Combining Biogas and Solar, the Best Energy Deal in Brazil

"Biogas is the best energy, it has no contraindications," and if you combine it with solar it becomes "the best energy business," at least in Brazil, says Anélio Thomazzoni.

Barbados Prime Minister Warns of Mass Migration Backlash Because of Climate Crisis

The Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley tells IPS her patience is running thin, as she challenges the world to tackle the climate crisis.

How to ‘Fix the Business of Food’ and Save the Planet

With up to one billion undernourished people around the world, and agriculture and land use systems increasingly vulnerable to climate change and land degradation, more companies within the global food industry need to start aligning their operations with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs.

The “Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity” Report by the Coalition for Urban Transitions

The Coalition for Urban Transitions recently released a report titled Climate Emergency, Urban Opportunity: How national governments can secure economic prosperity and avert climate catastrophe by transforming cities. The report indicates the numerous benefits of prioritizing zero-carbon cities and provides national governments with six key priorities for actions to take to achieve a successful urban transition.

In Southern Brazil, Need Becomes an Environmental Virtue

The state of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil is the largest national producer and exporter of pork and this year it also leads in exports of chicken, of which it is the second-biggest producer in the country.

Biogas Makes Pig Farming More Sustainable in Southern Brazil

Biogas has the potential to provide 36 percent of the electricity consumed in Brazil or replace 70 percent of diesel if purified as biomethane, according to the Brazilian Association of Biogas and Biomethane (Abiogas).

GGGI joined Ethiopia Green Legacy Campaign to plant 200 million tree seedlings in a day

In 2019, the Ethiopia government, led by Prime Minster Dr. Abiy Ahmed, launched the ambitious Green Legacy campaign that set a milestone to plant 200 million tree seedlings within 12 hours as integral part of an annual target to plant 4 billion tree seedlings.

As Climate Crisis Worsens & Poverty Rises, UN Appears Off-Track on Development Agenda

The two key goals in the UN’s development agenda are the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. But most of the world’s developing nations, currently fighting a losing battle against rising poverty and hunger –and suffering from the devastating impact of climate change-- are likely to miss the deadline for most of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to the latest report by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Driving the grassroots green economy

Sonika Manandhar, Aeloi Technologies’ co-founder, knows the Kathmandu public transportation system inside out. Her family has been running micros (vans that operate as buses) as a business for over twenty years. She also insists on taking public transportation every day, although most of her peers in the technology industry rather save up and buy a motorbike. “Buses are just safer and more environmentally friendly,” says Sonika. “Unfortunately, all the buses, micros, and tempos stop after 8 pm. Then taxis or motorcycle hailing apps are the only options. I don’t feel safe with either, so I often miss out on networking opportunities or professional meetings over dinner,” she adds.

Plaswood: Plastic waste crunched into pieces becomes ply-plastic

Environment always becomes my first concern. Plastic wastes and deforestations are the major issues that I have involved with. The story behind the business concept occurred when I was running a small construction project to build a room in the apartment which I needed to buy plywood to build that room. At that time, I realized that the plywood is totally made from woodchips. I then got an idea of ply-plastic by crunching the plastic into pieces and transforming them to ply-plastic. 

Before Bangalore city goes dry – Let’s close the loop

Shiva, 38 years, staying in a pent-house facing the Bellandur lake paid a bomb for this view 10 years back. But in 2019, often he wakes up to snow-flaked froth and smog and even shockingly fire over the lake. It has become a regular sight for him to watch water tankers filling the underground sump. 

AfDB ‘s Solar Project Aims at Making Africa a Renewable Power House

When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the International Solar Alliance last October, he applauded the goal of mobilizing about $1 trillion dollars towards the deployment of some 1,000 gigawatts of solar energy by 2030.

The Push for Peace-From the Global Village to the Global Neighborhood

From the ashes of a tragedy that wiped out almost 90% of the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, an institute called the Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center (HPC) rose like a phoenix of hope that is pioneering the creation of a global pool of peacebuilders. It is driven by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development declaration that "there can be no sustainable development without peace and no peace without sustainable development.”

Microbes are paving the way to sustainable wastewater treatment

One morning Namitha awoke to a frantic call, “He can’t breathe. When he inhales, his ribs ache”, said Panchi. Panchi was one of the young mothers of the community that she was volunteering with and is just one among the thousands who use polluted water from the Yamuna River for her daily needs. Her son never fully recovered just like many other villagers who have been struck with epidemics of bone deformities, fluoride poisoning and water-borne diseases due to the rising water pollution in India.

Uganda becomes the 33rd Member of GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) welcomed the Government of Uganda (GoU) as its thirty-third Member, committing to support the country in achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and implementing its National Adaptation Plan. GoU sought for GGGI’s membership in 2015 by signing a letter of intent to support the country in its effort to transition to a green economy as the vehicle for sustainable development.

Close the Door on Nuclear Testing

Everybody knows that nuclear weapons have been used twice in wartime and with terrible consequences. Often overlooked, however, is the large-scale, postwar use of nuclear weapons:

Two Million Children in West and Central Africa Robbed of an Education Due to Conflict

Fourteen-year-old Fanta lives in a tent in a settlement in Zamaï, a village in the Far North Region of Cameroon with her mother and two brothers. They came here more than a year ago after her father and elder brother were murdered and her elder sister abducted by the extremist group Boko Haram.

Producing Energy from Pig and Poultry Waste in Brazil

Romário Schaefer is fattening up 3,300 pigs that he receives when they weigh around 22 kg and returns when they reach 130 to 160 kg - a huge increase in meat and profits for their owner, a local meat-processing plant in this city in Brazil.

Women Pastoralists Feel Heat of Climate Change

For many people, climate change is about shrinking glaciers, rising sea levels, longer and more intense heatwaves, and other extreme and unpredictable weather patterns.  But for women pastoralists—livestock farmers in the semi-arid lands of Kenya—climate change has forced drastic changes to everyday life, including long and sometimes treacherous journeys to get water.

Mexican Women Use Sunlight Instead of Firewood or Gas to Cook Meals

Reyna Díaz cooks beans, chicken, pork and desserts in her solar cooker, which she sets up in the open courtyard of her home in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of this town in southwestern Mexico.

GGGI GREENISM Online Magazine: Stories from GGGI Around the World

(GGGI) - In June, the Global Green Growth Institute’s (GGGI) staff members and country offices around the world committed to living and promoting sustainable lifestyles. To further this initiative, GGGI published GREENISM Vol. 2, an online magazine featuring stories of GGGI’s Green Office Month events and activities across the organization to spread ideas on how to lead green lives.