Global Stories

Countries in Asia and the Pacific must build resilience to natural hazards and invest in social protection systems if the region is to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to a joint report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Asian Development Bank...

Remarkable progress has been made in broadening electricity access globally, however sustained political will and increased public and private finance are urgently needed to provide affordable and clean energy to the 1.2 billion people without access to electricity by 2030, says United Nations. According to the latest data, 85 per cent of the global population...

The High-level Regional Conference on Information Management for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Resilience opened with a strong focus on regional cooperation for combating sand and dust storms in Asia and the Pacific. Sand and dust storms, along with drought, land degradation, desertification and wind erosion, present a formidable challenge to sustainable development. Approximately 2 trillion tons of...

We are starting to witness the penalty for unsustainable lifestyles and patterns of production and consumption. As the human population is exploding, resources are shrinking. Concerns loom everywhere, from declining pollinators affecting food security, to air and water pollution affecting the quality of life, and land shortage and degradation affecting both agriculture and biodiversity. These are...

Senior government officials, policymakers, civil society and academia from over 30 countries across Asia-Pacific gathered in Beijing to accelerate commitments towards improving the rights of the 690 million disabled persons across the region, and beyond. The high-level meeting reviewed progress made in the implementation of the Incheon Strategy for Persons with Disabilities and the Asian...

According to The Least Developed Countries Report 2017, the world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs) are falling far behind the rest of the developing world in terms of getting power to homes and businesses. While they have made great strides in recent years, achieving the global goal of universal access to energy by 2030...

The demand for energy is increasing globally, largely due to urbanisation trends and the rapid growth of cities. According to the Energy Statistics Report 2017, the industrial consumption has shot up from 117293 Giga Watt Hour to 423523 Giga Watt Hour in 2016 and has shown a CAGR of 9.47 % . Energy stats...

India has emerged as the top country for reporting corporate responsibility information in the annual financial report of companies, but the quality of disclosures has to improve, according to a KPMG survey. KPMG has published this survey on CR Reporting since 1993. The 2017 survey is the 10th edition, with research carried out from across 49 KPMG...

Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intense and disaster risk is outpacing resilience in Asia-Pacific, the most disaster-prone region in the world, according to the latest report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). In recent months, the region has seen Typhoon Hato unleash large scale damage in...

There is a sharp discrepancy between the allocated or committed corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds and actual spending by multinational enterprises (MNEs) on labour and employment-oriented initiatives in South Asia, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report has noted. According to the report titled ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2017 – Sustainable Enterprises and Jobs,’ released...

A recent analysis of 170,000 company ratings from respondents in 15 countries sheds light on which are perceived by consumers as the most socially responsible. The annual study, released recently, is compiled by the Reputation Institute (RI), a Boston-based reputation-management consulting firm. It tracks social responsibility reputations by zeroing in on consumers’ perceptions of company...

The first Asia-Pacific Ministerial Summit on the Environment called on governments in the region to forge a transformative alliance that will drive forward an innovative, productive, resource efficient low carbon and pollution free economy as a means to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. High-level officials from over 35 countries were present at the Summit...