Tag: Climate

Green transition

COP28: Prioritising children in the fight against climate change

By Shruti Agarwal, Senior Climate Adviser with Save the Children

Children are looking to world leaders to demonstrate brave leadership. As one child from India told us, “It’s not children’s job to clean the mess spread by their elders.” But they are not just passive victims. Children have distinct capacities to contribute to climate action within their communities, countries and globally. Yet their rights, specific needs and perspectives have been overlooked in climate discussion. This must change. Continue reading COP28: Prioritising children in the fight against climate change

Development Matters
Currency risk climate finance development
Development finance, Green transition

Currency risk is stifling climate finance for developing countries. It should – and can – be mitigated

By Ruurd Brouwer, CEO, TCX, and Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Private-sector funding will be essential for raising the trillions of dollars needed to finance climate-change abatement and adaption projects in emerging and developing countries. The question is: will that finance be forthcoming? 

Continue reading “Currency risk is stifling climate finance for developing countries. It should – and can – be mitigated”
Development Matters
Climate change risks Latin America development matters
Green transition, Latin America and the Caribbean

Cascading climate risks are a threat Latin America must take seriously

By Will Nichols, Head of Climate and Resilience Risk, Verisk Maplecroft

Record temperatures, wildfires, storms and floods have all made headlines in 2023 as the world braces for a new climate reality. But the secondary impacts of these climate shocks cannot be ignored.

Governments and business organisations in Latin America must ask difficult questions about the relationships between climate impacts and secondary risks, including:

Continue reading “Cascading climate risks are a threat Latin America must take seriously”
Development Matters
Climate risk africa economy development matters
Africa, Green transition

What does Climate Risk really mean for African economies?

By Anzetse Were, Development Economist and Senior Economist, FSD Kenya

Discussions on green and climate finance in Africa often dwell on two issues. The first is why it’s so difficult to scale-up this type of financing on the continent. The second is the issue of layered risk: some are not keen to layer ‘ESG’ risk on top of ‘Africa’ risk in investments.

Continue reading “What does Climate Risk really mean for African economies?”
Development Matters
refugee climate environment development matters. Photo-Sebastien Goldberg-unsplash
Français, Migration, New social contract

Les politiques d’adaptation au changement climatique doivent prendre en compte les déplacements forcés

Par Jason Gagnon, Chef d’unité, Migration et compétences, Centre de développement de l’OCDE, et Jens Hesemann, Conseiller principal en politiques, Direction de la coopération pour le développement de l’OCDE

Un ensemble de facteurs interdépendants poussent les populations à se déplacer de force. Parmi ces facteurs, les effets du changement climatique ont aujourd’hui une importance qu’ils n’avaient pas lors de l’élaboration de la Convention relative au statut des réfugiés en 1951.  Conséquence : les personnes déplacées aujourd’hui par les effets du changement climatique n’entrent pas dans le champ d’application de la Convention. 

Continue reading “Les politiques d’adaptation au changement climatique doivent prendre en compte les déplacements forcés”
Development Matters
refugee climate environment development matters. Photo-Sebastien Goldberg-unsplash
Migration, New social contract

No longer a blind spot: Climate change adaptation policies must address forced displacement

By Jason Gagnon, Head of Unit, Migration & Skills, OECD Development Centre and Jens Hesemann, Senior Policy Advisor, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate

A web of inter-linked factors force people to move. Among them, the effects of climate change have grown in importance since the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was drawn up in 1951. In fact, people displaced by the effects of climate change are out of scope from the Convention.  

Continue reading “No longer a blind spot: Climate change adaptation policies must address forced displacement”
Development Matters
Green transition

Working together on global supply chains can help prevent climate disaster

By Gerd Müller, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) [1]

Global production networks provide us with a range of opportunities to accelerate transitioning to a net-zero world.

The science is clear: to prevent a global climate disaster, we have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% relative to 2010 levels by 2030. We also need to reach net-zero by 2050.

Continue reading “Working together on global supply chains can help prevent climate disaster”
Development Matters
Making innovation work for the climate-gender nexus
Green transition

Making innovation work for the climate-gender nexus

By Parnika Jhunjhunwala, Junior Innovation Specialist and Benjamin Kumpf, Head of OECD Innovation for Development Facility, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD

Climate change and biodiversity loss have devastating effects on the planet and on people, especially women and girls. More women die prematurely than men due to environmental degradation. Women face greater economic insecurity due to their reliance on threatened natural resources. And more women than men are displaced because of climate change. Increasingly, governments, development co-operation providers and international organisations are recognising this climate-gender nexus. The OECD Development Assistance Committee’s (DAC) new declaration on climate recognises the “urgent need to support investments in adaptation and resilience that are nature positive, locally-led, inclusive, transparent and gender-responsive”.

Continue reading “Making innovation work for the climate-gender nexus”
Development Matters
Green transition

Doing climate adaptation better

By Saleemul Huq, Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Independent University Bangladesh

I have written about the need to ramp up adaptation in order to avoid the worst impacts of human-induced climate change around the world, as lead author on adaptation for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for over a decade. So the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC containing that message was nothing new. 

Continue reading “Doing climate adaptation better”
Development Matters
Green transition

Why intermediary cities are vital to breaking dependency on high carbon development

By Dr Michael Lindfield, Senior Consultant and Dražen Kučan, Urban and Energy Efficiency Sector Lead (Green Climate Fund)

More than two thirds of the global population are expected to reside in cities by 2050. Urbanisation offers unprecedented risks and opportunities with respect to the global response to climate change. Cities and urban infrastructure are one of four global systems (others are energy, land and ecosystems and infrastructure) that are key to reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and limiting long-term global warming levels to less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Cities represent at least 58% of direct global emissions – 18% of all global emissions came from just 100 cities in 2017 – and constitute at least 21% of the potential for direct global emission reduction.  

Continue reading “Why intermediary cities are vital to breaking dependency on high carbon development”
Development Matters