The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have sealed a landmark financing agreement that will provide a big boost to climate action in 10 emerging markets across the world according to a news update of the Fund published on June,5,2026. Under the agreement,it said, GCF is committing USD 233 million to the Global Green Bond Initiative (GGBI), a flagship European Union programme. Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager, will run the GGBI Fund, a public‑private investment vehicle with a target of USD 3.5 billion (EUR 3 billion). The GGBI Fund…
Category: ENVIRONMENT
“We Paved Paradise and Made a Flood”-(By Eddie Yawson)
You see, we all to blame. When you concrete every space on your plot, you do not allow the rains to percolate into the soil. All the rain goes out into the street or drains not designed for it. And it overwhelms the drains. But the drains were never the real problem. We are. We have declared war on soil. Look at any new house in Accra, Kumasi, or Takoradi. The compound is tiled edge to edge. The frontage is paved for cars. The backyard is concreted so “it won’t…
Climate action key to affordable housing, but buildings decarbonisation stalls
Buildings’ operational emissions increased by 1 per cent to 9.9 GtCO₂ in 2024 Globally, buildings are becoming more energy efficient, but progress is too slow to meet climate goals USD 5.9 trillion in investment in energy efficiency is needed by 2030 Decarbonisation of the buildings and construction sector has slowed, leaving it both a major emissions source and increasingly vulnerable to climate impacts and energy price shocks, according to a new report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC). The tenth edition…
Goodbye Plastic? Scientists Create New Supermaterial That Could Transform Modern Manufacturing
By Rice University,First Published,May 19, 2026 A newly developed bacterial cellulose manufacturing technique could lead to strong, multifunctional materials capable of replacing plastics. What if the next generation of high-performance materials did not come from a factory filled with petroleum-based plastics, but from living bacteria? Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston have developed a new way to turn bacterial cellulose into an ultra-strong, multifunctional material that could eventually replace plastics in products ranging from packaging to electronics. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, describe a scalable manufacturing process that guides bacteria to…
How biodiversity markets shape nature recovery
First Published,11 May 2026 Land, Society and Governance Blog 3 minute read Mattia Troiano,Research Assistant, Dr Mark Hirons Senior Researcher Biodiversity markets are increasingly being used in conservation policy, but we still don’t fully understand how their design shapes who gets involved and what actually happens for nature on the ground. A new open-access article in Environmental Policy and Governance by Mattia Troiano, a researcher at the ECI, and colleagues looks at this question through England’s Biodiversity Net Gain system, based on interviews and participatory mapping work in Oxfordshire. Rather…
Village Capital backs two Ghanaian startups with $350,000 from latest fund
By Opeyemi Kareem,First Published,6th May, 2026 Village Capital, a global nonprofit that backs high-impact startups across emerging markets, has deployed $350,000 from its latest fund into two Ghanaian startups, marking the first investments from a vehicle designed to channel capital to early-stage African companies building essential services. The funding comes from the Africa Ecosystem Catalysts Facility (AECF), a $4 million investment fund launched in July 2025 in partnership with the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. The facility targets startups addressing economic mobility and climate resilience through locally grounded…
Africa’s plants: a database project has recorded 65,000 species – and is still growing
First Published: July 10, 2025 4.00pm SAST,The Conservation Author: Cyrille Chatelain, Scientist, Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de Genève (CJBG) The African Plant Database lists 65,000 species of flowering plants, ferns and conifers found on the African continent and Madagascar. Since 2006, every plant species ever documented in Africa and Madagascar has been included in the massive online database, with about 200 new species added every year. Cyrille Chatelain is a curator at the Geneva Botanical Garden in Switzerland. He’s researched plants in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and north Africa and manages the plant database. Here…
Boosting Dagbon’s emerging Organic Farming Paradigm…Ntiligira Enterprise Leads the Charge
By: Mohammed A.Abu Dagbon’s Maiden Convention and Home Coming event has since taken off with debates in Tamale and Yendi that had preceded the official launch in Tamale and now scheduled to be rounded off on December, 27, with a grand durbar in Yendi, the seat of Kingship. One of the main objectives being to institutionalize yearly convergence of Dagbamba to among other things discuss the development agenda of Dagbon is no doubt going to be one of the major takeaways. Dagbon,Northern region’s, local economy has been agrarian driven for…
SPE Leaders to Deliver Keynotes at MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2025
Dr. Rose Ndong, Chair of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Dakar Section; and Dr. Riverson Oppong, SPE Africa Director, will participate as keynote speakers at the MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2025 conference and exhibition according to an official issued in Dakar, Monday. Both leaders, the statement said, will deliver keynote addresses during the official SPE Workshop, taking place on December 8 in Dakar as part of this year’s program. The SPE Dakar Section serves as a technical and professional hub for Senegal’s emerging oil and gas industry. Under…
Africa’s Clean-Cooking Drive Hinges on Carbon-Credit Reform, Transport Upgrades
Africa’s long-delayed transition to clean cooking will fail without a serious overhaul of how the continent finances, transports and regulates LPG, senior executives said during a high-level panel on clean cooking and LPG at the G20 Africa Energy Investment Forum in Johannesburg on Friday. Speakers pointed to a rare alignment of political support – following G20 endorsement of clean cooking as a priority area – but warned that critical infrastructure gaps and a broken financing ecosystem are slowing progress. South Africa’s LPG demand sits “just below 500,000 metric tons,” yet…