Global temperatures: costs continued to soar in 2021, b£60 million boost for floating offshore wind, Solar energy opens up opportunities for remote Amazon communities. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
Global temperatures: costs continued to soar in 2021
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that in 2021, the US experienced 20 major climate-related disaster events with damage costs exceeding 1 billion. In total, these events caused US$145 billion in damage and claimed at least 688 lives.
The year was also one of the hottest globally and the fourth-hottest in the US since it started keeping records 127 years ago.
“If you relate the experienced global temperature increases with the findings of the IPCC WG 1 in their report last August on the science of climate change, the frequency, scale, and cost of climate-related disasters will very likely increase not only in the US but all around the world,” says John Christensen, Senior Climate and Energy Expert at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In order to provide relevant and up-to-date information to these many interested people around the world, UNEP established the World Environment Situation Room in 2019, as a demonstration platform put by a consortium of Big Data partners. It includes geo-referenced, remote-sensing, and earth observation information collates climate data in near real-time, and present this data in an easily accessible format
£60 million boost for floating offshore wind
Floating offshore wind projects will receive more than £60 million in public and private investment to develop new technologies that will enable turbines to be located in the windiest parts around the UK’s coastline.
The cash boost will further research and development in floating offshore wind with projects across the United Kingdom set to receive funding that will accelerate the deployment of turbines in seas around the UK. The research will focus on areas such as how turbines are moored to the seabed, undersea cabling, and developing foundation solutions.
Energy Minister Greg Hands said: ”We are already a world leader in offshore wind and floating technology is key to unlocking the full potential of the seas around Britain. These innovative projects will help us expand renewable energy further and faster across the UK and help to reduce our exposure to volatile global gas prices”.
Solar energy opens up opportunities for remote Amazon communities
A solar power project implemented in a small community in the Brazilian Amazon has significantly changed the lives of the people there for the better, providing them not only with a stable energy source but also job opportunities too.
The small village of Santa Helena do Inglês, located in a Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS) on the banks of Brazil’s Rio Negro River, has been equipped with 132 solar panels, 54 lithium batteries to store the energy, and nine state-of-art hybrid inverters. The small power plant is located in the open air and although still in the pilot phase, it is now fully operational. The construction is part of the Semper Luz project which aims to provide solar energy to the riverside and remote indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest.
As many communities in the Amazon live in remote locations, solar energy may be the only solution for them to gain access to a stable energy supply. Solar panels are also more eco-friendly than the traditional grid since the power lines that pass through the rainforest may affect the wildlife there. Furthermore, it is cheap and sustainable and offers communities energy independence. Although Brazil is one of the sunniest countries in the world, it has only 2% of solar energy in its energy mix but experts claim that the Amazon is especially promising in terms of the development of this type of energy. Nevertheless, about 1 million people in the Brazilian Amazon do not have access to the power grid and rely mainly on generators or live in the dark.
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Talent Shortlist, a must-have service for companies operating within the aid sector
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International Day of Education 2022: challenges, expectations and transformation | Experts’ Opinions
“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world,” said Nelson Mandela. It is also a basic tool with which to achieve a sustainable future. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming January 24 as the International Day of Education in celebration of the role that education plays in bringing global peace and sustainable development. The last two years have been extremely challenging for the educational sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic and numerous lockdowns. On the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of Education, we discussed the greatest challenges facing education worldwide with several experts and present their opinions below.
Here’s what else has happened
EU: The EU is reaffirming its solidarity with vulnerable people in countries in West and Central Africa through a humanitarian budget of €175 million in 2022. The funding will be allocated to humanitarian projects in the following eight countries: Burkina Faso (€23.5 million), Cameroon (€16 million), the Central African Republic (€17 million), Chad (€26.5 million), Mali (€25 million), Mauritania (€8.5 million), Niger (€24 million) and Nigeria (€34 million).
UK: International development charity, Christian Aid, has called on the UK Government to take urgent action to halt a devastating global hunger crisis as a new World Food Programme report reveals more of the worlds most vulnerable are at risk of acute hunger and starvation.
EIB Group: For the second year in a row, the EU bank focused on fighting the COVID-19 crisis while increasing its financing for green projects. The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) worked with partners in Europe and around the world to deliver a record €95 billion in the financing, a 23% increase from 2020 (€77 billion). The European Investment Bank (EIB) provided over €65 billion in loans, while the European Investment Fund (EIF) provided just above €30 billion in guarantees and equity.
Reports
ADB calls for innovative financing for ocean health improvement
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched a publication calling for scaling up of finance flows into ocean health improvement and related projects in Asia and the Pacific to combat growing threats from unchecked pollution into rivers, lakes, and seas due to rapid economic growth.
The publication, Financing the Ocean Back to Health in Southeast Asia: Approaches for Mainstreaming Blue Finance, was launched at the ADB Healthy Oceans Tech and Finance Forum, which runs 26–28 January. It highlights the need for countries to use innovative finance models that can blend financing from public and private sectors to rapidly accelerate and scale-up “blue” projects such as coastal protection, sustainable fisheries, and plastics in wastewater treatment.
Building resilience in water and sanitation key to managing COVID-19 in the Pacific
Utility companies that deliver water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in the urban areas of the Pacific region need to invest more and plan their business continuity and water safety programs amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a new ADB report.
The Review of Opportunities for the Pacific WASH Sector, which looks at the impact of the pandemic on the WASH sector in ADB’s 14 Pacific developing member countries (DMCs), has proposed strategic directions to help build a more resilient and sustainable WASH sector, as the region manages the spread of the virus and at the same time reopens borders to revitalize economies.
PRAG 2021 – An overview on changes and novelties
The European Union’s Multiannual Financial Framework is the primary budget document that highlights the overall Union’s budget and related spending areas for the next seven years. The recently approved MF for 2021-2027 has a total dedicated budget of €1.211 trillion, out of which €95.75 billion are allocated to finance activities under the external actions dimension. PRAG represents a non-legally binding document that governs public tendering and grants awarding procedures in the context of the EU’s external action plan.
Read and download the report: PRAG 2021 – An overview on changes and novelties.
G20 leadership required to catalyze private capital inflow for nature-based solutions
G20 country investments in nature-based solutions (NbS) need to reach USD 285 billion/year by 2050 to address the interrelated climate, biodiversity, and land degradation crises; however, current G20 spending is only USD 120 billion/year. These are the findings of a new report, the ‘State of Finance for Nature in the G20’.
Events
Build Back Better after COVID-19 and the Impact of Climate Change on Sustainable Development
📅 30 -31 January 2022
Cairo, Egypt
Disasters are a major obstacle to achieving sustainable development goals, and these disasters may cause human and material losses and add new burdens to countries’ budgets to recover from the effects of these disasters and reconstruction, which negatively affects financial allocations for development in various sectors.
Doing Business with IADB: Procurement Framework and Best Practices | Webinar
📅 10 February 2022 🕟 4 PM (Brussels Time)/ 10 AM (Washington DC Time)
Virtual
The DevelopmentAid Procurement Series presents thematic webinars featuring representatives from the largest international bilateral, multilateral and financial institutions who introduce their procurement guidelines and share the best practices for collaboration.
Key takeaways:
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- Discover the IADB, its operations, and vision;
- Gain valuable insights on IADB’s procurement framework;
- Learn how to prepare properly for upcoming bids;
Speaker:
Adriana Salazar Cota, Procurement Specialist at the Operations Financial Management and Procurement Services Office at the Inter-American Development Bank;
Host:
Ion Ilasco, External Relations and Events at DevelopmentAid.
