7 Transition Economy Stories to Follow in 2026
The year 2026 is shaping up to be a year of transition, in which major economic shifts will enter a harsher and less ideological phase. Between technology, climate, raw materials and finance, the sy...
The Paris Climate Agreement marks its first ten years
Ten years ago, the Paris Agreement united the world in the fight against climate change at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference. With this historic agreement, 195 countries pledged to t...
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Fading Relevance of International Water Law
In September, Ethiopia unveiled the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), hailing it as a “generational victory”. Standing before the dam's cascading waters, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ...
A valuable COP for undervalued wetlands
COP30 in Brazil is done and dusted. As always, the outcome was mixed with many crying “too little, too slow”, while others pointed to potentially significant progress woven into the fina...
COP30’s local legacy: Cities will make or break the climate fight
As ICLEI’s Regional Director for Europe, I am often asked why we invest so much effort in global climate negotiations. Why does an organisation of cities and regions engage so deeply in p...
COP30, awaiting a negotiation reform
COP30 comes to an end as a mirror of the current times. Multilateral cooperation on climate change barely survives, notwithstanding geopolitical tensions. Growing are the divisions between countries...
The new channel The Social & Governance Observer is launched
‘A just ecological transition is inclusive and leaves no one behind,’ declared Marina Silva, Brazil’s combative Minister of the Environment and Climate, at the opening of COP30, th...
Transition and international trade: China’s role at COP30
From Belém - At COP30 in Belém, global trade was for the first time explicitly included in climate negotiations. It was inevitable: the transition is no longer just a matter of climate...
Cúpula dos Povos: a no to Mercosur from the heart of the Amazon
The 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in a location that is at once symbol and battleground of the ongoing crisis: the Amazon. The forest, a treasure trove of biodiversit...
Building a Net-Zero Nation: A Look at the Current State of Malaysia's Greenest Structures
As Malaysia charts its course towards an ambitious net-zero emissions target by 2050, the nation's buildings have been thrust into the spotlight. Accounting for over half of the country's electricit...
The importance of social determinants: How inequality makes pandemics more deadly
“The paradox is that a risk that makes us all equal reveals, at the same time, how unequal we are,” reads the book Pandemocracy: A Philosophy of the Coronavirus by Spanish philosoph...
COP30, how does the future look for the negotiations?
Climate negotiations are celebrating their 30th anniversary, with the start of the COP in Belém, Brazil, today, Monday 10 November. For the first time in years, I will be following a UNF...
From promises to action: COP30 must deliver where others have fallen short
When world leaders meet this November in Belém, deep in the heart of the Amazon, for the 30th UN Climate Conference (COP30), they will stand at a crossroads. Ten years after the Paris Agreeme...
BRICS at a crossroads: mutual recognition or Article 6?
Relatively little attention was paid in the Western media to the BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia, in 2024. Within the course of that summit, the BRICS Partnership on Carbon Markets was launc...
Brake and Accelerator
Today, journalists' digital desks are overflowing with press releases on research and analysis of economic scenarios. We no longer even notice the scale of certain phenomena. Yet, when claims are ma...
COP30: Time to act for the defenders of the planet
Latin America faces one of its deepest contradictions: it is the most dangerous region in the world for those who defend the environment, yet it is also the birthplace of the first international tre...
“Intractable” problems? A Door Selection to save carbon credits
“It is highly likely that many of the problems festering in the carbon credit market are intractable, […] systemic problems with deep roots that cannot be solved by incremental changes....
Cities Rising to the Challenge: Building Food Security from the Ground Up
The European Union is becoming increasingly concerned about food security, as President von der Leyen reminded us in her Statement on Behalf of the Union. But framing this as a European concern requ...
Babiš’s victory in the Czech Republic is a defeat for Europe
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano Andrej Babiš, the billionaire who won the elections in the Czech Republic, is the kind of p...
Why UNGA 80 and the 2026 UN Water Conference Will Not Change Water Politics
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly has just concluded in New York. For a week...