Blog

Long-term changes in climate and wildlife habitat can pose significant effects on human health and increase the risk of infectious diseases like the coronavirus (COVID-19). Several of the roots of climate change can increase the risk of pandemics; for example, deforestation increasingly places humans and animals in contact, which enables pathogens from animals to spillover to humans.

• 07/08/2020
• Isabela Barriga

Our food systems are failing us. However, they are also complex and each is unique, which requires many different behavioral changes and interventions along the supply chain. Our food systems are failing us, and a new report from the Transforming Food Systems Under a Changing Climate initiative (launching June 25th) argues that nothing short of a systemic transformation of food systems is required if we are to feed the world’s current and future population sustainably under climate change.

• 07/01/2020
• CCAFS

According to the International Energy Agency, global energy demand during the first quarter of 2020 declined by almost 4% relative to the same period in 2019 due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and global lockdowns. Electricity demand was down by 20% in several countries, illustrating the magnitude of disruption of our society.

• 06/30/2020
• Stephan Hardeman

The amount of development assistance funds available for climate mitigation and adaptation is small relative to the increasing need for it and relative to the magnitude of private capital flowing to developing countries. Improving domestic revenue mobilization, for instance through taxation, can only go so far because many developing countries have relatively small economies. Furthermore, the global pandemic and economic recession only add to the numerous, urgent competing needs for public expenditures.

• 06/25/2020
• Eric Hyman

Implementors of international development projects as well as countries around the world increasingly recognize the private sector as a key partner to meet development and policy goals. But in order to make these collaborations most effective, there are best practices that all parties should follow, such as having a shared objective, equally investing in the relationship, and setting clear expectations.

• 06/24/2020
• Jennifer Park, Jonathan Schwarz

Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) recently completed its first successful renewable energy auction, enabling the government to obtain variable renewable energy (VRE) at globally low-cost prices. The auction awarded contracts that are estimated to attract more than $1.3 billion of private sector investment and will enhance the country’s capacity to provide reliable electricity supplies to its communities.

• 06/23/2020
• Andrew Fang, Kristen Madler, Sarah Lawson

The USAID-funded Kathmandu Vehicle Alliance (KEVA) program, implemented by Winrock International from 2001 to 2006, continues to benefit the environment and people of Nepal due to its role in expanding the electric vehicle market, which has reduced GHG emissions that lower air quality and contribute to climate change.

• 06/22/2020
• Anne Cassidy

Less than half of Nigeria’s 186 million people have access to electricity. But in the rural village of Gbamu Gbamu, newly installed utility poles and wires act as markers of a brighter future, powered by a new solar minigrid. The grid, an effort of local developers Rubitec Solar and Winrock’s USAID-funded Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project (REEEP), is empowering citizens and their enterprises, providing them with a better quality of life and more stable sources of income.

• 06/17/2020
• Winrock International

How can programs encourage and enable local commercial banks to lend to companies supplying solar home systems for off-grid customers? Power Africa supported the USAID-funded Climate Economic Analysis for Development, Investment, and Resilience (CEADIR) Activity’s training and technical assistance on this topic. In the process,

• 06/11/2020
• Power Africa

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a global system that certifies responsible forest management. In some cases, FSC has severed ties with, or “disassociated” from, paper and timber giants worldwide when their direct or affiliate operations have harmed forests and people.

• 06/09/2020
• Natcha Tulyasuwan, Binod Chapagain, Panicha Chandragholica

Improving access to and use of timely, accurate, and actionable weather and climate information is essential to building resilience to climate change and strengthening livelihoods across Africa. Collaborative partnerships between the public and private sectors can foster innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective approaches to weather and climate services systems.

• 06/04/2020
• Ali Blumenstock

In many developing countries, the companies that build, supply, and sell clean energy solutions have difficulty obtaining bank loans or other financing to expand their businesses or reach new markets. This was the case in Rwanda until Power Africa, through USAID, at the demand from financial institutions and providers of solar PV solutions, took action to educate, connect, and support commercial lending programs for off-grid electricity.

• 06/01/2020
• Power Africa

• 05/27/2020
• John Fay, Admore Chiumia, Ramzy Kanaan

Yao Ahou, a cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire, is well aware of the challenge she faces in farming for the core ingredient for the world’s chocolate. “For us cocoa farmers, our problem is climate change. When we expect the rains, it is the sun that comes up, and when the sun is expected, it is the rains that come.

• 05/26/2020
• Ethan Budiansky

A pivotal insight emerging from three years of co-creating climate-smart business models with companies—both investors and those seeking investment—is that there is not one private sector, but a multitude of actors with varied incentives, timelines, and decision processes. Each requires a targeted approach; any strategy that assumes one homogeneous private sector—or one investor profile—will struggle to gain traction.

• 05/21/2020
• Yohann Formont