Today, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Spring Meetings close, UNDP commends the decisions of the IMF, the World Bank Group, and the G20 to immediately suspend debt service payments of 76 countries for one year, including 40 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As the coronavirus COVID-19 gains ground in the world’s poorest regions, it will hit the most vulnerable the hardest by adding an unprecedented health and economic crisis to existing poverty and climate crises.
The new report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2020, is a collaboration between the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Frankfurt School-UNEP Collaborating Centre, and energy financing company, BloombergNEF.
Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere hit a new record of 410.5 parts per million in 2019, and are expected to keep rising this year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin on Monday.
New report confirms global investment rise in 2013-2018, but calls for considerable mobilisation of capital to recover from COVID-19 and build a climate-safe world.
Although more Governments and businesses are committing to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the world is still falling far short of that goal, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday in his latest push for a cleaner, greener future.
A groundbreaking United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report, warns that millions of used light-duty vehicles shipped from Europe, the United States of America and Japan to Africa and Asia are polluting and unsafe. Often with faulty or missing components, they belch out toxic fumes, increasing air pollution and hindering efforts to fight climate change.
“The Secretary-General is very encouraged by Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide’s announcement of Japan’s commitment to get to net zero emissions by 2050, which is a very significant positive development, and hereby expresses his appreciation for Prime Minister Suga’s leadership,” said the statement released by UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
With nations striving to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impacts, efforts must focus on decarbonizing the global economy and building a more inclusive and resilient future, the UN Secretary-General said on Monday.
Energy planning is an essential part in developing energy strategies that effectively address concerns over energy resource availability, climate change, air quality and energy security. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the IAEA continues to assist Member States in building and strengthening their capacities for energy system analysis and planning, through an emphasis on distance support and e-learning.
An ambitious plan to make one of the world’s largest and most complex railway networks a net zero carbon emitter by 2030 is moving full steam ahead, although without the steam, thanks, in part, to support from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
For several weeks now, Africa has been fighting against an invisible enemy: COVID-19. Although the spread in the continent is much lower than in other parts of the world today, it is not less worrying considering the limited capabilities and resources of African countries to mitigate the potentially devastating effects of the virus, from a public health, social and economic context.