Plastics Circularity Investment Tracker Identifies $160B in Private Investments

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)

China-Singapore Green Finance Task Force

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)

Using AI in Evaluation

At the blog of the American Evaluation Association, AEA 365, evaluation consultant Sylva Ferretti has contributed a two-part reflection on working with AI in evaluation, particularly ChatGPT. Overall, she finds this AI tool to be useful, additive, and even progressive in her practice in the field of international development and humanitarian assistance.  ChatGPT is, especially, able…(Read more)

US to Triple Climate Change Spending over the Next Ten Years

The World Economic Forum has underscored the significant commitment by the federal government in the United States to triple spending on climate change over the next ten years. Citing a new report by RMI, WEF notes that: “The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act include more than…(Read more)

Tech Needs a Seatbelt: Ethics, Inclusion and Intentional Innovation at Salesforce

Dr. Paula Goldman, Chief Ethical and Humane Use Officer at Salesforce, has set out the company’s approach to intentional innovation that centres ethics and inclusion through a systematic process of listening to the perspectives of diverse stakeholders. “Today, disruption means something different than the utopianism of that earlier era — and it’s not always for…(Read more)

Doing No Harm With Technology in Evaluation

Posting at AEA365, the American Evaluation Association’s blog site, Antony Maikuri, Veronica Olazabal and Vidhya Shanker make the case for evaluators supporting strategies and tools for digital decolonization, data sovereignty and data ethics in their work. “Evaluators can distinguish among the types of value that data can produce, and for whom,” write the authors. “These types range…(Read more)