poverty, climate, oda, flood, development, matters

Poverty reduction and climate finance: pieces of the same development puzzle


By Susanna Gable, Deputy Director, Development Policy and Finance, Gates Foundation


Economic growth, poverty reduction, and climate action are deeply interlinked: none can move ahead without the other. So why isn’t more happening?

Our recent report A transition approach to poverty reduction and climate finance – The missing link to implementation from the Global Council on SDG1 points to the lack of ‘transition thinking’ both in policy and financing. It argues that to achieve poverty reduction goals alongside necessary climate actions, we need a just green transition supported by policy and financing that takes the specific development context and level of economic transition of each country into account.

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Accelerating the green energy transition in emerging markets in times of crisis


By Maurizio Bezzeccheri, Head Latin America region, Enel; Francesco Ciaccia, Manager, Eni; and Marta Martinez, Climate Change and Alliances, Iberdrola 1


The world is in the midst of an unprecedented and complex global energy crisis. Governments across emerging markets face two apparently conflicting priorities: ensuring immediate energy security and accelerating the energy transition to address the longer-term challenge of climate change. But are these priorities truly conflicting? And what can the private sector do to change the calculus by accelerating the green transition in times of crisis?

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Mozambique green transition

Growing green in Mozambique


By Köeti Serôdio, Programme Manager Resilience (Humanitarian, Climate Action & Social Protection), Growing Green, Embassy of Ireland


Marta Uetela is a young Mozambican who is transforming the lives of people with disabilities. She founded the revolutionary green start-up BioMec, which developed the world’s first prosthetics and eco-wheelchairs made of recycled plastic marine litter.

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scaling-innovation

Scaling innovations to accelerate progress towards development and climate goals


By Parnika Jhunjhunwala, Junior Innovation Specialist at OECD Innovation for Development Facility, Benjamin Kumpf, Head of OECD Innovation for Development Facility, and Johannes F. Linn, Co-founder Scaling Up Community of Practice and Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution


Limiting global warming to 1.5°C necessitates radical, quick and large-scale transformations, as echoed throughout the IPCC’s 1.5°C Special Report. The same is true for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. To achieve these transformations, we need disruptive, context-fitting, technological and social innovation, and to create incentives to ensure that once proven effective, innovations are scaled-up. Unfortunately, too many promising innovations fall into the ‘pilot project trap’ and fail to have an impact at the national, regional and global scales.

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Banani, Mali - December, 30, 2014: Local people work in the countryside near Banani village

Africa’s COP: Where does West Africa stand with respect to the global climate agenda?


By Brilé Anderson, OECD Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat


The year’s COP27 is being called ‘Africa’s COP’. Even though African countries bear little responsibility for global emissions, they bear some of the harshest impacts. But far from being passive observers, they are active participants in the global climate agenda.

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De nouvelles perspectives énergétiques pour l’Afrique


Par Arnaud Rouget, Directeur du programme Afrique de l’Agence Internationale de l’Énergie


La pandémie a eu de lourdes conséquences sur le développement énergétique de l’Afrique. Alors que, depuis 2013, le nombre de personnes ayant accès à l’électricité augmentait – mettant ainsi le continent sur la bonne voie pour atteindre l’objectif de développement durable n°7 (« Énergie propre et d’un coût abordable ») d’ici 2030 – ce progrès s’est inversé pour la première fois en 2020. Ainsi, aujourd’hui, 600 millions d’Africains vivent sans accès à l’électricité.

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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.

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Latin-America green low carbon transition

Low-carbon transition in Latin America: what are the risks and the main constraints?


By AFD economists Guilherme Magacho, Antoine Godin, Marion Hémar and Emmanuelle Mansart Monat


A hundred and eighteen billion US dollars. This amount, which represents 2.7% of the GDP of Latin America and the Caribbean, is the annual investment in “renewable power generation, energy efficiencies, electrification of heat, transportation, and power grids” the region needs to align with the Paris Agreement’s objective on climate change. To meet this target, countries in the region are adopting policies and fostering technological changes that are generating rapid structural change across the world.

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Making innovation work for the climate-gender nexus

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”.

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Hurricane storm surge in the Caribbean

Climate finance for SIDS is shockingly low: Why this needs to change


By Paul Akiwumi, Director for Africa and Least Developed Countries, UNCTAD



Small island developing states (SIDS) are the most economically vulnerable of all groups of developing countries, according to the Economic Vulnerability Index. They are particularly vulnerable to natural, economic and health-related shocks beyond domestic control. The growing frequency and intensity of these climate shocks is a direct consequence of being in climate-sensitive areas or seismic zones, as well as the islands’ smallness. From commodities to manufactured spare parts, these states also rely heavily on imports of food and fuel, leaving them at the mercy of price spikes and shortages of essential goods.  

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