2018-2024), who stalled the energy transition—a situation his ally and successor, Sheinbaum, seeks to correct.

The fishing community of San Juanico, in the municipality of Comondú, Baja California Sur, has a hybrid power plant since 1999 combining wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, and a diesel generator for electricity supply. Credit: CFE.

Forgotten Potential 

For over a decade, various studies have highlighted the potential of energy storage systems in this Latin American country, home to 129 million people and the region’s second-largest economy after Brazil.

The Federal Electricity Commission identified at least 169 sites in 2017 with potential for pumped-storage hydropower, but it never invested in this method, which is now difficult to implement due to current drought conditions and insufficient reservoir levels.

Civil society organizations estimate that storage capacity could reach 500 MW for industrial projects and 18 MW for residential photovoltaic systems by 2030.

The government’s National Electric System Development Program for 2024-2038 outlines the deployment of seven gigawatts (GW) of storage systems between in 2024-2028 and eight GW in 2028-2038, but without specifying concrete projects or operational mechanisms.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents major energy consumers, recommends incorporating storage into long-term energy planning and incentivizing its deployment. To this end, it suggests continuing regulatory reviews, implementing policies to promote battery recycling, and adopting measures for the trade of used energy storage systems.

The uncertainty surrounding energy storage progress in Mexico is evident in places like Cicata, where experts have called for stronger support.

“Having domestic technological development brings strength, improves the economy, and creates Mexican industrial companies without relying on foreign technology. Technological development is a matter of national security,” said researcher Reguera.

This year, his priorities include developing a sodium-based battery—safer and cheaper than lithium but with lower energy storage capacity—and securing around three million dollars to build a pilot plant capable of assembling about 500 catalysts daily.

Meanwhile, Cuentas, an energy storage expert, expressed hope that “mechanisms will be put in place to foster technological development in the country. With a more modern grid, variability wouldn’t cause as much disruption—it should withstand renewable energy fluctuations. It’s crucial to have more renewable generation and a strengthened grid.”

Finally, Flores, an energy policy specialist, proposed drafting a dedicated storage program and roadmap.

“There needs to be clarity in their plans. There are complementary options, integrating storage with large-scale traditional and renewable generators. For solar and wind energy, having storage facilities would be ideal,” he suggested.

Credit: Unsplash/Kel Avelino

By Maximilian Malawista
NEW YORK, May 16 2025 (IPS)

The Gulf’s most powerful weapon isn’t a military, a United Nations (UN) Security Council seat, or a legacy of global diplomacy. Choosing multilateralism and mega-projects over militaries and old-world diplomacy, they are tipping the scale without firing a single shot. Their approach is more modern, where money, alliances, and an active vision for the future are the weapon of choice.

The UN’s 2030 Agenda is a framework for redefining global leadership, and it seems like the Gulf nations are stepping into it full force. As global policy moves towards renewable energy and farther away from fossil fuels, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Kuwait are the leading countries in global climate reform. Through their plans, from Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 to Kuwait’s Vision 2035, these Gulf states are not looking to rely on oil: they are actively diversifying their economies for the world’s market, and fast. They do this by promoting initiatives which support SDG 7: affordable and clean energy, SDG 13: climate action, and SDG 8: decent work and economic growth, setting the stage for a renewable, efficient, and clean world. The Gulf is showing that they don’t just want to escape the “resource curse” but rather redesign global leadership in its entirety.

While Gulf nations are actively diversifying, they are still heavily reliant on oil as a main driver in their economies. Saudi Arabia sees 40 percent of its 1.068 trillion USD GDP to be solely oil, the UAE sees 30 percent of their 514.1 billion USD GDP, Qatar follows with oil accounting for around 60 percent of their 213 billion USD GDP, and Kuwait at 50 percent of their 163.7 billion USD GDP. Not only is oil their main driver, but it is also their main global influence, as 21 percent of the world’s oil consumption passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a shared border with the UAE.

Without Gulf oil, the world’s energy prices would skyrocket, easily putting many global powers into recessions. Powers like Europe, China, South Korea, Japan, the U.S., and India all rely on the Gulf for their energy needs, placing most of their oil dependence on the Gulf above other oil exporters.

However, with actions like the Paris Agreement, the Global Stocktake, and COP28, countries that have historically been big oil importers are now starting to shift towards renewable energy sources, hoping to eventually completely shift out of oil and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. This means reducing oil emissions by 43% by 2030, a huge hit to Gulf economies if they don’t pivot fast. A move away from oil means the crippling of the Gulf economies, but this is what Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait are prepared for.

In cities like Dubai, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Doha, and Kuwait City, the Gulf is now home to various desert mirages, all of which are putting their 2030 visions above all. Not only are they tourist destinations for the desert traveler, but home to businessmen and billionaire elites. The Gulf achieves this by making their cities expat-friendly. The UAE has topped the leaderboards with #1 in the world for movers, with Qatar at #3, and Saudi Arabia at #10, breaking the narrative of being strict for foreigners.

Each nation has strived to create a connectedness within their cities, using the English language for most if not all business transactions, and teaching it alongside or even without Arabic, depending on the type of schooling. 92 percent of Dubai’s population are expats, followed by Doha at 90 percent, Abu Dhabi at 80 percent, Kuwait City at 68 percent, Jeddah at 58 percent, and Riyadh at 52 percent. None of the main Gulf cities are Arab majorities nor majority Arabic-speaking, they are people from diverse backgrounds and foreign countries: numbers unseen anywhere else in the world.

Credit: Unsplash/Oskars Sylwan

A Challenge to the West:

The most stable economic expansion, zero crime, the geographic crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and allied with virtually the whole world, the Gulf has seen a surge in global mediations, sovereign wealth deposits, and UN activity at a faster rate than anywhere else.

Just this March, peace talks between the United States and Russia, amidst the Russia-Ukraine war, took place in Riyadh, highlighting its status as a close ally for both nations.

Ali Shihabi, a retired Saudi banker, now author and commentator, said: “I don’t think there’s another place where the leader has such a good personal relationship with both Trump and Putin.”

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Slam, or MBS, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, has pushed for a modernization of Saudi Arabia, moving the kingdom away from rigid cultural traditions in daily life, and toward a more globally welcoming cosmopolitan society – a direction which has been echoed all throughout the Gulf; aligning with a broader diplomatic vision and values on the global stage.

Similarly, Qatar has been heading mediations between the Israel-Palestine conflict, connecting Hamas and the West, playing a crucial role in hostage negotiations, ceasefire & de-escalation talks, pressure for acceptance of humanitarian aid, and a coordinator in the financial support for Palestine’s reconstruction.

The rest of the Gulf has also seen increasing diplomatic mediation efforts. Saudi Arabia managed mediation between warring factions in Sudan, creating room for U.S. dialogue. Culminating in 2020, Qatar had hosted Taliban-US negotiations, by being the neutral ground where the Taliban’s political office was stationed, leading to an agreement for the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Lebanon’s political gridlock was alleviated through mediation and economic support efforts by Qatar, facilitating the election of Joseph Aoun as President of Lebanon. Saudi Arabia arranged the re-entry of Syria into the Arab League by initiating talks and promoting regional stability. The UAE, behind closed doors, has opened communication channels between Pakistan and India, looking to reduce tension in the Kashmir region. Kuwait also led successful mediation efforts during the Gulf crisis, which resolved the most serious internal dispute in the history of the GCC.

Roger Carstens, the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, said in 2023: “What I can say is that Qatar is playing a very strong and important role as an intermediary. There are times when, of course, the United States does not really have entrée into some of the negotiating groups, and this is a case where Qatar has really been able to bring its gravitas in the region to bear.”

This role which Qatar has, as an Islamic and Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern nation but also a wealthy, trusted, connected member of the Western world, has allowed its intermediary status, one which other Gulf nations are also creating space for.

The Gulf displays itself as not only an ally to the West, but a contender in its model. The Gulf has proved its ability in filling diplomatic vacuums, exhibiting that the power of mediation is not exclusive to the West, while actively creating global financial and innovation hubs, featuring multinational HQs, and UN offices in cities that are nothing short of futuristic desert mirages – while much of the West crumbles under crippling and dated infrastructure.

This could be a signal to the West for change, perhaps a switch in its focus. By actively investing in markets outside of oil, the Gulf is successfully creating civilizations open to the world, and far more welcoming than the traditional Western city, by just about every metric, whether you look at the US. News, or urban safety and cleanliness benchmarks, or the IMD Smart City Index: the Gulf is smashing the charts. From finance and AI to innovation, travel, diplomacy, and inclusivity, the Gulf is actively surpassing Western metropolises, becoming the go-to global destination of choice.

Maximilian Malawista is a student at the University of Buffalo where he majors in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), Global Affairs, and English.

IPS UN Bureau

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