As the cost of producing electricity from solar panels and wind turbines continues to decline, every dollar invested today yields an additional 25 to 75 percent return in kilowatts, compared to five years ago. Where do Arab countries stand in view of these developments?
Research
Over the coming century, Sub-Saharan Africa will face considerable challenges related to climate change, natural resource depletion and poverty traps, and accelerated urbanisation, which, in turn, will drive up the region’s carbon footprint. These challenges call for greater commitments by OECD countries to address the mismatch between contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and climate burden, halt natural resource depletion, and to support low-carbon urbanization in SSA.
Project Drawdown brought together a qualified and diverse group of researchers to identify, research and model the most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These range from bioplastics to artificial leafs to building automation, clean cookstoves, coastal wetlands, living buildings, cows walking on beaches, and more.
The thriving cities of tomorrow will be sustainable cities. To make our cities more healthy, prosperous and sustainable, while reducing carbon emissions, we must close the gap between cities’ growing demand for more sustainable urban services and their ability to access innovative solutions and financing options.
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has released a report on the state of biodiversity. Oliver Greenfield, Convenor of the Green Economy Coalition, responds : “The report is powerful and compelling. But it does not go far enough into the cause of nature’s decline, which is that our current ‘brown’ economic system is geared towards rapacious expansion and is blind to its dependence on nature."
How can businesses, large and small, make their supply chains more climate resilient and simultaneously more profitable? A recent study by Acclimatise for the IDB’s PROADAPT program shows that assessing climate risks helps businesses better understand their supply chains, strengthen their resilience and gain a competitive advantage.
What do Hawaii, Kelowna, Baltimore and Winnipeg have in common? They are all developing systems to track citizens progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) against specific indicators.
"The Green Industrial Policy and Trade: A Tool-Box provides an overview of trade-related green industrial policy tools, including border measures, support schemes, standards, sustainable public procurement and manufacturing, environmental clauses in trade agreements, and employment-related schemes," says Professor Jorge E. Viñuales, Harold Samuel Professor of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge and Adjunct Professor at the Graduate Institute Geneva.
"Fighting corruption alone can save money beyond what Arab countries need to fill the gap in the additional funds needed to achieve sustainable development goals," says Najib Saab is Secretary General of Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED).
"The mainstreaming of biodiversity depends on coherent policies across sectors," says Megha Sud, policy researcher at the Environment Division of the OECD. It also requires better, up-to-date data to inform policy responses, incentive reform, and strong links to other development objectives.