The Global Gender Gap Report 2014
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Through the Global Gender Gap Report 2014, the World Economic Forum quantifies the magnitude of gender-based disparities and tracks their progress over time. While no single measure can capture the complete situation, the Global Gender Gap Index presented in this Report seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.
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This is how Google.org is using tech to make the world more sustainable
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Jacquelline Fuller heads up Google.org, the tech giant’s data-driven, philanthropic arm tackling the world’s biggest problems using a combination of innovation, funding and technical expertise.
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Layoffs destroy lives and damage companies. Business leaders can change that through AI-powered outskilling
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Confused. Lost. Ashamed. Crushed.
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Jane Goodall: The window of time to find climate change solutions is closing
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
In 1990, Jane Goodall flew over Gombe National Park, home to the chimpanzees she had been studying for 30 years.
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Why ‘business as usual’ is not an option after COVID-19
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Growing up in India, I didn’t have to look far to see how modern living takes its toll on the environment. For as long as I can remember, the Ganges river, or “Mother Ganga” as we call it, has been considered one of the most heavily polluted rivers on the planet; the result of years of pollution, industrial waste and lax regulation. Yet for millions in India it still serves as a critical source of drinking water, sustenance, and irrigation for crops. In recent months, however, Ganga has also served as a powerful reminder that positive environmental change is still possible.
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What is COVAX, the ambitious global plan for a coronavirus vaccine?
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
The only real hope of ending the COVID-19 pandemic is with a vaccine. But at a time of rising nationalism and fraying global cooperation, how can we ensure rich countries don’t stockpile the shots, leaving poor countries out in the cold?
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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 22 September
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
1. How COVID-19 continues to affect the globe
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Why reporting can be a force for social good – and where to start
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
The market economy has evolved to meet the needs of society. But these days, the economy isn’t creating inclusive, sustainable outcomes for society. Too many people are left behind.
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This Pacific island is working towards a digital revolution
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
With active volcanoes, coral reefs, rainforests and spectacular beaches, the Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a tropical paradise. It’s also one of the most challenging parts of the world to run a digital business. But this is changing.
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World-changers: Announcing the Social Innovators of the Year 2020
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
For more than two decades, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has curated and gathered approximately 400 leading social entrepreneurs from 90 countries into the Schwab Foundation community and embedded them into the platforms of the World Economic Forum. Our community of social entrepreneurs has impacted the lives of 622 million people in more than 190 countries – clearly demonstrating significant progress on how we approach environmental sustainability and consumption, health and education, rural development and job training, and finding new ways to advance human rights and equality in different contexts around the world.
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SUVs and private flights: Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 50%
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Prone to frequent flying, a passion for SUVs and big spending, the richest 1% of the world’s population produced twice as many planet-heating emissions as the poorest half of humanity over the last quarter-century, researchers say.
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This technology is offering a completely new way to monitor sleep
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
MIT researchers have developed a wireless, private way to monitor a person’s sleep postures — whether snoozing on their back, stomach, or sides — using reflected radio signals from a small device mounted on a bedroom wall.
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Will 2020 spark a completely new way of working? This management professional thinks so
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Between the surge of furloughs and job losses related to COVID-19, the large-scale transition to remote work, the erosion of work-life balance for working parents, and the greater emphasis on diversity and inclusion, “this year is upending a lot of workplace norms,” says Liu, an associate professor of management at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Liu studies employment-related adjustment processes over time.
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World has already passed ‘peak oil’, BP figures reveal
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
The world has already passed “peak oil” demand, according to Carbon Brief analysis of the latest energy outlook from oil major BP.
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This is how the global economy will recover from COVID-19, according to CEOs
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
The Shape of Economic Recovery, According to CEOs
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The journey to a peaceful, prosperous and integrated Africa, according to Ethiopia’s PM
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Africans must take responsibility for our continent’s affairs. We have all the ingredients we need to succeed, starting with a growing population – including a large and increasingly educated cohort of young people – and a favorable trade and investment environment. And now, determined to usher in an era of African peace and prosperity, we have a mature institutional platform through which to forge, articulate, assert, and defend our common interests under an independent, unified African foreign policy.
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Bill Gates: The 5 biggest setbacks COVID-19 has had on sustainable development
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
For decades, people around the world have been getting richer and healthier.
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Innovation in health and agriculture. We need to think bigger
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
2020 must be considered as a global turning point: the year when a lethal virus shook the global community. Within weeks, the pandemic severely affected our private and professional realities. Hundreds of thousands died. Millions lost their jobs. Entire industries slowed down dramatically. These fundamental changes to public life offer us unprecedented insights into our economy and its impact on our climate.
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Why we need international cooperation now more than ever
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
Even before the tumultuous arrival of COVID-19, many parts of the world were suffering from dangerous polarization and division. Bitter disagreements over what is true or not pose a real threat to stability everywhere. And yet surprisingly, around the world, it turns out that most people – regardless of their origin, gender or age – share common hopes and fears about the future. We are all, it seems, more aligned than we are led to believe. And most of us believe strongly in the power of working together to face the challenges of today and tomorrow. That’s just one of the takeaways from a striking new initiative led by the United Nations.
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This Brazilian company can turn your trash into musical instruments
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
What goes around, comes around. That famous saying about the way we treat others could equally apply to how we’re treating the planet.
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Why the President of Colombia believes it’s time to reduce, reuse, and recycle
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
In 2018, Ivan Duque Márquez became the youngest-ever president of Colombia, a country of more than 50 million people in the northernmost part of South America.
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How stronger trade rules can help us meet climate goals
Tuesday 22nd of September 2020
There is a vital need for countries to intensify environmental and climate action. Existing climate policies set us on a path to global warming of about 3˚C above pre-industrial levels. Human action threatens the extinction of one million plant and animal species, compromising food security and livelihoods. Plastics and other forms of pollution are destroying land and water resources around the world.
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One year ago we issued a call for solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. This is our progress so far
Monday 21st of September 2020
As nations around the globe struggle to cope with the manifold disruptions of the COVID-19 crisis, a digital crowd-engagement platform has been helping to source entrepreneurial solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to build a greener, fairer and more resilient world as we emerge from the pandemic.
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2 things nature taught us during the pandemic, according to Pakistan’s climate advisor
Monday 21st of September 2020
Pakistan’s climate minister and advisor Malik Amin Aslam says nature has taught us two key things during the coronavirus pandemic.
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4 challenges we need to solve to protect our ocean
Monday 21st of September 2020
If it were a country, the ocean would be the seventh largest economy in the world.
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Imagine being stranded at sea for 18 months. That’s still the reality for many seafarers amid COVID-19
Monday 21st of September 2020
The world over we have experienced the unprecedented impacts of Covid-19, with millions of lives and livelihoods disrupted. But this takes on a new meaning for the 1.4 million people who ensure that cargo keeps moving safely and that the goods we purchase, as well as the food we eat, are always available. Some of them have been stranded at sea for a year and a half now with no break, as border restrictions mean they are unable to disembark.
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This is what sustainable infrastructure looks like and why it will fast-track recovery
Monday 21st of September 2020
The Great Reset will be shaped by the infrastructure we plan, design and construct. And infrastructure development is likely to take a leading role in national economic recovery efforts in the wake of COVID-19. Historically, it has been a significant factor in catalyzing economic growth.
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Why the natural world is key to a green recovery
Monday 21st of September 2020
This era of pandemic clearly shows us the relationship between the health of ecosystems and people’s health. After this lesson, we cannot return to a system that does not link job creation and the economy with the health of ecosystems and their inhabitants.
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This disability activist says we must offer dignity and financial inclusion rather than just braille and ramps
Monday 21st of September 2020
Diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy at the age of two and given only five years to live, Edward Ndopu has gone on to become an award-winning disabilities advocate who’s got the ear of the UN secretary-general. As part of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit, Ndopu shares the issues that keep him up at night and the importance of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in ways that benefit the most vulnerable.
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This woman is making masks more accessible for people with hearing loss
Monday 21st of September 2020
Faces half obscured with plain pale blue or colourful fabric have become a familiar sight. On streets, in shops and on public transport, wearing masks has become compulsory in many countries.
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To harness the AI age, governments must keep these 7 factors in mind
Monday 21st of September 2020
Economic performance, cooperation and productivity are undergoing cataclysmic disruptions. Alongside these changes, data and AI are poised to transform economies and improve societies. To leverage these positive outcomes, governments must move well beyond their current activities and recognize themselves as stewards of their nation’s – and the world’s – AI competitiveness.
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Businesses must take the lead in renewing global cooperation. Here’s how
Monday 21st of September 2020
We are living in a time of unprecedented disruption and global transformation. Never has it been clearer that the economic, social and environmental challenges facing our world are interconnected – and never before have these challenges been so urgent.
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Transforming homes into power stations – how Sweden is disrupting energy production
Monday 21st of September 2020
By 2030, almost a third of all the energy consumed in the European Union must come from renewable sources, according to binding targets agreed in 2018. Sweden is helping lead the way.
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Food insecurity could soon be on everyone’s plate. Here’s what we need to do
Monday 21st of September 2020
As the impacts of COVID-19 have expanded from immediate healthcare needs to our societies and economies, the resiliency and inefficiencies of global, regional and local food systems have the potential to become another major consequence of the pandemic.
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The Great Reset podcast: daily coverage of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit
Monday 21st of September 2020
The Great Reset podcast is going daily all this week during the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit, with highlights from the discussions, as well as interviews with people passionate about improving that state of the world.
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4 ways for companies to take effective climate action
Monday 21st of September 2020
Taking climate action is good for the planet, society and the corporate bottom-line. Plain and simple.
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Africa’s digital platforms boomed during the pandemic – and could be here to stay
Monday 21st of September 2020
Back in April, Togo launched a social welfare program using digital cash transfers as the government tried to help informal workers whose livelihoods had been disrupted by the pandemic and the accompanying lockdown. The Novissi program, which was launched on April 8, signed up more than 1 million citizens in its first week. Up to 65% of the eligible beneficiaries were women.
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What a new Prime Minister will mean for the future of Japan
Monday 21st of September 2020
Japan’s parliament is scheduled to confirm Yoshihide Suga this week as the country’s new prime minister. He will replace Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation last month for health reasons, after almost eight years in office. Japanese and international observers are now asking whether the Abe government’s economic-policy course (dubbed “Abenomics”) will change significantly under Suga, and if so, how.
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This smart strip can tell you if your food is safe to eat or not
Monday 21st of September 2020
MIT engineers have designed a Velcro-like food sensor, made from an array of silk microneedles, that pierces through plastic packaging to sample food for signs of spoilage and bacterial contamination.
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Global GDP could return to pre-pandemic levels as early as 2021, says OECD
Monday 21st of September 2020
The OECD released its interim Economic Outlook report, providing us with an updated look at the coronavirus pandemic’s effect on the world economy. Striking a slightly more positive tone than the previous edition published in June, the report finds that “economic output recovered swiftly following the easing of measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and the initial re-opening of businesses.” However, it also notes that the “pace of recovery has lost momentum over the summer,” adding that restoring confidence will be key to successful economic recovery.
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How COVID-19 could spearhead a resilient and sustainable sub-Saharan Africa
Monday 21st of September 2020
Perhaps first among the many lessons of 2020 is that the notion of so‑called black swan events is not some remote worry. These purportedly once‑in‑a‑generation events are occurring with increasing frequency.
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‘Flights to nowhere’ are the latest travel craze amid COVID restrictions
Monday 21st of September 2020
Qantas Airways Ltd said a seven-hour scenic flight over Australia’s Outback and Great Barrier Reef had sold out in 10 minutes, as it joined a growing trend in Asia offering “flights to nowhere” that take off and land at the same airport.
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Ruth Bader Ginsburg: here’s what you need to know about her trail-blazing career
Monday 21st of September 2020
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has generated an outpouring of grief around the globe. Part of this grief reflects her unparalleled status as a feminist icon and pioneer for women in the legal profession and beyond.
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Here’s what happens every minute on the internet in 2020
Monday 21st of September 2020
What happens every minute on the internet in 2020
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Why skills – not degrees – will shape the future of work
Monday 21st of September 2020
For generations, we have spent the first third of our lives acquiring the college degrees we need to find jobs. These degrees are the stamps on our professional passports that paved the way for the remaining two-thirds of our journey. This implies that the nature of our work, along with the skills and knowledge required to execute it, remains unchanged for a lifetime – which of course is no longer true. While our parents likely held one job for life, most of us have had several – and not just jobs but careers, too. Our children can expect to have many jobs and careers through their professional lives – perhaps even at the same time, with the maturing of the gig economy.
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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 21 September
Monday 21st of September 2020
1. How COVID-19 continues to affect the globe
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Want to help the world meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals? Here’s where to start
Monday 21st of September 2020
“End extreme poverty. Fight inequality and injustice. Fix climate change. Whoa.”
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Here’s why AI needs a more diverse workforce
Monday 21st of September 2020
Eleven year-old Gia Mar Ramos was furious. Her dad had signed her up for a robotics class at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth camp without telling her. When she arrived, there were 11 boys and only 1 other girl in that class. All the boys had previous experience with programming. The two girls decided to team up and try to beat the boys – which they did – in every single challenge. That experience motivated Gia to teach other girls about opportunities in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
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How sustainability will drive growth in the packaging industry
Monday 21st of September 2020
Across the world people are learning that not all plastics packaging is the same. A unique type of recyclable plastic called Polyethylene Terephthalate – or PET – is commonly used for soft drink and water bottles. Today PET bottles are the most recycled plastic packaging in the world. This is set to increase as the world adopts a shared responsibility to end plastic waste. The coming decade will see collection of post-consumer beverage bottles reach close to 100%. Recycling is critical to our sustainable future as it delivers fewer greenhouse gases and less waste.
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How to cut the carbon footprint of online shopping
Monday 21st of September 2020
When a package from an e-commerce shopping spree arrives on the doorstep, how many of us think about where it came from? The answer is probably not too many. Perhaps even fewer will think about the carbon footprint generated through all of the steps it took to get the package to our doors.
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The unexpected benefits of virtual education
Monday 21st of September 2020
Let’s just say it: there is nothing ideal about students and teachers dealing unexpectedly with remote learning, as millions have been doing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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How much is this planet worth? This is the real value of nature
Monday 21st of September 2020
Global gross domestic product (GDP) has quadrupled since 1970, enabling immense progress, and lifting billions of people out of poverty. However, material productivity, defined as GDP relative to material and energy inputs, has stagnated since the turn of the century, tying any increase in economic growth to an equivalent increase in resource extraction.
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Beyond Geopolitics: What are the challenges in making our world more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenges we face in building a better, more inclusive world for everyone. “Conflict, insecurity, weak institutions and limited access to justice remain threats to sustainable development,” among many others, says the UN SDG Progress Report 2020.
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Fairer Economies: What are the challenges in making economies more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
Without a doubt, human life has improved a great deal in recent decades. For most of human history, life expectancy at birth was around 20-30 years, but we’ve made incredible gains since 1950. About 1.1 billion people have moved out of extreme poverty since 1990, and, income inequality has been trending downward in a lot of countries. Globalization and digitization have led to greater access to healthcare, education and job opportunities around the world.
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Society & Future of Work: What are the challenges in making society and the future of work more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
A more sustainable, inclusive world is one in which all people – including women and girls and the most vulnerable – survive and thrive. This includes equal rights and access to services like healthcare and education, and a life free from violence. It also entails the opportunity to own a business or property, hold management or elected government positions and fully participate in all levels of political, economic and public life.
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Better Business: What are the challenges in making business more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
At the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos in January, the Forum launched a new “Davos Manifesto” in support of stakeholder capitalism, which says companies should “pay their fair share of taxes, show zero tolerance for corruption, uphold human rights throughout their global supply chains and advocate for a competitive level playing field,” as Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab explained.
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Healthy Futures: What are the challenges in making healthcare more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
Good health and well-being for all are essential to eliminating inequality and poverty and ensuring societies are resilient in the face of the steep economic and climate-related challenges ahead.
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How to Save the Planet: What are the challenges in making the planet more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
January 2020 seemed like the start of a critically important year and decade for action on climate change. The year prior had been the second warmest on record, and temperatures were “on track to rise as much as 3.2°C by the end of the century,” according to the UN SDG Progress Report 2020. The Australian bushfires – which burned more than 11 million hectares of land and killed or displaced as many as 3 billion animals – were the latest in a long line of climate-related disasters around the world, and a wake-up call on the need for change. During the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in January, government, business and civil society committed to take action on climate change and many other environmental challenges: plastic pollution, biodiversity loss, rising oceans and melting ice, to name just a few.
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Tech for Good: What are the challenges in making technology and digitization more sustainable?
Sunday 20th of September 2020
Technological innovation…it’s complicated.
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How can we sustain progress in cancer care in the COVID-19 era?
Friday 18th of September 2020
COVID-19 has taken a huge toll on health systems and economies, forcing governments to make tough decisions on the allocation of increasingly constrained resources. Cancer patients have experienced major disruptions to their care – from the suspension of screening services to delays in treatment and palliation. We are just beginning to understand what COVID-19 means for cancer patients. It has been estimated that disruptions to cancer services will cause hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths in high-income countries. Worse outcomes are likely in lower-income settings. This threatens to reverse the remarkable progress that has been made against cancer in recent years.
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Here’s how sustainability can make you stand out from the crowd
Friday 18th of September 2020
Whether making collective commitments on biodiversity or developing alternatives to the plastic bag, it’s encouraging to see that leading consumer goods companies are not holding back on their sustainability activities. However, an important question dominates the consumer goods and retail agenda – one that is critical to scaling up these activities: how can companies use sustainability as a source of competitive advantage?