Climate Change
News
Malaysia to have 1,000 EV charging stations by 2025
Malaysia is lagging behind its regional peers when it comes to AC charging stations and DC fast-charging stations and the lack of incentives is to blame. The country now aims to have 1,000 DC rapid charging stations in the next four years.
BRICS summit is likely to strongly oppose carbon tax proposed by EU
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa may strongly oppose the proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) by the European Union at the 13th BRICS Summit on Thursday as the five developing countries will likely be the biggest losers from its implementation. In a veiled reference to CBAM, BRICS trade ministers last week cautioned that any measure to tackle climate change must be in conformity with multilateral trading rules and shouldn’t put arbitrary restrictions on international trade.
EU parliament committee approves farm subsidy reforms
The European Parliament’s agriculture committee approved a deal to overhaul the European Union’s huge farming subsidies, including new measures aimed at making agriculture greener.
Reports
OECD Report: Policy strategies and challenges for climate change mitigation in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector
The OECD has suggested global net carbon emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses can be cut hugely, with 41% of this coming from avoiding deforestation alone. Access the
From pandemic to Paris: the inclusion of COVID-19 response in national climate commitments
Both climate change and COVID-19 are global public health crises threatening lives and livelihoods, increasing poverty, exacerbating inequalities, and damaging economic growth prospects. However, with the pandemic temporarily overshadowing the
Switching it up: The effect of energy price reforms in Oman
Fresh UNIDO-led research in collaboration with the World Bank provides concrete evidence that removing fossil fuel subsidies would not only make environmental sense but would also improve firms’ economic performance. New firm-level
Policy Briefs
Proposed Sustainability Checklist for Assessing Economic Recovery Interventions April 2020 (World Bank)
The checklist essentially raises questions that governments should consider to assess projects and zero in on the most promising. Many governments already have sophisticated decision protocols in place, so this
Green Stimulus Index – An assessment of the orientation of COVID-19 stimulus in relation to climate change, biodiversity and other environmental impacts (Vidid Economics)
Over the past 2 months the world has witnessed unprecedented government financial interventions in response to Covid-19. Economic stimulus packages announced to date include a range of different bailout mechanisms.
From containment to recovery: Environmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD)
The focus of this brief is on the immediate steps that governments can take to ensure that emergency measures implemented to tackle the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis do not derail their
