ESG and Of Interest News
World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out of Plastics Crisis, Report Warns
August 4, 2025--The 8 billion tons of plastic waste that have amassed on Earth pose a grave and growing danger to human health, according to a new report published in the leading medical journal The Lancet. Ahead of a U.N. conference on plastic pollution, authors warn that countries urgently need to cut production.
The world churns out more than 200 times as much plastic today as it did in 1950, and production is only rising. Microscopic bits of plastic waste have been found nearly everywhere, from the bottom of the sea to the clouds over Mount Fuji, as well as in the food we eat, water we drink, and air we breathe. Scientists have found microplastics in human lungs, brains, and bone marrow, among other organs, as well as in blood, semen, and breast milk.
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Source: yale.edu
The Brain Economy: The New New Thing
August 2, 2025--At a recent gathering of the G7 conference goers were told the future of economic growth depends on optimizing ‘brain capital,' a term that encompasses brain health and cognitive, emotional, and social skills.
The brain economy, the idea that communities, societies, and countries contribute to economic growth and stability through their collective brainpower, is the New New Thing and in the coming months governments and companies are likely to hear a lot more about it.
The brain -the body's most vital organ, regulating all the systems needed for basic survival, cognition, and social/emotional well-being - is increasingly under threat from a variety of sources including rising levels of cognitive decline in ageing populations, increasing chronic disease, negative impacts from climate change and unhealthy environments, and escalating levels of mental health challenges across major life phases. In fact, more than 3 billion people worldwide are living with a neurological condition at a cost of $5 trillion per year to the global economy and neurological conditions are the number one leading cause of disease burden worldwide.
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Source: theinnovator.news/
New Standards for Economic Data Aim to Sharpen View of Global Economy
July 31, 2025--The updated System of National Accounts better captures digitalization, intangible assets, and global production-helping governments support growth, jobs, and investment
The cornerstones of our digital world-from smartphone apps to new digital assets and artificial intelligence tools-didn't exist back in 2008, the last time the world's statistical community overhauled its approach to standardizing how countries measure the economy.
Now, an updated System of National Accounts-the global standard for producing measures of economic activity-more fully incorporates emerging technologies, digital services, and intangible assets.
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Source: imf.org
Ranked: 25 Richest Countries in the World, by Three Metrics
July 29, 2025--Key Takeaways
Luxembourg's immense GDP per capita ($141K) masks the fact that much of it is generated by non-residents who commute in to work.
Qatar's oil windfall lifts GDP per capita ($72K) but that hasn't translated into broader wealth.
English-speaking countries translate middling GDP per capita into high median wealth through property ownership and strong pension systems.
Generating national wealth and distributing it to people are distinctly different economic challenges.
Previously when we've covered 25 richest countries, we did so by GDP per capita alone. As a result, tiny states and global city-states tended to dominate the top of the rankings.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
Currency Dominance in the Digital Age
July 28, 2025--As digital technologies become the rails upon which money moves, the resilience and credibility of currency networks increasingly hinge on the integrity of technological infrastructure. This fundamentally changes the logic of monetary competition, with far-reaching implications for financial and geopolitical stability.
For more than 80 years, the US dollar has enjoyed unrivaled supremacy in world trade and finance, thanks to America's unique combination of economic scale, credible institutions, deep and liquid financial markets, and geopolitical might, as well as, crucially, network effects. But a new variable is poised to reshape the global monetary order: data integrity.
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Source: project-syndicate.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.
Changes in TWS are driven by high-latitude water losses, intense Central American/European droughts, and groundwater depletion, which accounts for 68% of TWS loss over non-glaciated continental regions. "Continental drying" is having profound global impacts. Since 2002, 75% of the population lives in 101 countries that have been losing freshwater water. Furthermore, the continents now contribute more freshwater to sea level rise than the ice sheets, and drying regions now contribute more than land glaciers and ice caps. Urgent action is required to prepare for the major impacts of results presented.
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Source: science.org
Monitoring exposure to future climate-related hazards
July 22, 2025--Forward-looking indicator results and methods using climate scenarios
Abstract
Understanding how climate-related hazards will evolve due to climate change is crucial to guide adaptation decisions. Building on OECD indicators monitoring historical exposure to climate-related hazards, this paper develops forward-looking indicators to monitor exposure of people and agriculture (cropland and livestock) to three major climate-related hazard types (extreme temperature, extreme precipitation, and drought).
The methodology relies on climate multi-model ensembles covering a range of emission scenarios, from very low to very high. Results indicate that exposure to extreme temperature, precipitation, and drought is projected to worsen over the century in many countries, with considerable variation within and between countries. The presentation of indicator results in this paper focusses on 50 OECD member and partner countries but results for all countries globally are available online.
Mean temperatures are projected to increase by +4.2°8451; across the OECD and +3.5℃ in OECD partner countries by the end of the century under a high-emissions scenario.
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Source: OECD
Ranked: The Countries With the Most Seniors (2025-2100P)
July 20, 2025--Key Takeaways
European nations currently lead as countries with the most people aged 65+, but their increases through the century are projected to be slower and less extreme.
On the other hand, China is projected to move from outside the top ranks in 2025 to the world's 3rd most senior-heavy population by 2100.
The world has entered a demographic transition that it's never quite contended with before.
As fertility rates fall and longevity rises, the share of people aged 65 and over is climbing rapidly.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
Global Gas Flaring Hits Highest Level Since 2007, Undermining Energy Security, Access, and Emissions Goals
July 18, 2025-New report estimates wasted gas amounts to Africa’s annual gas consumption
Global gas flaring surged for a second year in a row, wasting about $63 billion in lost energy and setting back efforts to manage emissions and boost energy security and access.
Flaring, the practice of burning natural gas during oil extraction, reached 151 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2024, up 3 bcm from the previous year and the highest level in almost two decades.
An estimated 389 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent-46 million of that from unburnt methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases-was needlessly emitted.
While some countries have reduced flaring, the top nine largest-flaring countries continue to account for three-quarters of all flaring, but less than half of global oil production. Satellite data compiled and analyzed in the World Bank's annual Global Gas Flaring Tracker shows that flaring intensity-the amount of gas flared per barrel of oil produced-has remained stubbornly high for the last 15 years.
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Source: worldbank.org
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.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) primarily from fossil fuels combustion and deforestation, is the main contributor to climate change, comprising the largest share of global GHG emissions.
National emissions are increasingly influenced by global demand and supply chains. As carbon-intensive production is relocated abroad, domestic emission reductions may be partially or wholly offset by increases elsewhere. This underscores the need to assess emissions from both production and consumption perspectives.
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Source: oecd.org
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