Investors are, by necessity, experts at taking calculated risks. They scan the horizon of our ever-evolving world for new and sometimes unexpected economic challenges so that they can put their money where it’s most likely to grow. Today, financial institutions are facing one economic challenge that will fundamentally change the way we do business—climate change.
Climate change is a risk that, while significant, is oftentimes misunderstood by the financial community. A warmer world introduces new, complex and interwoven layers of risks ranging from physical, financial, regulatory and reputational. So WRI and the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) worked with more than 150 participants from the financial sector to create the Carbon Asset Risk Discussion Framework, a tool to help financial institutions undertake the difficult task of identifying and understanding climate-related risks to their portfolios.
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Global progress towards achieving the SDGs is slow, and for many targets, off track. While SDG implementation is primarily a national task and responsibility, it also requires concerted international cooperation. This article presents two arguments why foreign policy could play an important role in their achievement.
No country is immune to natural hazards, but for fragile states, the effects are even more severe. Mostly, conflict prevention and humanitarian aid are seen as more pressing priorities to protect livelihoods there. This pushes efforts of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction to the bottom of the priority list and results in compounded pressures.
As the debate over climate-related security risks grows, many Pacific Island States are calling for more action by the international community to better address the links between climate change and global security. In an interview with adelphi, the former President of Nauru, Baron Waqa, highlights some of these calls as well as the challenges in getting the climate-security issue on the UN’s agenda.
A record breaking European heatwave provided a fitting backdrop to the latest round of UN climate change talks, in which delegates from around the world descended on Bonn for a two-week diplomatic effort.