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Analysis: The AI Sustainability Paradox
AI is being sold as a tool to solve sustainability’s hardest data problems, from Scope 3 emissions to climate-risk intelligence. But the infrastructure behind that intelligence — data centers, water use, energy demand, chips, grids, and community consent — is becoming its own sustainability test. Drawing on conversations at Trellis Impact 26, Ming Wong explores what AI’s physical footprint means for impact investors, corporate sustainability leaders, and the communities being asked to host the next generation of digital infrastructure.
- Categories
- Energy, Investing, Technology
- Region
- Global
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Analysis: When “Sustainable” Quietly Means “Without the Farmer”
We are watching the early industrialisation of food categories that have, for centuries, been grown by smallholders in the Global South. The sustainability story we tell about it is real. It is also incomplete in a way that matters.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Global
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UN Report Flags $800 Billion Climate Fund Gap in Asia-Pacific, Calls for Synergistic Action
The report titled ‘Asia-Pacific synergies report: Advancing synergistic solutions to the triple planetary crisis and the SDGs’ said that framing cooling as a health and safety issue strengthened political support and facilitated coordination across energy, urban, labour and social sectors.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Region
- Global
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Coast 4C Secures Funding to Scale Smallholder Seaweed Farming in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia produces the majority of the world’s carrageenan, a seaweed-derived ingredient used across food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, but supply remains fragmented across informal networks, limiting quality, consistency, and farmer income.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Bestseller Supports Regenerative Agriculture in South Africa Through International Fund
The Regenerative Fund for Nature supports projects that are based on local knowledge and existing practices. It was established by Conservation International and Kering in 2021 with Inditex joining in 2023. BESTSELLER is now joining the fund as a partner.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: DengueAI: New Model That Anticipates Outbreaks With 93% Effectiveness and Three Weeks’ Advance Notice
Anticipating and reducing dengue outbreaks enables more efficient use of public resources and targeted, data-driven action in neighborhoods most vulnerable to this mosquito-borne disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti.
- Categories
- Education, Health Care
- Region
- Latin America
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Shell Foundation, Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship, and Amazon India Announces New Programme to Empower Women Micro Entrepreneurs through Market Connect and Clean Energy Access
his collaboration addresses these challenges by connecting women-led businesses to new customers through Amazon’s Saheli program, which offers lower selling fees and specialized support, including account management and training.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Education, Social Enterprise
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Analysis: Nations Priced Out of Big AI Are Building With Frugal Models
Amid a widening global divide in AI adoption, low-cost AI models that can deliver sovereignty and efficiency with a smaller environmental footprint are gaining ground.
- Categories
- Technology
- Region
- Global
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