Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesRising global temperature, standing in solidarity with migrants and €1 billion investments in innovative clean technology projects. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector:
Rising global temperature shows ‘enormous challenge’ of meeting climate goal
Annual global temperature is likely to be at least 1°C warmer than pre-industrial levels in each of the coming five years, putting globally agreed climate change targets in jeopardy, new data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals.
The prediction is among the findings in the UN agency’s latest Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update, which also shows that temperature could exceed 1.5°C in at least one year between now and 2024.
The Earth’s average temperature has already risen beyond 1°C above the pre-industrial period, which spans 1850-1900, while the last five years have been the warmest on record.
“This study shows – with a high level of scientific skill – the enormous challenge ahead in meeting the Paris Agreement on Climate Change target of keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius”, said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
Standing in solidarity with migrants: Supporting civil society and other stakeholders in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
The UN Network on Migration salutes all actors providing vital protection, monitoring, advocacy, information, and support to and in collaboration with migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Civil society organizations, migrant and diaspora associations, workers and employers organizations, national human rights institutions, youth and women-led organizations, local authorities and communities, the private sector and others play a vital role in protecting many of those rendered most vulnerable by the pandemic and responses to it. The Network calls for increased recognition for this work, including through avenues for meaningful participation and greater governmental and financial support.
The challenges many migrants already faced are now exacerbated by responses to COVID-19 that, whether by design or indirectly, lead to discrimination and exclusion. Access to relief measures, government support and national COVID-19 policy responses such as income support and social protection measures have, for many, remained elusive. What has emerged is a picture of a response to a virus that is as unequal in impact as COVID-19 itself, reinforcing patterns of discrimination, alongside heightened racism, xenophobia and intolerance against migrant workers and their families, while also violating their human rights.
Commission invests €1 billion in innovative clean technology projects
The Commission launched the first call for proposals under the Innovation Fund, one of the world’s largest programmes for the demonstration of innovative low-carbon technologies, financed by revenues from the auction of emission allowances from the EU’s Emissions Trading System.
The Innovation Fund will finance breakthrough technologies for renewable energy, energy-intensive industries, energy storage, and carbon capture, use, and storage. It will provide a boost to the green recovery by creating local future-proof jobs, paving the way to climate neutrality and reinforcing European technological leadership on a global scale.
Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: “This call for proposals comes at just the right time. The EU will invest €1 billion in promising, market-ready projects such as clean hydrogen or other low-carbon solutions for energy-intensive industries like steel, cement and chemicals. We will also support energy storage, grid solutions, and carbon capture and storage. These large-scale investments will help restart the EU economy and create a green recovery that leads us to climate neutrality in 2050.”
DevelopmentAid Editorials
DFID’s merger with the Foreign Office: The potential impact on the development sector
Twenty-seven years after the Pergau Dam scandal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to remerge the UK’s foreign policy and foreign aid departments signals a return to the aid-for-trade era. In a bid align Britain’s foreign aid with its foreign policy, the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will now form the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The merger will take effect in September.
WHO is working on a framework allocation of a potential coronavirus vaccine
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently set out certain recommendations as to how a potential coronavirus vaccine should be deployed in case one is developed this year. The organization is currently working on a strategy for vaccine allocation, stating that the framework will not, however, be binding.
Here’s what else has happened
European Commission and World Bank: The European Commission and the World Bank Group have signed a Financial Framework Partnership Agreement, which guides the terms under which the Bank Group will use funding from the European Union to implement development projects across the world.
NIB: NIB and Danish Ringkjøbing Landbobank (RLB) have signed a ten-year loan agreement for onlending to environmental projects and to small and medium-sized enterprises in Denmark.
EU: The European Union has contributed EUR 2 million (CHF 2.1 million) over the period 2019-2020 to help developing countries and least-developed countries participate effectively in global trade negotiations.
Reports
IRENA outlines key actions needed to accelerate renewables in Lebanon
Lebanon has the potential to generate up to 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, according to a new report published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
The Renewable Energy Outlook: Lebanon report suggests that scaling-up renewable energy adoption can help the country meet growing energy demand, support economic growth, create annual savings of up to USD 249 million and strengthen the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera outlined in the report, while the pandemic has brought hardship and grief, the need to respond quickly and effectively has underlined the value of close, transparent co-ordination.
Read the full report: Renewable Energy Outlook: Lebanon.
Summer 2020 Economic Forecast: An even deeper recession with wider divergences
The EU economy will experience a deep recession this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite the swift and comprehensive policy response at both EU and national levels. Because the lifting of lockdown measures is proceeding at a more gradual pace than assumed in the Spring Forecast, the impact on economic activity in 2020 will be more significant than anticipated.
Read the full report: Summer 2020 Economic Forecast.
Events
Webinar | Outcomes of the First WHO Global Infodemiology Conference
? 21 July 2020 ?15:00 PM (CET)
Webinar
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the phenomenon of an ‘infodemic’ has escalated to a level that requires a coordinated response. An infodemic is an overabundance of information – some accurate and some not – occurring during an epidemic.
Virtual roundtable | Continuing Learning and Schooling for Refugees: Ensuring refugee students are able to learn at home and return to school
? 13 July 2020 ? 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM (CET)
Virtual roundtable
Planned alongside the High-Level Political Forum event, participants will hear from refugee learners and graduates, and Ministers of Education from Cameroon, Pakistan and Kenya, about how their personal education experiences and national education systems have been affected by the pandemic, and how they are planning for the return to school for refugee learners. The discussion will be moderated by UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie.
Virtual conference | Women in Industry and Innovation
? 15 – 17 July 2020
Virtual conference
The conference “Women in Industry and Innovation” will gather government representatives, private sector actors, experts, entrepreneurs, researchers and other relevant stakeholders, in an effort to promote the development of an inclusive and sustainable environment for the economic empowerment of women. Inspired by the stories of female leaders and entrepreneurs, the format of the conference aims to ensure a high level of engagement and interaction among stakeholders and participants.