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Cities can be innovation hubs for climate and nature

Instead of being seen as pressure points for the environment, cities could be planned as innovation hubs National governments must lead the move towards inclusive and sustainable cities, through initiatives such as carbon pricing and tax policies We are in the age of urbanization. For the first…
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Lighting the way: creating a pathway to zero-carbon

Business and governments cooperating and working together will build a prosperous, green economy The 2020s must be the climate decade. We need rapidly to identify what every government and every business can do to help us get to zero-carbon.  Three is the magic number. If we achieve a 3 percent…
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Modern sustainable neighborhood in Almere, The Netherlands. The city heating in the district is partially powered by a solar panel island. Aerial view.

The world needs a circular economy. Help us make it happen

The circular economy could be a $4.5 trillion business opportunity. Only 9% of the global economy is circular at present. The Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy is helping to speed this transition. As policy-makers worldwide respond to a rising tide of climate activism and extreme…
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What to expect from Super Year 2020: environmental leaders look ahead

Watch interviews with the GEF’s government partners, agency representatives, civil society leaders, and in-house specialists on climate change, cities, oceans, biodiversity, illegal wildlife trade, and more, recorded on the sidelines of the 57th GEF Council meetings in December 2019: Naoko Ishii,…
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From the front lines of climate action

At the COP25 climate conference in Madrid, the GEF partnered with the Green Climate Fund to showcase the many ways developing country governments are working to raise and realize their climate ambitions. Events held at the joint GCF + GEF Pavilion highlighted examples of where climate change action…
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These 7 climate stories illustrate partnership in action

As governments, intergovernmental organizations, businesses, and civil society organizations gather in Madrid for the latest UN Climate Summit, we are reminded of the importance of partnerships to meaningfully address the challenges of a warming planet. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is…
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Earth system alert

In response to growing public demand, policymakers and business leaders are increasingly uniting around shared commitments to reduce planet-warming greenhouse-gas emissions. But while phasing out fossil fuels is necessary, ensuring humanity's long-term survival will also require far-reaching…
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Cargo ships entering one of the busiest ports in the world, Singapore.

The next challenge for business: adapting to climate change

The private sector must begin preparing for climate change and the ensuing disruption to operations and services with new approaches The future success of the private sector may not only depend on how successfully it can mitigate, but also on how it can adapt to climate change. Extreme weather…
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Staff at a government-run waste management facility outside Seremban, Malaysia arrange seized ivory tusks before destroying

The real costs of illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade: $1 trillion–$2 trillion per year

Illegal logging, fishing and wildlife trade rob the world of precious natural resources – and ultimately of development benefits and livelihoods. The statistics are grim: an elephant is poached for its tusks about every 30 minutes, an African rhino for its horn every 8 hours, one in five fish is…
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Argentine honey bees

Innovative investments in nature: native honey from the Chaco forest of Argentina

In the Argentine Chaco forest, the indigenous and creole peoples of Pampa del Indio work together to produce honey from the "melipona bees," which are native stingless bees (Tetragonisca fiebrigi and Scaptotrigona jujuyensis). In a recent blog, we explain how this zone has become a sanctuary for…

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