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Analysis: Despite Record Turnout, Only 14% of Indigenous Brazilians Are Expected to Access Decision-Making Spaces at COP30
"Leaders are demanding a bigger role in the negotiations and the inclusion of land demarcation as climate policy."
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Global
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Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Outnumber All COP30 Delegations Except Brazil, Report Says
This year’s tally represents a 12% rise from last year’s climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, and is the largest concentration of fossil fuel lobbyists at Cop since KBPO first began exposing industry participation in 2021.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing, WASH
- Region
- Global
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Public Good vs. Profitable Exits: Why Public Innovation Agencies Must Stop Copying Venture Capital
A new class of venture capitalist is emerging, but they aren’t Wall Street financiers or Silicon Valley tech bros. As Emre Eren Korkmaz at the University of Oxford argues, they are public innovation agencies that are shifting their funding approach: Instead of supporting high-risk research and innovations aimed at delivering societal benefit, they have begun to adopt the logic of venture capital, favoring commercially viable projects that are more likely to secure follow-on private funding. He explores the downsides to this shift, arguing that the world needs these institutions to do what private capital cannot or will not: supporting innovation for the public good, not just for profitable exits.
- Categories
- Investing, Social Enterprise, Technology
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From Energy Access to Economic Empowerment: Workable Models for Financing a Just Transition in Emerging Markets
Today 2.1 billion people live without clean cooking fuels and technologies, and over 660 million people lack electricity access. Yet as Anthony Osijo at Bboxx points out, as global conversations largely focus on decarbonizing energy resources to combat climate change, these millions of households still cannot access essential products and services the rest of the world takes for granted. He argues that emerging markets can't simply be left in the dark because their kerosene lamps and diesel generators aren’t environmentally viable, especially if they lack access to suitable alternatives. He explores ways to finance and deliver a just climate transition — while also eradicating energy poverty.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Global Momentum for Nature Finance: UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative Helps Countries Unlock Over $2.7 Billion for Nature
Governments around the world are accounting for nature in their fiscal planning at an accelerating pace, signaling a shift in how economies value and finance our ecological life-support systems.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Global
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Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up: Bhutan and Fiji’s Contrasting Paths to Digital Transformation Reveal the Pros and Cons of Government and Market-Driven Approaches
The pursuit of digital competitiveness — the capacity and readiness to adopt digital technologies — has led to remarkable success stories in emerging markets, transforming public infrastructure and enhancing the delivery of social and financial services. But as Neeraj Lekhwar and Garima Singh at FinValue Advisors explain, this path remains challenging for many nations — particularly small countries. They share insights from a FinValue study involving Bhutan and Fiji: two countries with comparable sizes and socioeconomic structures that have approached their digital transformation very differently. The policy paths they've taken present contrasting examples of digital adoption strategies that provide valuable lessons for other small markets.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
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Report: Global Climate Fund Assets Hit Record $644 Billion in First Half of 2025
The total of global assets in open-end funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with a climate-related focus reached a record $644bn in June of this year, marking a 8.5% increase since the end of 2024.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- Global
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Analysis: The World Bank Group Reorganization: A Retreat from Research Quality?
"In the new model, it appears that the short-term concerns of the World Bank Group’s dealmakers are likely to gain greater influence over analytical and research output, a step back from a “knowledge bank” and towards the model of economist as salesperson all too common at investment banks."
- Categories
- Education, Health Care, Investing
- Region
- Global
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