UNITED NATIONS, October 7 — The global effort to end plastic pollution was thrown into disarray today after the chair of the United Nations plastics treaty negotiations, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, announced his resignation, citing “personal and professional reasons.” The surprise decision comes amid deep divisions between nations and growing criticism
In a stark new assessment released this week, scientists warn that humanity has crossed seven of nine planetary “boundaries” — the biophysical limits that sustain Earth systems — placing the world on a perilous trajectory. The Planetary Health Check 2025 frames this as an existential moment: if humanity fails to
A Divided Transition Landscape As delegates converge on Climate Week NYC 2025, BloombergNEF’s latest analysis depicts an energy transition moving at radically different speeds across regions, sectors, and technologies. While renewables and electric vehicles continue to attract record levels of capital, lagging finance flows and uneven government policy are creating
Honiara, Solomon Islands — As the world undergoes a profound realignment of strategic partnerships, leaders from across the Pacific have gathered in Honiara to assert their collective voice. The Pacific Islands Forum is unfolding at a moment when climate change is destabilizing communities and global rivalries are reshaping the balance
Decades of Monitoring, Uneven Progress The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF this week warned that billions remain without safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene, despite steady progress since 2000. The findings come from the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), the UN system’s official tracker of global water and sanitation progress
COPENHAGEN — When policy reversals in Washington stalled offshore wind projects and stripped away clean energy subsidies this year, many renewable developers began looking for the exits. Denmark, however, is taking a different path. The Danish government, which owns a 50.1 percent controlling stake in Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore
Key Impact Points: Hedge Funds Reverse Energy Bets Hedge funds are moving away from oil stocks and warming to solar in a marked reversal from strategies that dominated since 2021. Bloomberg Green’s analysis of Hazeltree data shows equity-focused hedge funds, on average, were net short oil stocks for seven of
Key Impact Points: Landmark Bank–State Partnership in Forest Carbon Markets Standard Chartered has signed a five-year agreement with the Government of Acre, Brazil, to bring high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon credits to market, potentially releasing 5 million credits in 2026. Located in the Amazon rainforest, Acre will use the programme to
Key Points A Major Step Towards EU Circularity Goals Last week, the European Commission launched a public consultation and Call for Evidence for the upcoming Circular Economy Act, marking a key step in the impact assessment process. The initiative will gather input from stakeholders and the public to better identify
Key Impact Points: Skills and Jobs at the Core of Sustainability At the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), UNIDO hosted the side event “Better Skills, Better Jobs”, alongside the Permanent Missions of Austria and Ethiopia. The gathering brought together private sector leaders, civil society, and academia to explore how skills
