As I am a novice here, please forgive my greater than usual clumsiness. I saw an announcement asking people to post in the blog, and so I am dutifully making a effort to contribute. How many pillars are there in sustainable development - or sustainability? If you answer three, you would be right, at least in the traditional view of the term. This view holds that sustainability has three dimensions or pillars: society, the environment and the econ...

Africa will be the only region in the world where population will still be growing at the end of the century.Given a 48% population decline expected in China, Nigeria will become the second biggest country globally by 2100, behind only India. Every global region could see their populations decline by the end of the century—except Africa. The expected population contraction will be due to dropping fertility rates with death rates being either at p...

COVID-19 has created a unique opportunity to build a more sustainable world, a new report says.The pandemic has boosted awareness of and support for sustainable practices.Business and investors have a critical role in steering the economic recovery.Global cooperation is needed to make the world more sustainable. More than half a century ago, one of the first images of Earth adrift in space was taken by the Apollo 8 space mission. The shot is ofte...

The Future of Nature and Business, the second of three reports in the World Economic Forum's New Nature Economy series, provides the practical insights needed to take leadership in shifting towards a much needed nature-positive economy. As the world prepares to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting crisis, we are presented with an unprecedented clarion call, and opportunity, to change the way we eat, live, grow, build and power our liv...

A new report concludes that the benefits of protecting 30% of the world's land and ocean outweigh the costs by a factor of at least 5:1.COVID-19 and other zoonotic diseases are the direct result of the over-exploitation of nature and resources.Investing in nature and measures to prevent climate change would mean short-term net costs, but would be offset by financial benefits over time. In 2020, humanity is living the consequences of our broken re...

The coronavirus pandemic, suspected of originating in bats and pangolins, has brought the risk of viruses that jump from wildlife to humans into stark focus. These leaps often happen at the edges of the world's tropical forests, where deforestation is increasingly bringing people into contact with animals' natural habitats. Yellow fever, malaria, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Ebola – all of these pathogens have spilled over from one species to ...

Trees remove carbon from the atmosphere when they are living, but release large quantities when they die.Scientists predict that just a 2˚C could push most tropical rainforests above their safe 'heat threshold' As they photosynthesise and grow, tropical forests remove enormous amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, reducing global warming. However, forests are also themselves affected by this warming. If it gets too hot or too dry, trees will gro...

World Economic Forum launches the 'Great Reset' initiative for a better world after the pandemic.The IMF backs the transition to a green economy and calls for an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Now is the time to end fossil fuel subsidies and create a greener, fairer economy for the future, argued Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, at a World Economic Forum virtual meeting. Speaking at the launch of the "Great Reset", the Forum's g...

Brussels/Frankfurt – Greenpeace analysis shows that between mid-March and mid-May 2020, as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the European Central Bank (ECB) purchased corporate bonds worth almost €30 billion. This included the injection of over €7.6 billion into fossil fuels. With the purchase of bonds from just seven big polluters, the ECB contributed an estimated 11.2 millions tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere, which ...

Although the coronavirus pandemic has dominated recent headlines, climate change hasn't gone away. Many experts are calling for a "green" economic recovery that directs investments into low-carbon energy sources and technologies. Buildings account for 40% of total energy consumption in the U.S., compared to 32% for industry and 28% for transportation. States and cities with ambitious climate action plans are working to reduce emissions from the b...