SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT – As global delegations fight to keep the dream of limiting warming to 1.5C within reach, plastic pollution contaminating aquatic life, soil quality and the human body, is skyrocketing. The relentless growth of demand for plastics driven by subsidies for fossil fuels, coupled with the failure of recycling and waste management systems […] Continue reading ->
Deadlock may once again be the name of the game at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights—TRIPS, for short. A communication from Switzerland and Mexico questioning the need to extend the waiver on intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines to therapeutics and diagnostics is laying bare the divergences […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments worldwide to step up the supervision of vaccine manufacture and distribution, especially when public funding is used in vaccine R&D or manufacture, so as to prioritise essential vaccines and ensure they are distributed equitably.  The global health agency’s call to governments came as it released its annual […] Continue reading ->
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – The International Renewable Agency (IRENA), on Tuesday, said it would pump $1billion into a new effort that would electrify health facilities, along with food storage and agriculture, with solar power, while the World Bank said it also plans to triple its investments in solar electrification efforts to reach 100,000 health facilities […] Continue reading ->
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – Small island states and other African and Asian developing nations stepped up their appeals Tuesday for a reboot of the global financial system to make climate finance more affordable to their debt-ridden nations, now battling a rising wave of climate emergencies along with demands to “go green”. Reducing interest rates on […] Continue reading ->
As ceremonies opened in Sharm El-Sheik’s grand plenary hall on Monday, only one word came to mind in trying to sum up the scene: surreal. World leaders paraded into the hall to music seemingly taken from a Star Wars film. The cast of speakers taking the stage consisted of a petro-state monarch, a friendly host […] Continue reading ->