Reducing the impacts of disasters in developing countries is absolutely vital - especially in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. The invention of climate risk insurance has been a major breakthrough in that regard. If they are well-designed and mitigate potential negative side effects, climate risk insurance could play a major role in supporting the poor. To support this, insurance initiatives should monitor both positive and negative impacts.
From 8-9 June 2018, Canada will be hosting this year's G7 Summit. In advance of the meeting, the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, Patricia Espinosa, published this statement in the publication 'G7 Canada: The Charlevoix Summit':
The EU favours middle-income countries with its climate aid program, according to analysis by a coalition of development agencies. The Act Alliance is calling on the EU to direct more climate finance to the most vulnerable, after finding Turkey and Ukraine were the biggest beneficiaries.
The future of the global climate treaty could hang on the outcome of talks under way in Germany aimed at turning its promises into action.
Climate-driven disasters are becoming business as usual. But how did climate change affect a particular extreme weather event such as hurricane Maria? This article looks at how attribution science helps policy making get off on the right foot and argues that in light of pressing climate risks, we must move from emergency relief to resilient programming.
Former UN climate Chief Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, has called on the European Union to step up regulatory action against deforestation in the global south by tackling emissions of imported agricultural goods like beef, soy and palm oil.
Top officials from Canada, Mexico and the US are now renegotiating the 23-year old North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On the campaign trail, candidate Trump consistently called NAFTA “the worst trade deal ever,” and, in one of his first official acts as president, he signed an executive order to renegotiate the agreement. The first round has just ended, so we are about to get an important clue about the direction of travel of climate diplomacy and policy in Canada, Mexico and the US.
Approaches developed in Mali, Senegal, Kenya and Tanzania offer insights for building resilience in areas facing risks of climate change, disasters and conflict.
Tacking global warming and ensuring millions gain access to clean water, food and energy should not be tackled separately – they’re both sides of the same coin. Choices countries make now over future infrastructure will determine whether and how they deliver on their climate change agendas.