Decoding public finance for disaster risk reduction and climate investments
Format
The need to increase investments in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) is a well-accepted priority to minimize losses from disaster and climate change. However, there are challenges in articulating how much countries ought to spend, what areas they should prioritize, and which type of measure are more effective in achieving risk and losses reduction. The absence of baseline information on expenditure trends hampers the analysis of most cost-efficient ways to reduce risk.
One way to gain insights into the current levels of investments is by conducting a review of public expenditure. The goal of such a review and budget tracking is to advise decision-makers on where gaps exist to realign budgets with priorities.
E-Mail
IMAGE: A Rice University model shows the predicted atmospheric concentration distribution in parts per billion of a downwind diesel plume six hours after Hurricane Harvey. Rice engineers modeled the hypothetical threats. view more
Credit: Rice University
HOUSTON - (Feb. 1, 2021) - When aboveground storage tanks fail during a storm and their toxic contents spread, the threat to human health can and probably will flow downwind of the immediate area.
Rice University engineers have developed a model to quantify what could happen when a hurricane or other natural disaster causes such damage based on data gathered from the Houston Ship Channel, the largest petrochemical complex in the United States, during and after two hurricanes, Ike in 2008 and Harvey in 2017.
Banks have faced increasing criticism in recent years over their ongoing financial support for environmentally destructive industries, but by tweaking their practices they could become part a critical part of the solution to escalating deforestation and habitat destruction worldwide.
That is the core message this month from research by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), which outlines a set of five key actions banks and other financial firms can take to help respond to the biodiversity and climate crises, de-risking their investments in the process.
Released in mid-January, the report from CISL s Centre for Sustainable Finance focuses on soft commodities, such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber products, which are responsible for most deforestation worldwide caused by commercial agriculture.
Banks urged to set time-bound targets to tackle deforestation
A new report has outlined how banks can take proactive steps to improve traceability and accountability of contributions to deforestation, as part of a first step to accelerating action towards a forest-restorative economy.
Some of the world s largest banks have been linked to industries that are causing mass deforestation and biodiversity loss
The new report details an action plan set out by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) as to how banks can play a role in halting global deforestation.
It focuses on the role of financing soft commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef and timber products that are responsible for the majority of deforestation caused by commercial agriculture. With more than 50% linked to services provided by nature, including freshwater, healthy soil and clean air, banks have a key role to play in shaping markets that combat the ecological crisis.
Second stimulus checks will help, but U.S. income crisis runs much deeper than Covid CNBC 12/20/2020 Eric Rosenbaum
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday night that lawmakers in Congress had agreed to a second stimulus deal that would include $600 stimulus checks, additional unemployment benefits, food assistance and rental relief to millions.
The Covid-19 crisis and stalemate over a new relief package has highlighted and compounded the nation s inability to solve a much broader economic issue: income inequality.
Working parents at the lowest income levels are the long haulers of the pandemic when it comes to child care and education struggles, a recent CNBC survey of the U.S. workforce reveals.