The need to fight climate change and keep the global temperature increase below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels is challenging policy-makers whilst raising expectations and concerns across society. This challenge requires the profound transformation of nearly all sectors of the economy towards a decarbonized system that respects both planetary boundaries and intergenerational justice.
In a few weeks, the world will be heading to Glasgow for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26), following a one-year postponement caused by the eruption of Covid-19. A pandemic that — in the last eighteen months — has amplified the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities on a global scale, while highlighting the converging nature of the health and climate crises. Climate change has indeed devastating effects on people’s health all around the world, afflicting the most fragile among us.
Una ripresa post-pandemica sostenibile richiede un ripensamento dei piani di investimento dei governi. Per superare le sfide servirà una visione a lungo termine.
From September 28th to 30th, the “Youth4Climate” meeting will take place in Milan, where almost 400 young people from all over the world aged between 18 and 29 will gather to discuss climate action. The Youth4Climate meeting aims at developing concrete proposals for this year’s Pre-COP and COP 26 that will occur in Milan and Glasgow, respectively.
Finally, the UN climate summit (COP26) is approaching! In November, the world will meet again in Glasgow. But hold on… Wasn’t COP26 supposed to take place in 2020? Correct! Despite the urgency to achieve progress regarding the climate crisis, the conference had to be postponed due to the even more immediate threat of the crisis caused by the coronavirus.
Economist Jeffrey Sachs plainly stated that the last G7 summit was a waste of resources. He believes the G7 should be discontinued as it is no longer representative nor effective as a policy forum. He noted that G7 countries dropped to 31% of global GDP in 2021 compared to 51% in 1980, whereas Asian developing countries moved from 9% up to 33%.
Although the greenhouse effect caused by human activities was recognised by science long ago, climate change only entered the international political agenda in the late 1970s. It took even longer for the international community to adopt an international treaty that set some common rules aimed at reducing emissions and adapting to climate adverse effects. Indeed, the UN climate regime was only formed in the early 1990s and since then it has constantly evolved through negotiation processes that have led to the adoption of new treaties and protocols.
China has a long history of engaging in Africa’s energy sector. The first Chinese hydropower station was completed in the 1960s. Known as the Kinkon hydropower station in Guinea, it was China’s first foreign aid project in Africa’s power sector, amongst other landmark infrastructure projects like the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) in that same period. However, Chinese aid was largely interrupted during the early stages of China’s economic reforms in the early 1980s, when strategic priorities shifted towards domestic economic development.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, global demand for infrastructure is booming. National plans around the world show that infrastructure is likely to provide the backbone for a resurgence in public expenditure, and to support growth in economies badly hit by the pandemic.
The MED This Week newsletter provides expert analysis and informed insights on the most significant developments in the MENA region, bringing together unique opinions on the topic and reliable foresight on future scenarios. Today, we turn the spotlight on the Nile, where the dispute between Ethiopia and downstream countries over Addis Ababa’s plan to further fill his "Renaissance" dam is increasingly pressuring Arab states to mediate among quarrelling stakeholders.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, energy has been at the centre of the international political and economic history of the globe. For nearly a century now, access to oil and natural gas has been at the heart of the geopolitics of energy, but with renewable energies and related technologies set to increasingly dominate energy supply systems, relations between states will change, while economies and societies will undergo profound structural transformations.