Washington DC’s Environmental Impact Bond Greening the City

Towards Stockholm+50 is a new podcast and webinar series from the Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future and the Norwegian Forum for Development and Environment.

Upcoming sessions focus on:

Strengthening Environmental Governance and Law (20 April 2022)
Environmental Diplomacy and Multilateralism (25 April 2022)
Environmental Rights, Human Rights and Environmental Justice (28 April 2022)
Making a Forceful Canon of the Rio Conventions and the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (2 May 2022)
Environment and Education (3 May 2022)
Civil Society, the Environment and UNEP (4 May 2022)

It’s time for bold choices. It’s time for urgent action. It’s time for a better future on a healthy planet.

Thank you for taking part in the Stockholm+50 Global Survey.

By answering these 10 questions you will help us capture the opinions of people around the world about the state of the world’s progress towards a sustainable planet.

Answers are anonymous and the survey takes only 5 minutes to complete.

The survey results will be taken to the Stockholm+50 international meeting to be held in Stockholm, Sweden on the 2-3 of June 2022.

"The poorer regions of the world that suffer the ecological impacts of oil and gas exploration, are now shouldering the environmental burden of the renewable energy extractive industry. Hence, robust environmental policies are needed to address emerging problems in the energy transition spheres".

Thank you Ibifuro Joy Alasia for this insightful thought piece on the importance of SDG7 in achieving a sustainable and healthy planet for all.

A Salute to my companions in promoting a lasting individual, community, and world peace at United Nations Peacekeeping (UNP)...

Peacekeeping has proven to be one of the most effective tools available to the UN to assist host countries navigate the difficult path from conflict to peace.
Peacekeeping has unique strengths, including legitimacy, burden sharing, and an ability to deploy and sustain troops and police from around the globe, integrating them with civilian peacekeepers to advance multidimensional mandates (UNP, 2022).

UNP helps countries torn by conflict create the conditions for lasting peace.
UN peacekeepers provide security and the political and peacebuilding support to help countries make the difficult, early transition from conflict to peace. UN Peacekeeping is guided by three basic principles:

Consent of the parties;
Impartiality;
Non-use of force except in self-defense and defense of the mandate.

Peacekeeping is flexible and over the past two decades has been deployed in many configurations. UNP operates in some of the toughest and most dangerous places in the world and tailor each deployment to suit the specific needs on the ground. There are currently 12 UN peacekeeping operations deployed on three continents. UNP are actively engaged in protecting civilian populations, helping prevent conflict, reducing violence and strengthening security in the field where it matters most (UNP, 2022).
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https://peacekeeping.un.org/en
https://research.un.org/en/peacekeeping-community
https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/dpko-brochure-2018v17_1…
https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/20190926_orolsi_kit_col…
https://www.un.org/en/A4P/

The Superhero Behind Earth Day...

“Gaylord Nelson was a leading figure in the fight against environmental degradation and social injustice in the twentieth century. Growing up steeped in Wisconsin’s progressive heritage and New Deal liberalism, Nelson began his political career as one confident in both the political power of ordinary citizens and the government’s ability to promote the public good.

Though the 1950s brought prosperity to some Americans, Nelson's attention was with those in the city and the countryside who were disadvantaged. He never overlooked the social and ecological costs of technological innovation and industrial expansion.

As a Senator, Nelson contributed to important liberal reforms but struggled for years to interest his colleagues in environmental protections. So he turned instead to the people, proposing April 22, 1970 as a day for Americans to speak out about the environmental crises they faced.

Earth Day's massive public support forced politicians to see the severity of the problems and the extent of public concern. The first Earth Day galvanized Congress into creating some of the most important U.S. environmental legislation. Gaylord Nelson earned environmentalism a lasting place in national politics” and the international consciousness (UW Nelson Institute, 2022).
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http://www.nelsonearthday.net/nelson/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/21/climate/NYT-first-earth-day.html

Earth Day 2022 and Beyond...

For those that may not know, Earth Day 2022 is coming soon on Friday, April 22. This year's theme as announced by EARTHDAY.ORG is “Invest in Our Planet.”

This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must Invest In Our Planet (EARTHDAY.ORG, 2022).

In honor of Mr. Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day Founder and our dear Mother Earth, I'd like to share a few relevant quotes...

I also became close to nature and am now able to appreciate the beauty with which this world is endowed. James Dean

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! Sitting Bull

Looking at beauty in the world, is the first step of purifying the mind. Amit Ray

Those who find beauty in all of nature will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself. L. Wolfe Gilbert

Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. Rachel Carson

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. Khalil Gibran

The earth is the general and equal possession of all humanity and therefore cannot be the property of individuals. Leo Tolstoy

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. William Shakespeare

The earth is what we all have in common....the care of the earth is our most ancient and most worthy and, after all, our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it, and to foster its renewal, is our only legitimate hope. Wendell Berry

If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food, either. Joseph Wood Krutch

Everything costs and costs the earth. Maya Angelou

We are living on the planet as if we have another one to go to. Terry Swearingen

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew. Marshall McLuhan

The earth is but one country and humankind its citizens. Baha'U'Llah

The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth. Marlee Matlin

The earth is the general and equal possession of all humanity and therefore cannot be the property of individuals. Leo Tolstoy

The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations. Pope John Paul II

Do no dishonor to the earth least you dishonor the spirit of man.
Henry Beston

This land, this water, this air, this planet - this is our legacy to our young. Paul Tsongas

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American Proverb

The most important environmental issue is one that is rarely mentioned, and that is the lack of a conservation ethic in our culture. Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day Founder

Conservation is not merely a question of morality, but a question of our own survival. Dalai Lama
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https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2022/
https://www.earthday.org/

Our current way of living - especially in rich countries - is driving environmental degradation, climate change and a growing sense of dissatisfaction and mental health issues.

Will Stockholm +50 be able to reimagine a future that is thriving for all living species, including humans?

Thanks a lot Erin Remblance for this powerful blogpost!

Is becoming evident that climate action is no longer just a priority, but a pressing need. Will Stockholm+50 be the turning point to boost climate adaptation and resilience?

Read Anowyesha Dash interesting article to find out more!

Looking for Finance Industry Expertise to formulate recommendations for LD

If you search the IPCC AR6 WG3 Full Report for the term "stranded assets", you get 117 instances.

There are different estimates regarding the total stranded assets if we do everything necessary to stay "well below 2°C". In any case, we are talking about many trillions of USD.

Hence, without finding a way to "organize" this part of the transformation, there will be enormous resistance to transforming at all. (and it might give a clue why there was no transformation in the last 50 years)

I want to discuss the possibilities of getting rid of these toxic assets without crashing neither the world economy nor pension funds. (and if GFANZ would be a good platform to "use")

Is somebody interested?