Category: GEGI

Constraining Development in International Trade: Q&A with Rachel Thrasher

By Samantha Igo In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and growing climate crisis, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there is an unresolved tension between the network of rules that make up the global trading system, and the needs of that system’s individual countries. The new book by Rachel Thrasher, Constraining Development: the Shrinking Policy […]

Identifying Management Opportunities to Combat Climate, Land and Marine Threats Across Less Climate Exposed Coral Reefs

Conserving coral reefs is critical for maintaining marine biodiversity, protecting coastlines and supporting livelihoods in many coastal communities. Climate change threatens coral reefs globally, but researchers have identified a portfolio of bioclimatic units (BCUs), or coral reefs, that are relatively less exposed to climate impacts and connected to other reef systems. These reefs provide a […]

Accelerating Climate Action through National Climate Funds

While leaders at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) place special emphasis on increasing ambition and closing the climate finance delivery gap, another vital consideration should be on how exactly that finance will be delivered. Since 2009 when the initial $100 billion climate finance commitment was made, the international landscape has shifted significantly, […]

Closing the Gap: The Role of National Climate Funds in Meeting Global Climate Finance Goals

By Rishikesh Ram Bhandary In 2009, developed countries committed to mobilizing $100 billion in climate finance to developing countries every year by 2020. Eleven years later, however, developed countries have not yet met this commitment, and political attention has been solely focused on how countries can bridge the remaining gap of roughly $20 billion. While […]

Lights On: The State of International Development Finance, Coal and Green Energy

On October 31, 2021, the Group of 20 (G20) made a historic announcement by committing to end finance for coal-fired power plants overseas. The G20 pledge caps a year of major sustainable finance pledges from national governments and their development finance institutions (DFIs) since the inaugural 2020 Finance in Common Summit, where DFIs pledged to […]

Chart of the Week: The Debt-Climate Nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa

By Samantha Igo As the Group of Twenty (G20) meet in Rome from October 30-31, the triple crisis of climate, COVID-19 and ballooning sovereign debt demands bold intervention.  Countries are reeling from the economic and social costs following a summer of extreme weather events, with only 2.9 percent of people in low-income countries having received […]

Evaluating the BRICS Financing Mechanisms: Q&A with Paulo Nogueira Batista, Jr

By Samantha Igo Comprising an estimated total population of nearly 3.21 billion people, the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa constitute the world’s five major emerging economies and are a significant influence on international affairs. In 2012, the BRICS made the momentous decision to establish their own financing mechanisms, including a […]

The BRICS and the Financing Mechanisms They Created: Progress and Shortcomings

Comprising an estimated total population of nearly 3.21 billion people, the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa constitute the world’s five major emerging economies and are a significant influence on global affairs.   In 2012, the BRICS took the momentous decision to establish their own financing mechanisms, including a new monetary […]

“Where’s My Swap Line?”: A Money View of International Lender of Last Resort

It has been some 20 years since Stanley Fischer, then First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), pointed out that a world with international capital mobility needs an international lender of last resort for countries facing an external financing crisis. He went further to suggest that the IMF might itself play that […]