ESG and Of Interest News
Merchandise trade continues to expand in third quarter of 2024
December 13, 2024-World merchandise trade volume rose 1.1% quarter-on-quarter and 3.3% year-on-year, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in the third quarter of 2024, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of moderate trade expansion.
By comparison, merchandise trade in current US dollar terms was up 4.3% year-on-year in Q3. This represents a significant improvement from the 1.8% increase seen in Q2 and the 1.4% contraction observed in Q1.
For the year through September, trade volume was up 2.4% compared to the same period in 2023, slightly less than the WTO's most recent forecast of 2.7% for 2024issued on 10 October.
Meanwhile, the value of merchandise trade was up 1.6% over 2023. Slower trade growth in value terms than in volume terms implies a small (less than 1%) decline in prices of traded goods during this period.
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Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
State Of Compute: The New Power Paradox
December 1, 2024--News broke November 28 that the U.S. government is considering additional curbs on the sale of semiconductor equipment and AI memory chips to China, escalating tensions between the two superpowers. It is a sign of the times. Governments have begun to view AI compute infrastructures, including advanced AI chips, as a geostrategic resource.
With good reason: in a recent podcast OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called compute "the currency of the future" and says he believes "it'll be maybe the most precious commodity in the world."
Countries that can "manufacture intelligence" at scale will be at the forefront of harnessing the benefits of finding solutions to key challenges, from green transition to digital biology, says a recently released report by the Tony Blair Institute For Global Change (TBI). It argues that compute is not just a source of scientific and economic progress, but the new benchmark of global power economically and geopolitically.
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Source: theinnovator.news
New report showcases opportunities to unlock trade in renewable electricity
November 15, 2024--A new report published today (15 November) by the World Meteorological Organization and the World Trade Organization points to the role that trade can play to help supply meet demand for electricity from renewable sources.
Launched at the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, this first joint WMO-WTO report underscores how interconnection projects can tap into supplies of hydro-, solar-and wind-generated energy from regions with comparative advantage in renewable electricity generation and help to bring down the cost of the transition to low-carbon energy.
The publication, "Supporting the Renewable Electricity Transition through Trade: Unlocking Re-Globalization Opportunities via Interconnection," notes that cross-border electricity trade is well below its potential for providing the renewable energy needed to help countries meet Paris Agreement climate targets. Less than 3% of electricity generated worldwide is traded across borders, with a relatively low value of some US$ 132 billion in 2023 according to UN Comtrade statistics. There is tremendous scope for growth as cross-border renewable electricity trade can reduce the overall cost of the net zero energy transition, the report states.
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Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
Progress in national climate policy efforts remains insufficient to achieve 2030 targets
November 7, 2024--The global economy is facing mounting challenges amidst the largest energy market shock since the 1970s and the cost-of-living crisis for many households from rising inflation pressures.
According to the 4th edition of the Climate Action Monitor, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) currently commit to a collective reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of only 14% by 2030, compared to 2022 levels, in countries covered by IPAC which produce over 80% of global GHG emissions. This is well short of the estimated 43% global emission reduction needed to limit global warming to 1.5°°. Paris Agreement goal according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
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Source: OECD.org
IMF Working Paper-Following the Money: Who is Keeping Coal Alive?
November 1, 2024--Summary
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference reinforced already existing pressure to transition away from fossil fuels, in particular for the most polluting source, coal. We use a comprehensive dataset on bank loans for coal projects to shed light on which type of banks continue to finance coal and how coal phase-out commitments affect coal financing.
We find that coal financing is becoming increasingly concentrated, partly in banks with a very high coal exposure. We also find that many coal loans have maturities much shorter than the remaining lifetime of coal assets, thus exposing equity holders of coal assets to the risk of a more difficult loan rollover. An econometric analysis shows that countries with a strong commitment to coal phase-out, fixed in national law for example, receive less coal financing. Using an instrumental variable, we identify this effect as causal.
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Source: imf.org
Joint report explores scope for co-ordinated approaches on climate action, carbon pricing, and policy spillovers
October 23, 2024--Five international organisations today released a landmark report that outlines pathways for co, ordinated approaches on climate action, carbon pricing, and the cross, border effects of climate change mitigation policies with a view to achieving global climate goals.
The report was presented on 23 October by the Joint Task Force on Climate Action, Carbon Pricing, and Policy Spillovers, convened by the World Trade Organization and joined by the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co, operation and Development, United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Bank.
Entitled Working Together for Better Climate Action: Carbon Pricing, Policy Spillovers, and Global Climate Goals, the report arrives at a time when countries around the world are scaling up actions to curb climate change. Mitigation policies are on the rise, including carbon pricing policies, with 75 carbon taxes and emission trading schemes currently in effect worldwide, covering approximately 24 per cent of global emissions.
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Source: oecd.org
World Trade Report 2024 highlights trade's role in supporting inclusiveness
September 9, 2024--The 2024 edition of the WTO’s World Trade Report presents strong evidence that trade has played a crucial role in narrowing the income gap between economies since the WTO was established 30 years ago. The flagship publication also analyses trends in the distribution of the gains of trade among people within economies, and emphasizes the need for a comprehensive strategy that integrates open trade with supportive domestic policies.
"Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the report is its reaffirmation of trade's transformative role in reducing poverty and creating shared prosperity- contrary to the currently fashionable notion that trade, and institutions like the WTO, have not been good for poverty or for poor countries, and are creating a more unequal world," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says in her foreword to the report.
"But the second biggest takeaway is that there is much more we can do to make trade and the WTO work better for economies and people left behind during the past 30 years of globalization," DG Okonjo-Iweala says.
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Source: World Trade Organization (WTO)
State of the Climate in Africa 2023
September 3, 2024--Africa bears an exceptionally heavy burden from climate change and disproportionately high costs for essential climate adaptation. On average, African countries are losing 2-5% of GDP and many are diverting up to 9% of their budgets responding to climate extremes.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the cost of adaptation is estimated to range from US$ 30-50 billion annually over the next decade, or 2-3% of the region's Gross Domestic Product.
By 2030, it is estimated that up to 118 million extremely poor people (living on less than US$ 1.90 per day) will be exposed to drought, floods and extreme heat in Africa, if adequate response measures are not put in place. This will place additional burdens on poverty alleviation efforts and significantly hamper growth.
The report focussed on climate change indicators and impacts in 2023-globally the hottest year on record.
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Source: World Meteorological Organization
US unveils new tools to withstand encryption-breaking quantum. Here's what experts are saying
August 27, 2024--Quantum computing brings significant opportunity -and cybersecurity risks.
New encryption algorithms have been designed to endure cyberattacks from quantum computers.
Industry experts told the World Economic Forum that the algorithms mark a "pivotal milestone" and are an "essential stepping stone."
Earlier this month, a government lab in the United States released three highly anticipated encryption algorithms that were built to withstand cyberattacks from quantum computers.
The encryption standards, two of which were developed by IBM, can be used to "secure a wide range of electronic information, from confidential email messages to e-commerce transactions that propel the modern economy," the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said in a statement.
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Source: weforum.org
Africa: Gender Equality Has Everything to Do With Climate Change
August 16, 2024--When a climatic disaster strikes, women have nowhere to go. They sit out dangerous climatic events, hoping that it is only a passing cloud. How is it, asks senior IPS correspondent Joyce Chimbi, that the road to COP29 is not littered with meaningful and powerful gender and climate blueprints from countries that are already making headway?
After years of reporting on the frontlines of climate change, I have witnessed the devastating impact extreme weather events have on women and girls. In Kenya's pastoralist communities in far-flung areas of Northern Kenya, West Pokot, Samburu and Narok counties, droughts mean a resurgence in harmful cultural practices such as outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM), beading and child marriages.
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Source: allafrica.com
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