-
Activists Push AIIB to Uphold "Green" Pledges
August 31, 2017
Lowell Chow of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre highlights skepticism from environmental and rights activists that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a venture launched by China as a "clean and green" alternative to Western development banks, will avoid coal support and establish a proper mechanism to prevent land rights violations.
-
Canada Faces Expanding Pressure on BHR Action Plan
August 30, 2017
Warning of Canada's lack of a "coherent policy approach to address business and human rights" (BHR) issues in corporate supply chains, Michael Torrance of the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright calls on the Canadian government to develop a "national action plan" on BHR to set a "baseline" for responsible behavior by Canadian businesses.
-
Telecom Company Agrees to Implement SDGs
August 30, 2017
As part of the UN's partnership with a broad range of the private sector on the achievement of its comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Kenyan telecommunications company Safaricom has signed a memorandum of understanding committing to working with UN Environment to incorporate various environmental SDG targets into its operations.
-
UN Treaty Mandates Government Action on Mercury
August 30, 2017
UN Environment has announced that the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a UN treaty requiring signatories to take a wide range of measures to control and limit the use of mercury and mitigate its impacts, including by banning new mercury mines and reducing mercury emissions, has entered into force after its ratification by 50 states parties.
-
UN Fund Steers Asian Finance Toward "Sustainability"
August 30, 2017
Daniel Graeber writes that the UN's Green Climate Fund has reached an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADP) to provide the ADP with funding to help the region pursue climate-friendly development in accordance with the goals of the UN's Paris climate deal.