Of Interest
you are currently viewing::Global Carbon Pricing Mobilizes Over $100 Billion for Public BudgetsJune 10, 2025--Over one quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions are covered by carbon pricing
The report-State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2025-notes that there are now 80 carbon pricing instruments in operation worldwide, a net increase of five over the past year. The report shows that all large middle-income economies have now either implemented or are considering direct carbon pricing, with emissions trading systems (ETSs) accounting for most of the new and planned instruments. Source: worldbank.org |
Unprecedented continental drying, shrinking freshwater availability, and increasing land contributions to sea level rise
July 25, 2025--Abstract
Changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) are a critical indicator of freshwater availability. We use NASA GRACE/GRACE-FO data to show that the continents have undergone unprecedented TWS loss since 2002. Areas experiencing drying increased by twice the size of California annually, creating "mega-drying" regions across the Northern Hemisphere.
While most of the world's dry/wet areas continue to get drier/wetter, dry areas are now drying faster than wet areas are wetting.
OECD-Environment at a Glance Indicators
June 30, 2025--Human activities, particularly the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), are disrupting the earth-atmosphere system by enhancing the natural greenhouse effect. This leads to rising temperatures and broader climate disruption. Changes in land use and forestry practices also influence the balance of GHGs, as they affect the capacity of carbon sinks to capture or release emissions.
Global Energy Transition Gains Ground, but Security and Capital Challenges Persist
June 18, 2025--The World Economic Forum 2025 Energy Transition Index shows the fastest progress since pre-COVID-19, with 65% of countries improving and 28% advancing across all core dimensions-security, sustainability and equity.
Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland top the Index, driven by strong policy commitment, infrastructure and clean energy diversification.
Emerging Europe posted the biggest gains while Emerging Asia outpaced the global average.
Pacific Economic Update: Slowing Growth Highlights Need for More Inclusive Workforce
June 17, 2025-Increasing women's workforce participation could boost GDP per capita by over 20 percent across Pacific countries, shows World Bank report
Economic growth is slowing across the Pacific as countries face weak global growth, natural hazards and climate related shocks.
Accelerating Blue Finance: Instruments, Case Studies, and Pathways to Scale
June 7, 2025--The ocean drives economic prosperity and environmental stability for billions of people. Yet it is under threat from overfishing, pollution and climate change.
Public financing isn't enough to respond. The answer: unlock private capital to conserve marine life, prevent overfishing, and build coastal infrastructure to resist floods.
The Longevity Dividend
June 3, 2025--Aging populations should be embraced, not feared
The story of demographic doom has become familiar: Declining birth rates will cause populations to shrink, while longer lifespans will increase the costs of pensions and eldercare. Relatively fewer workers will have to pay for it all.
Sustaining Growth in an Aging World
June 2, 2025--Older populations need not lead to slumping economic growth and mounting fiscal pressures
The demographic dividend that has supported global economic expansion in recent decades will soon make way for a demographic drag. In advanced economies the share of working-age people is shrinking already.
Green Technologies: Decarbonizing Development in East Asia and Pacific
June 2, 2025--East Asia is helping the rest of the world decarbonize and encouraging the domestic adoption of renewable energy. But there is an imbalance: Even as the region's innovation and investment improve global access to green technologies, the region's own emissions continue to grow, because of the reluctance to penalize carbon-intensive practices.
A Critical Look at Dollar Dominance
May 23, 2025--The dollar remains central to the global economy despite the search for alternatives.
How has the US dollar dominated the global financial system for so long? Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff seeks to answer this question in Our Dollar, Your Problem. As the world comes to terms with the dollar’s weaponization in geopolitical rivalries and recent flight from US financial assets, the book couldn't be timelier.
Economics and Nature's Laws
May 23, 2025--A provocative new book proposes a radically different approach to economic theory
Among ongoing efforts to rethink the basic tenets of mainstream economics is a provocative new book by James Galbraith and Jing Chen. The authors sweep aside the intellectual structure of mainstream theory-which rests on concepts like the marginal utility theory of value, market equilibrium, and a steady state for the economy-and propose a radically different approach: "entropy economics."
