Surveillance Capitalism

World Bank Bond Project Incentivizes Low-carbon Business Practices

December 14, 2017

The World Bank has completed the second repayment of bonds under its Pilot Auction Facility, a program designed to “promote private sector investment in climate action” through an incentivized bond regime.
Development Financiers Commit to Climate-friendly Financing

December 14, 2017

Members of the International Development Finance Club and the Multilateral Development Banks have issued a joint statement promising to increase the proportion of investment directed to “low-carbon and climate resilient sustainable development,” as well as to fight for related policy adaptation by national and subnational governments.
Major Global Investors Push Companies on Climate Policy

December 14, 2017

A group of 225 major investors, who together control over $26 trillion in assets, have joined the Climate Action 100+ initiative, whose goal is to systematically engage 100 of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitting companies and push them to reduce emissions throughout their supply chains and begin releasing climate-related financial disclosures.
EU Promises Significant “Green” Investment in Neighboring Regions

December 14, 2017

EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete has announced the bloc’s plan to mobilize billions of euros in private and public investment toward climate-friendly objectives in Africa and EU Neighborhood countries as part of the EU External Investment Plan.
Environment Ministers Issue Anti-pollution Declaration

December 14, 2017

Member-state environment ministers issued a first-ever declaration at a meeting of the UN Environment Assembly, pledging to combat pollution via a variety of strategies, including by “moving societies towards sustainable lifestyles based on a circular economy [and] promoting fiscal incentives to move markets.”
US Businesses Link Climate Plans to NGO Targets

December 08, 2017

According to a recent report by global environmental disclosure platform CDP, an expanding number of US corporations are linking their greenhouse gas emissions goals to "science-based targets" approved by UN officials and nongovernmental organizations.
French Bank Pulls Funding from Oil, Gas Projects

December 07, 2017

Bloomberg reports that French bank BNP Paribas has promised to stop financing companies whose main business is shale and oil sands projects, as well as oil and gas projects in the Arctic region, as part of its efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions and fulfill the UN's agenda against climate change.
NGO Meeting Pushes for "Green Finance" Taskforce

December 04, 2017

The Centre for International Governance Innovation recently hosted a meeting of government officials and representatives from the private sector and international organizations that called for the establishment of a Canadian Sustainable Finance Taskforce to help ramp up "green finance" and fulfill national commitments to counter global warming under the UN's Paris climate deal.
Global Hotel Group Embraces SDG Agenda

November 29, 2017

The International Tourism Partnership, a global organization representing the hotel industry, has adopted four sets of goals that it will advocate among its member companies as reference points to help achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of youth employment, carbon emissions, water, and human rights.
WEF Panel Pushes Corporate "Sustainability" Assessments

November 20, 2017

At the international organization's recent Sustainable Development Impact Summit in New York, the World Economic Forum (WEF) hosted a panel at which contributors called on businesses to move beyond their core responsibility of maximizing profits by also taking into account "social and environmental metrics" in line with the UN's "sustainable development" agenda.