Global Stories

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...

The International treaty of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was amended in 1997 by the Kyoto Protocol. The objective of the protocol was the “stabilisation” of greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations (caused by emissions/usage of oil, gas, coal and nuclear material) in the atmosphere by setting a 5-year cap on emissions. However,...

By 2020, 65% Indians will be under the age of 35, making us the youngest country in the world. A large employable population is an advantage, for it can fulfil the demand for skilled workers across India and globally, as also drive consumption and economic growth. However, this demographic dividend can turn into a...

Asia and the Pacific, a region with an impressive development  track  record,  will  need  to step up its overall development reform  effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according  to  a  new  report  launched  by the United Nations Economic and Social  Commission  for  Asia  and  the  Pacific (ESCAP), at the High-level...

An investment symposium on ‘The Opportunity of Green Finance in India’ was recently organised where the four banks signed a charter to champion green finance in India. YES Bank, FMO (the Development Bank of the Netherlands), along with DEG (the Development Bank of Germany) and Proparco (the Development Bank of France), signed the charter. Through...

This year, in March, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the deplorable condition of Indian football in his Mann-ki-Baat radio show. “Today our ranking in FIFA is low (163), I feel reluctant to even mention it.” It is May and India is nearing the start of FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017, an...