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Hope is the Face of Financial Inclusion: See the winners of CGAP’s 2017 photo contest
A picture tells a thousand words and CGAP's 2017 photo contest yielded more than 3,000 entries from photographers in 76 countries, each telling a personal story of resilience. This year CGAP put out the call for images illustrating the economic lives of poor people and the impact that financial services can have. Explore the winners and discover the powerful stories behind them.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Energy, Environment, Finance, Technology
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Who Will Pay For Nature? How To Catalyze Private Investment In Sustainability
Annual government grants today only punch in at $142.6 billion. Philanthropy produces about $400 billion per year in the U.S., though only a small percentage of this goes to environment or sustainability issues. That leaves a huge financing gap.
- Categories
- Environment
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The Environmental Case Against Bitcoin
No one may be using Bitcoin, but we’re all paying for them. Bitcoin analyst Alex de Vries, otherwise known as the Digiconomist, reports that the coin’s surge caused its estimated annual energy consumption to increase from 25 terawatt hours in early November to 30 TWh last week—a figure, wrote Vox’s Umair Irfan, “on par with the energy use of the entire country of Morocco, more than 19 European countries, and roughly 0.7 percent of total energy demand in the United States, equal to 2.8 million U.S. households.”
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Finance
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Water ATMs: How Technology is Improving Water Governance in Tanzania
The lack of accessible, potable water for many of the world's most remote communities is too often due to a water governance issue. But as Madison Lawson is at Catholic Relief Services points out, new enterprises are combining database management, water pumping and business models that can deliver fresh water to places most in need. She highlights one such "water ATM" system in Tanzania.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise, WASH
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To address hunger effectively, first check the weather, says new study
Too little rain, or too much, is often a driver of poverty and hunger, leading to poor nutrition and food insecurity among vulnerable populations. According to a new study, rainfall patterns also provide clues on how to most effectively alleviate food insecurity.
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- Agriculture, Environment
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Press release: China consolidates position as global leader on green finance, says new research
The report finds that China – which put green finance on the G20 agenda during its 2016 presidency – is following through on its political commitment to boost the financing required to do this. The report looks particularly at progress since the State Council in August 2016 approved a set of recommendations for action on greening China’s financial system.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Greenhouse gases must be scrubbed from the air
Sweden’s pledge is among the world’s most ambitious. But if the global temperature is to have a good chance of not rising more than 2ºC above its pre-industrial level, as stipulated in the Paris climate agreement of 2015, worldwide emissions must similarly hit “net zero” no later than 2090. After that, emissions must go “net negative”, with more carbon removed from the stock than is emitted.
- Categories
- Environment
- Tags
- climate change
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Toilet To Tap: Solving the Global Water Crisis With Wastewater
World Toilet Day is Nov. 19, and as it focuses global attention on how to improve sanitation and fight water scarcity, one somewhat uncomfortable solution is emerging: the re-use of wastewater. Of course, not everyone agrees with the methods, and the thought of "drinking human waste" isn't palatable. But thanks to rapid technological advancement and the growing recognition that waste can be profitable, the practice could finally be overcoming the "ick" factor to become an important strategy for solving the world’s water crisis.
- Categories
- Environment, Social Enterprise, Technology, WASH
- Tags
- waste
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