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  • Papua New Guinea is battling the world’s oldest pandemic: malaria. How can it get back on track?

    Monday 13th of September 2021

    With only 1% of the world’s land mass and a population of under 9 million, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is one of the most biologically and culturally diverse places on earth, and home to over 850 active languages. Unfortunately, there are also severe limitations in resources for health delivery, with barely one doctor per 10,000 people (the United States has about three per 1,000); its incredibly rugged terrain has posed continual challenges for economic and social development more broadly (PNG ranks 155th out of 189 on the United Nation’s Human Development Index). PNG also has the highest malaria burden in the Asia Pacific region – it accounted for nearly a third of cases in 2019. But this was not always the case.

  • Trust’s role in the next big climate breakthrough: Yara’s Svein Tore Holsether on Meet The Leader

    Tuesday 24th of August 2021

    Svein Tore Holsether started as Yara’s President and Chief Executive Officer in September 2015, just three months ahead of the historic Paris Climate Agreement. That meeting was pivotal for Holsether in many ways – and even changed how he saw his role and how he could contribute.

  • 3 things you should know about mosquitoes on World Mosquito Day

    Friday 20th of August 2021

    For thousands of years malaria was a mysterious illness affecting people across the globe. Even the name of the disease, ‘malaria’, derived from two Italian words meaning ‘bad air’, highlights the confusion around the transmission of this disease. It was only following the discovery of malaria parasites in the gut of Anopheles mosquitoes in India by Sir Ronald Ross on 20 August 1897 that a clearer picture of the role of the mosquito in the malaria transmission cycle emerged.

  • Humanitarian workers risk life and limb to deliver aid to the most vulnerable

    Thursday 19th of August 2021

    Late into a stifling Khartoum night, I sat glued to my phone. I was tracking the desperate, and ultimately failed, attempt to rescue my friend and counterpart as head of the United Nations mission in Baghdad, Sergio Vieira de Mello. I knew many of the 22 who were killed by an Al-Qaeda bomb on that August 19th, 2003. This is now commemorated as World Humanitarian Day, honouring all aid workers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service of humanity.

  • This data shows the number of large-scale fires across Europe

    Thursday 12th of August 2021

    Stoked by extreme heat and drought, huge wildfires are currently raging across Southern Europe, forcing thousands of people to abandon their homes and destroying vast stretches of forestland. Turkey, Greece and Italy have been hit particularly hard by the fires, as an extreme heatwave with temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) turned bone-dry forests into tinderboxes.

  • European wildfires to ‘only get bigger’, Director of IFRC fears

    Friday 6th of August 2021

    Wildfires are burning across southern Europe, a new fact of life in fast-warming Europe, with eight dead in Turkey, 100-plus fires in Greece and mass evacuations across Italy.

  • How to succeed in an increasingly risky cyber environment

    Wednesday 28th of July 2021

    High-profile cybersecurity breaches are increasingly in the headlines, even more so in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Attacks aimed at the financial sector increased 238% from February to April 2020 alone, with ransomware attacks growing ninefold over the same period. Coupled with a growing focus on the management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, establishing a strong organisational cybersecurity framework is becoming more critical than ever.

  • Alarming temperature record of 18.3°C set in Antarctica last year

    Wednesday 7th of July 2021

    The United Nations has announced that it has recognized a new record-high temperature of 18.3°C or 64.9°F set on the Antarctic continent last year. It was set at Argentina’s Esperanza base on February 06, 2020 and it surpasses the previous 17.5°C or 63.5°F record that was also set at the same location in March 2015. It is important to note that these temperatures only refer to continental Antarctica with the highest temperature across the entire region (all ice/land south of 60 degrees latitude) 19.8°C, or 67.64°F, recorded on Signy Island in January 1982.

  • Yes, vaccines do protect against the Delta variant. A WHO scientist explains

    Wednesday 7th of July 2021

    In countries around the world coronavirus infection levels are once again surging after the emergence of a new strain of the virus.

  • These are the best US cities for cyclists

    Monday 5th of July 2021

    The pandemic has created a cycling boom across much of the world and the U.S. is no exception. When the country locked down, millions of Americans went out and purchased bicycles, though the extent to which they could enjoy the new hobby depended largely on where they lived. That’s according to an interesting new LawnStarter analysis which ranked 200 major U.S. cities on bike-friendliness earlier this month on 18 metrics across four categories – climate, bike routes, bike shops/communities and safety.

  • High-level discussions on the biggest global issues, on our new podcast: Agenda Dialogues

    Friday 2nd of July 2021

    Imagine you had a rolodex of the most influential people in the world that you could call up on a Zoom call to thrash out some of the biggest global challenges of our time.

  • In ten years, this ice sheet could collapse, causing sea levels to rise

    Tuesday 22nd of June 2021

    The Pine Island Glacier is currently Antarctica’s greatest contributor to sea level rise, and, now, a new study warns that it could be closer to collapse than previously thought.

  • Making sense of frontier risks and identifying early warning signs

    Monday 21st of June 2021

    Conventional wisdom advises us to focus on the mega risks – the “grey rhinos” – in our near future. While these high-impact, high-likelihood risks can’t be ignored, in dynamic systems it’s also the small stuff that could represent early warning signs of bigger trouble on the horizon, the “frontier risks”.

  • Youth disillusionment is a global risk, but it can be mitigated. This study on Gen Z shows why

    Friday 18th of June 2021

    Of the 10 immediate risks listed in this year’s World Economic Forum Global Risks Report, the one most likely to be overlooked is number eight – “youth disillusionment”.

  • Bye, bye, baby? Birthrates are declining globally – here’s why it matters

    Tuesday 15th of June 2021

    At the end of May, the Chinese Government announced that parents in China would now be permitted to have up to three children. This announcement came only five years after the stunning reversal of the 1980 one-child policy.

  • What are frontier risks and how can we prepare for them?

    Wednesday 2nd of June 2021

    Space exploration, the development of powerful genetic-editing tools, medical advances that produce effective vaccines, the identification of new species and new technologies driving the Fourth Industrial Revolution are all discoveries and inventions that expand human frontiers.

  • AI won’t replace investment managers, but it could improve returns

    Monday 24th of May 2021

    It shouldn’t be news to anyone that artificial intelligence (AI) is developing rapidly and drastically reshaping our future. Yet what the average pension-contributing individual might not have thought about is how this development will affect the management of his or her pensions and savings in the years ahead.

  • Climate change: What is ‘net zero’ and why does it matter?

    Friday 21st of May 2021

    A growing number of countries, cities and companies are aiming for ‘net zero’ emissions to meet climate goals, and the International Energy Agency has unveiled a plan to get there.

  • Global forces shaping the future of mining and how to navigate them

    Friday 14th of May 2021

    The 16th edition of the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report offers a fascinating overview of stakeholder perceptions of risks, and cautions that if the most pressing environmental risks are not confronted soon, environmental degradation and societal fragmentation will intersect, with dramatic consequences.

  • Want investors to care about natural resources? Put a price on them

    Wednesday 12th of May 2021

    Covid-19 has laid bare deep divisions in society, and its impact has not been felt equally. In a similar way, we do not expect climate change and the degradation of natural resources to have equal effects on communities. The impacts will likely include uneven local effects, increasing numbers of climate refugees, relative price shocks and other opportunity costs.

  • How ‘high-resolution’ climate models will help Europe plan for extreme weather

    Friday 16th of April 2021

    Scientists expect that the frequency and intensity of convective storms will change as the climate warms. And understanding these changes is crucial to ensuring the resilience of critical infrastructure to extreme weather.

  • Yes, ESG is complicated. Together, we can simplify it.

    Friday 26th of March 2021

    Around the world, investors collectively allocate tens of trillions of dollars, aiming for that money’s highest and best use. However, in the absence of consistent, comparable, and reliable sustainability information, these investors are effectively aiming with one eye closed.

  • We asked more than 110 investors how they plan for the unexpected. Here’s what we found out

    Tuesday 23rd of March 2021

    Our economy, society and planet are facing many long-term systemic risks. From climate change, water security and demographic shifts to geopolitics, low and negative real long-term interest rates and technological evolution – institutional investors must respond to these challenges – and plan for the unexpected.

  • COVID-19 is challenging the way we think of chemical industry trends. This is how

    Wednesday 17th of March 2021

    • Short-term management has been key to managing chemical supply during the pandemic, but long-term trends are equally important.

  • How can we safeguard and improve the future of global health?

    Thursday 11th of March 2021

    It is clear that COVID-19 has tested global health systems well beyond their limits. The pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on people, society, and economies globally. However, it also presents an opportunity, with health system recovery and improvement now a priority in countries worldwide. There is an unprecedented public desire (and hopefully) the political will to address global health issues, ensuring that as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, health systems are built that are resilient to future shocks and sustainable in the long term.

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