At COP 28 in Dubai, the Finance Initiative of the United Nations Environment Program and the International Labour Organization released a new report entitled Just Transition Finance: Pathways for Banking and Finance. Among other things, this guide for financial institutions to: “Tailor products to support place-based just transition priorities and invigorate local economies; promote investments…(Read more)
Sarah Thatcher, a student in the Masters in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Carleton University, has been named the 2023 Jackson Family Scholar. Established by Ted Jackson and Magda Seydegart in 2021, the Jackson Family Scholarship in Community Engagement supports recipients to carry out an impactful community-based project during their studies. Ms. Thatcher has launched…(Read more)
In this opinion piece, Ted Jackson argues that multilateral development banks incentivize their staff for continuous and relentless fundraising to fill the coffers of their ever-increasing number of trust funds. Instead, MDB staff should be rewarded for reducing poverty and making communities fairer, cleaner, and safer on the ground in the Global South. Access the…(Read more)
On October 20, 2023, the Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria hosted a successful fundraiser to launch its new Community Scholars Fund. The event was held to celebrate the 80th birthday of Professor Budd Hall, who literally invented the term participatory research 50 years ago in Tanzania. The Community Scholars Fund will…(Read more)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced its new Farm Labor Stabilization and Protections (FLSP) Pilot Program to address human rights violations against migrant farmworkers and to maintain a stable agricultural workforce. Under this pilot, employers that improve conditions in their supply chain through the protections of a worker-driven social responsibility program—like the Fair Food…(Read more)
In early November 2023, The Circulate Initiative, a US non-profit, published the key global findings of its Plastics Circularity Investment Tracker, an online tool for investors. For the period 2018-2023, the tracker identified 3,700 investment deals around the world and USD 160 B worth of investments in upstream and downstream products and services, including materials,…(Read more)
Writing on the McLeod Group blog site, Edward Jackson, President of E.T. Jackson and Associates, notes that workers and their organizations are on the sidelines of COP 28 deliberations. However, he argues that net zero and a just energy transition are unachievable without the expert knowledge of workers and the participation of trade unions in…(Read more)
In climate finance for the global transition to clean energy, one of the most significant events of 2023 has been the establishment of the China-Singapore Green Finance Task Force. The group is chaired by Dr. Ma Jun, Chair of the China Green Finance Committee, and Ms. Gillian Tan, Assistant Managing Director and Chief Sustainability Officer…(Read more)
Nearly 180 world leaders and Nobel laureates signed an open letter published in the New York Times calling on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to halt the judicial harassment of Grameen Bank founder and Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus, often called the father of microfinance. The signatories also urged the Prime Minister to ensure that…(Read more)
A new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) finds that: “the renewable power added in 2022 reduced the fuel bill of the electricity sector worldwide. New capacity added since 2000 reduced the electricity sector fuel bill in 2022 by at least USD 520 billion.” IRENA’s Director-General, Francesco La Camera, said: “There is no…(Read more)
