Washington, United States - Improving trade relations between African countries could provide a major boost to economic output (GDP) across the continent and help tackle challenges like climate change, the International Monetary Fund said Friday. The new IMF report found that reforming the "fragmented" trade policy landscape and better implementating existing...

BERN, SWITZERLAND - The UAE discussed bolstering strategic relations and cooperation in various development, economic and financial fields of common interest with Switzerland here. The UAE's Ministry of Finance (MoF) held the fifth financial dialogue with the Swiss Confederation in Bern. Younis Haji Al Khoori, Undersecretary of the Ministry of...

Since 2020 though, the world has been hit with an exceptionally long La Nina -- El Nino's cooling opposite -- which ended earlier this year, ceding way to the current neutral conditions. And yet, the UN has said the last eight years were the warmest ever recorded, despite La Nina's...

DUBAI, UAE - The 30th edition of Arabian Travel Market (ATM) will open Monday at Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC), local media reports said. The event, on May 1-4, will see global travel, tourism, and hospitality experts come together to explore how their industry is ‘Working Towards Net Zero’.For ATM...

BP in February announced that it expected to boost its profits between now and 2030 by investing more in both renewable energy and hydrocarbons, slowing the pace of its transition. Environmental group Greenpeace, which only last year was calling BP "the most ambitious" of the global majors, criticised the plans,...

The UK and the Netherlands have announced LionLink, a subsea energy link project that will connect offshore wind farms in the North Sea to the two countries. The largest of its kind project in the world is will be operational by the early 2030s and was announced during the North...

NEW YORK, US -  UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a statement calling for urgent action to protect the environment and combat climate change on the occasion of International Mother Earth Day. Guterres highlighted the crucial relationship between humanity and the natural world, stating that our health and survival depend on...

Launched by the World Economic Forum, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the World Bank Group, the scheme aims to help participating countries, including least-developed countries, to use trade to meet their climate targets.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - EU lawmakers this week adopted new laws boosting Europe's climate change fight, but a parallel drive to protect biodiversity in bills to be finalized before the end of next year looks to be on shakier ground. Negotiations between the European Commission, EU member states and the European Parliament...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank Group (WBG) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Thursday launched an initiative to help developing economies meet their climate change mitigation and adaptation goals through trade. The initiative Action on Climate and Trade (ACT) . which starts with...

Iraq, one of the countries worst-hit by climate change, endured a dozen major sandstorms last year that turned the sky orange, brought daily life to a halt and left its people gasping for air. When the storms clear, layers of fine sand cover everything - including the Sumerian ruins of...

The members also exchanged views on progressing the implementation of Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) to advance the international taxation agenda.

For the study, published in the journal Science, researchers analyzed a combination of satellite data and ground moisture readings from a period of over 60 years (1951-2014). The researcher, based out of China's Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), warned that the rapid onset of flash droughts gives...

Dr Al Jaber noted that climate finance is essential for each workstream of the Paris Agreement, from mitigation to adaptation, and that these resources are particularly needed in the Global South, which has historically received an insufficient share of available resources.

The world's leading developed economies are all targeting net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner after signing the Paris Agreement to cap global warming at well under two degrees Celsius. But they differ on how to respond to the energy squeeze caused by Russia's war in Ukraine, with host Japan among...

Even before the roasting summer months, the soil is dry and dusty in the small Mediterranean country, whose water resources are steadily depleting as climate change intensifies. With some Tunisian water reservoirs almost completely dry, authorities imposed emergency measures last month, rationing household supplies and banning water use for washing...

Washington, United States--World Bank member countries have endorsed measures allowing a $50 billion lending boost over the next decade, its outgoing president David Malpass said Wednesday. The move, announced during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings in Washington, is part of an ongoing evolution of the development...

Experts say developing nations are struggling to find the funds needed to stop burning planet-heating fossil fuels and prepare for tomorrow's climate disasters, as they grapple with rising costs, soaring debts and extreme weather events. Reform plans are gaining momentum because they fill a "policy vacuum" over funding for the...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The WTO’s annual Public Forum 2023 will focus this year on how trade can contribute to a greener, more sustainable future. The Forum will examine in particular how the services sector, digitalization and inclusive trade policies can support global environmental goals and help combat the climate crisis....

The minister said the refinery, built by South Korean firm Hyundai, can produce nine million liters of fuel a day -- over half of Iraq's daily imports of 15 million liters. The refinery has the capacity to produce 200 megawatts of electricity and "60 megawatts will be allocated to the...

DUBAI, UAE – UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri emphasized the importance of collaboration, data sharing and investment in achieving global solutions for promoting water sustainability. The minister made these comments in an interactive dialogue and side sessions at the United Nations in New York....

CHENNAI, INDIA - The UAE spoke on food and energy insecurity and their implications in the second Framework Working Group (FWG) meeting within the G20 Finance Track for 2023 held here on March 24 – 25. The meeting was held to discuss the progress made on the 2023 FWG work...

The market for electric cars, solar and wind energy, green hydrogen is expected to quadruple in value by 2030 to reach $2.1 trillion.

As the effects of climate change intensify each year, there is an urgent need to transform multiple industries to meet sustainable development targets, avoid greenwashing, and create transparent and pragmatic resolutions, adds Hitchen, suggesting the plan of action for the region.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on wealthy countries to move up their goals of achieving carbon neutrality as close as possible to 2040 in order to "defuse the climate time bomb." He made the remark while introducing a capstone report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on the...

PARIS, FRANCE  -  COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber met French President Emmanuel Macron and outlined his vision on the need to reform multilateral financial institutions to unlock capital for clean technologies and adaptation efforts. During his meeting with Macron, Dr. Al Jaber emphasized the need for ambitious reforms across...

A multi-plural world that embraces diversity and contradictions is crucial for peaceful coexistence free of conflicts, Prof Subramanian Rangan of INSEAD tells TRENDS.

TRENDS comes out with exclusive interviews of eminent leaders who had set a blueprint for a peaceful and successful global future during the Davos Summit earlier this year.

Technology, however, can be a powerful tool to deal with global challenges such as climate change, poverty, and inequality, says MIT's Senseable City Lab director Carlo Ratti.

All industries and businesses should focus on net zero emissions, nature positivity, net zero business and eventually a net zero world, Salesforce chief Marc Benioff tells TRENDS.

Diplomats from nearly 200 nations and top climate scientists begin a week-long huddle in Switzerland Monday to distill nearly a decade of published science into a 20-odd-page warning about the existential danger of global warming, and what to do about it. Since its creation in 1988, the IPCC - an...

Significant technology development is going on in the climate space in the UAE, distinguished Professor Laura D'Andrea Tyson tells TRENDS in an interview.

BASRA, IRAQ -  Iraq's prime minister on Sunday announced a campaign to combat the severe impacts of climate change on the water-scarce country, including by planting five million palms and trees. Oil-rich but war-battered Iraq suffers from extreme summer heat, frequent droughts, desertification and regular dust storms, problems that are all...

Wars and conflicts have made it more difficult for millions of people to live in dignity and have in turn hampered efforts to bring about global peace, adds Abdelsalam during a session titled “Migration as a Manifestation of Global Poverty, Inequality, climate change and conflict”.

Around one-third of countries are likely to go through a recession, Sir Masood Ahmed, President of the Center for Global Development, tells TRENDS in an interview.

NEW YORK, US -  Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber met UN Secretary General António Guterres and underscored  the UAE’s commitment of deepening cooperation with the world body on climate action. Guterres expressed his deep appreciation for the cooperation of the...

A major overhaul of the sector - from production to distribution to consumption - could reduce those emissions by more than half even as global population increases, they reported in Nature Climate Change. The global food system accounts for about 15 percent of current warming levels, but only a third...

The UN announced that it had taken a significant step towards trying to fill a key gap in the fight against climate change: standardized, real-time tracking of greenhouse gases. The UN's World Meteorological Organization has come up with a new Global Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Infrastructure that aims to provide better...

Panama City, Panama - Delegates to a global conference on saving the world's oceans pledged US$19 billion, the host country Panama said. The total included a $6 billion commitment from the United States, announced on Thursday by White House climate envoy John Kerry. Panamanian deputy foreign minister Yill del Carmen Otero...

RABAT, MOROCCO - UAE's Federal National Council (FNC) highlighted the critical role of parliaments in addressing the repercussions of climate change, by passing laws that preserves the environment and promote the use of clean energy. The FNC's Parliamentary Division made this statement during the intervention by Aisha Mohammed Al Mulla,...

A steady flow of taxis has rolled up outside the Ivorian embassy in Tunis in recent days, depositing dozens of migrants who say they no longer feel safe amid an officially sanctioned climate of fear.

ABU DHABI, UAE -  Minister of State for Financial Affairs Mohamed Hadi Al Hussaini headed the UAE delegation participating in the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting in 2023. Held for the first time under the Indian presidency in Bengaluru, the meeting discussed the progress under...

"We utilise all forms of clean energy to cut carbon emissions and mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. The UAE’s approach is showing tangible benefit, with over 5.5mT of carbon emissions removed for every unit brought into commercial operation at the Barakah plant," adds Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri.

Companies will emphasize less on diversification and disruptive offerings this year, predict chief executive officers in the Gulf region.

But on the eve of the talks, set to run through March 3, cautious optimism appears to be taking hold, encouraged by a historic agreement reached in Montreal in December during the UN's COP15 conference on biodiversity. Countries then committed themselves to protecting 30 percent of the world's lands and...

Scientists have for years been refuting claims that the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), with its Alaska facility boasting 180 radio antennae, is a US government-backed programme to weaponise the atmosphere and subjugate the population. Some users cited flashes of light before the quake as evidence they were artificially...

Another two weeks of negotiations ended with no agreement in August last year, but advocates and officials have expressed cautious optimism ahead of the coming session. "There are a lot of negotiations and discussions happening between delegations trying to find middle ground on some of the key sticky issues... at...

"We cannot neglect any element of the climate crisis, including its clear implications for international peace and security,” he adds. “Our obligation – with each body contributing within its mandate – is to reverse the current trajectories with inclusive, effective, and responsive climate action.”

The plan envisages that 55 percent of Dubai's population to live within 800 meters or less from public transport stations. "It also aims to enhance investment opportunities by increasing the area of economic activities to 168 sq km, widening the area of hotel and tourism activities to 134% to attract...

DUBAI, UAE -  Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has updated its strategic plan, adding achieving net-zero by 2050 to its vision. This move is as per its commitment of keeping pace with the government plans and strategies that aim to achieve net-zero by 2050 and the UAE’s efforts to...