Eco-Business

The UK government has reclassified nearly £500m of aid for war-torn and impoverished countries as “climate finance”, in a bid to meet its international commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Kuala Selat village lies on the coast of Indragiri Hilir district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. In the first half of the year, residents of the village arrange buckets and drums to collect rainwater to meet their daily needs. They will then stockpile water to last through the dry months from June to September, but a longer dry spell has led to an acute shortage of water.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) held their spring meetings last week in Washington DC – a key event in a critical year for international climate finance.

Cambodia’s reliance on microloans, long touted as a way to reduce poverty, belies concerns over debt-fuelled deforestation.

By Liang Lei

By Ramesh Bhushal

By Mahadi Al Hasnat

Thomson Reuters Foundation

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New research by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) shows that disbursing International Development Association (IDA) funds to projects that positively affect people’s lives must overcome major barriers. By Jorge Moreira da Silva

Air pollution is a 'silent killer', say former New Zealand PM and former WHO chief scientist. By Helen Clark and Soumya Swaminathan

Governments in the region must fix their opaque regulatory frameworks and make use of innovative financing models, says analyst Shantanu Srivastava. By Shantanu Srivastava

Given the escalating climate crisis, multilateral lenders must urgently adopt an approach to development aid that emphasises prevention. By incorporating structural vulnerabilities into their allocation formulas, the World Bank and others can strengthen poor countries' resilience and increase fairness, efficiency, and transparency. By Abdoul Salam Bello, Patrick Guillaumont and Arnaud Buissé

By Andri Prasetiyo and Fran Witt

By Dorothy Grace Guerrero

By Aufar Satria and Rauf Usman

By Lidy Nacpil

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Eminent speakers and thousands of attendees discussed strategies for a resource-efficient future at Ecosperity Week 2019. As they heard about the science of global warming, delegates were called upon to be part of the solution.

Suggestions by delegates at the World Bank's recent Innovate4Climate event in Singapore included: Supporting developing countries in their efforts to conserve the forests, and launching more incubators for climate-friendly solutions.

EB Studio Battery technology could reshape the global energy sector, and this year's #Innovate4Climate summit in Singapore will focus on the cutting-edge innovation that could change the energy landscape.

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The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas assistant governor tells the Eco-Business Podcast about the regulator’s maiden sustainability report that features an empirical study of climate impacts on banks as well as the nation’s first taxonomy.

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