Hurricane Melissa Puts Jamaica’s Catastrophe Bond and Climate Resilience Model to the Test
KINGSTON, JAMAICA — When Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica on October 28, 2025, the Category 5 storm left a trail of devastation – and put the world’s spotlight on one of the most ambitious disaster-financing systems ever built by a small island nation. With 185 mph (295 km/h) winds and catastrophic flooding across St. Elizabeth […]
New Sevilla Forum on Debt Launches to Tackle Global Debt Crisis
GENEVA — A new Sevilla Forum on Debt, launched this week by Spain and the United Nations, aims to turn global pledges into practical reforms for a fairer, faster, and more sustainable international debt system. The initiative builds on commitments made at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Seville earlier this […]
Tokyo Launches World’s First Certified Resilience Bond, Raising €300 Million for Climate Adaptation
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) has issued the world’s first Climate Bonds Certified Resilience Bond, raising €300 million to fortify the Japanese capital against escalating climate risks. The five-year bond was oversubscribed seven times, attracting €2.2 billion in bids from nearly 120 institutional investors — a sign that global markets are ready to back adaptation […]
Exclusive to Insiders: Global Climate Pledges Are Alarmingly Off Track, UN Analysis Warns
New findings reveal that the world’s current climate commitments would slash emissions by only a fraction of what is needed to avoid catastrophic warming. A sweeping new United Nations analysis has found that the world’s collective climate pledges are nowhere near sufficient to keep global warming below 1.5°C, the critical threshold scientists say is necessary […]
Bezos Earth Fund Grant Fuels AI and Bioacoustics Innovation to Protect Wildlife
In what scientists are calling a breakthrough moment for conservation technology, the Bezos Earth Fund has awarded $1.8 million to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics to develop new artificial intelligence systems that can “listen” to the planet. The initiative aims to detect real-time environmental threats — from illegal […]
Nature Summit in Panama Launches Landmark Partnership to Redefine How the World Values Nature
October 28, 2025, Panama City – The Nature Summit opened today in Panama City alongside the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), bringing together ministers, Indigenous leaders, innovators, and financiers driving the world’s emerging nature-based economy. The invitation-only forum is the second installment of the Nature Summit Series, following its debut alongside the UNFCCC earlier this […]
ExxonMobil Sues California Over Climate Disclosure Laws
ExxonMobil has launched a federal lawsuit against the State of California, escalating a confrontation that could shape the future of corporate climate transparency across the United States. The oil and gas major filed its complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, seeking to block two state laws that require large […]
Hurricane Melissa Tests Jamaica’s Resilience, Reinforcing the Case for SIDS Climate Finance
KINGSTON, JAMAICA — Walls of wind and rain now engulf Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa — a Category 5 superstorm and the most powerful of 2025 — tears across the island’s southern coast with sustained winds of up to 185 mph (295 km/h), making it the strongest storm ever to approach Jamaica. Forecasters warn the hurricane […]
SDG News Spotlight – Martín von Hildebrand: The Guardian of the Amazon Preparing the World for COP30
The Amazon’s Moral Compass Ahead of COP30 As the world prepares to gather in Belém for COP30, the first United Nations Climate Change Conference to be hosted in the heart of the Amazon, few figures embody the region’s spiritual, ecological, and political significance like Martín von Hildebrand. For more than half a century, he has […]
Financial institutions face $216 billion annual forest funding gap ahead of COP30
UNITED NATIONS — With COP30 set to convene in Belém, Brazil, global attention is turning to one of the world’s most underfunded yet essential climate priorities: forests. According to the new State of Finance for Forests report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), annual investments in forests must more than triple from USD 84 billion […]
