Climate action in Asia - a region that produces more than half of global emissions - is intensifying, and competition among rivals helps. There has been 57% increase in companies setting carbon-cutting targets or are in the process of getting targets approved, between 2019 and 2020.

An interesting article that questions whether the Asian corporates' targets realistic, ambitious or greenwash.

World’s First Wildlife Bond to Track Rhino Numbers in Africa

A bond designed to raise funds to grow the population of endangered black rhinoceros in South Africa will be sold by the World Bank this year

‘It’s moving deckchairs on the Titanic’: Former BlackRock sustainability executive says Wall Street’s green investing is ‘PR spin’

Tariq Fancy, who served as chief investment officer of sustainable investing at the world’s largest asset manager, tells Louise Boyle the practice has little impact on reducing greenhouse gas emission

U.S. Weighs Global Climate Impact Benchmark for Wall Street

The Biden administration is considering ways to push the global finance industry to consistently account for carbon dioxide emissions and green investments, according to people familiar with the matter.

The case of decentralised piping water companies: resilience of safe drinking water models during COVID-19 times (with examples from Ethiopia and Cambodia)

Rising Temperatures, Melting Ratings

Enthusiasm for ‘greening the financial system’ is welcome, but does the explosion of ‘green’ finance indicators reflect the science? Using artificial intelligence, economists construct the world’s first ‘climate smart’ sovereign credit rating and warn of climate-driven downgrades as early as 2030.

'Mobile banking boosts fishers’ financial identities and savings' -- With a permanent bank account, fishers can now start to develop a financial identity through their savings transactions and be counted as part of the formal banking sector. In the future, BPI-BanKo and Rare are planning to explore micro-insurance products for fishers, who often suffer the most when typhoons ravage their coastal communities and affect their livelihood. With extreme weather events posing bigger challenges for them, fishers could benefit from financial products that would help them adapt to climate change.