WASHINGTON — Fault lines in global climate finance deepened this week when the United States stood apart from nearly every other major shareholder, refusing to sign a World Bank joint statement calling for a stronger climate mandate. The statement, backed by 19 of the Bank’s 25 executive directors, urged that
PARIS — In a decision that blends symbolism with strategic urgency, the executive board of UNESCO has nominated Egyptian Egyptologist and former minister Khaled el-Enany to serve as its next Director-General. If confirmed by the organization’s full membership next month, he will become the first Arab leader to helm the
Why Pope Leo XIV speaks differently after a UNGA that echoed old divides When the world’s leaders assembled at the UN General Assembly last week, the climate debate again exposed the fracture lines in global solidarity. Familiar posturing, evasions, and outright denialism overshadowed the urgent need for decisive action. In
New York, NY — It could have been the setup to a late-night comedy routine. Instead, it was the opening act of President Donald Trump’s return to the United Nations General Assembly. In a week of carefully choreographed diplomacy, it was not a fiery speech or a surprise announcement that
It was a tale of two cities within one. Last week in New York, the United Nations General Assembly convened presidents, prime ministers, and ministers from 193 nations against the backdrop of war in Gaza and Ukraine. Just blocks away, New York Climate Week gathered an entirely different crowd: business
Europe’s environment is under mounting pressure. Despite progress in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality, the European Environment Agency (EEA) warns in its newly released Europe’s Environment 2025 report that the continent’s natural systems are degrading at an alarming pace. Biodiversity is in decline, ecosystems are overstressed, and
By rejecting the Sustainable Development Goals, the U.S. president may have fractured the postwar consensus and set the stage for new global leadership. UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, New York, September 23, 2025 President Donald Trump strode into the United Nations General Assembly today and delivered the kind of speech that will
New York, September 23, 2025 – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his address at the United Nations General Assembly to mount a vigorous defense of Brazil’s democracy and sovereignty, while delivering a thinly veiled rebuke of the United States. His speech was both a rallying cry for institutional
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to shut down much of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), calling it “burdensome” and boasting $2.4 billion in industry savings over the next decade. That headline sounds attractive. But scratch beneath the surface, and the proposal isn’t about cutting red tape—it’s about
Marine resources seen as engine for growth, but governance, investment, and cooperation will determine outcomes At dawn in coastal West Africa, the shoreline tells two stories. Fishing communities pull in ever smaller catches, their livelihoods eroded by overfishing, rising seas, and shifting ecosystems. At the same time, the same waters
