Dear friends, the Cleaner Production Center of Guatemala launched the Environmental Performance Program in 2018. With this program we are supporting companies to carry out self-diagnoses via the web to identify advances and other opportunities identified in included in the methodology. of analysis. DDA tool (Diagnostics of Environmental Performance in Spanish) facilitates formulas to carry out self-diagnoses, in a practical way, quickly in generating automatic reports determining the performance ranking. We have updated the data obtained from 296 auto diagnostics for Guatemala, I hope that in the month of October we will publish a report with more detail, at the moment I share a couple of graphs where you can see the most important data in a summarized way,

What are the drivers influencing sustainable finance development in your country?
What policies and regulatory measures are in place for promoting sustainable finance?

To realize SDGs that fits the national context, it is essential to understand the status of a national financial system and to assess what measures might lead to progress.

Strategic steps for policymakers to understand their national sustainable finance status are outlined in the Sustainable Finance Diagnostic Toolkit.

Have a look at the introductory video of the 10 steps in the toolkit and access it yourselves!

21 Danish Solutions to Creating Climate Resilient Cities

Central banks rarely feature in fiction, but Kim Stanley Robinson put them at the heart of his recent novel, The Ministry for the Future.

What could be a rationale for putting central banks at the heart of a near-future novel about climate change?

He says, "stabilising money requires stabilising the biosphere." Central banks as the creators and guarantors of money itself and banks can work towards climate and environment within their current mandate.

The search for “green materials” is fueled by a desire to protect the environment. Bio-based polymers have proven to be a viable alternative. Because of advancements in biorefineries and bioprocessing technology, their building blocks may now be derived from various biomass, by-products, and organic residues, reducing the demand for fossil fuel resources and lowering their carbon footprint. Novel bio-based polymers with significant added value and improved characteristics and functions have been created for use in a variety of industries. The actual benefits and concerns of such innovative bio-based plastic solutions, on the other hand, have heightened scientific and public awareness.

As we have already recognized that the financial system can play a major role in contributing to the low-carbon transition and green recovery from COVID-19.

How to align the national financial system with these transitions and international best practices?

The Green Finance Platform developed the Sustainable Finance Diagnostic Toolkit to support countries assess the current state of financial system and develop a sustainable finance roadmap - set of key measures and actions.

The first step is to understand the importance of your financial system in national sustainable development outcome and how sustainable finance is relevant in the national context.
Countries will have different starting points. For example, one of the drivers of sustainable finance in India is rooted by the necessity to finance one of the most ambitious global renewable energy programmes.

Check out toolkit and find about necessary steps to unlock sustainable finance.

Only 10 days left to participate in the Call for Papers & Speakers for the World Sustainable Energy Days from 28 February – 3 March 2023 in Wels/Austria. Energy transition = Energy security!

This is the focus of the 2023 edition of the event.

Get involved! Share your work with the worldwide sustainable energy community! Submit your paper or propose a speaker.

Deadline for submissions is 10 October 2022. Find out more online at www.wsed.at/call.

Officially launched today, the Sustainable Finance Diagnostic Toolkit is now available!

The Green Finance Platform and the International Network of Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) launch the Sustainable Finance Diagnostic Toolkit to facilitate the development of a national sustainable finance roadmap.

The toolkit is a 10-step questionnaire that provides practical guidance for policymakers to improve their understanding of actions to enhance sustainable finance mobilization in a country.

Through the toolkit, countries will be able to surface necessary information and measures to unlock sustainable finance, which will feed into the development of national, or potentially regional, sustainable finance roadmaps.

This toolkit is developed and managed by the Green Finance Platform as part of the Global Environment Facility-funded #AligningFinancePolicies project.

Youths amplifying Pacific voices at UN meeting to vote YES for climate justice.

Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) are asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to provide an advisory opinion to strengthen human rights, intergenerational equity and climate justice in the Paris Agreement.

Calling on global leaders to vote yes at the UNGA 77 resolution - which would enable requesting an ICJ advisory opinion - the PISFCC sailed on a ‘Vaka’ (a traditional canoe) with First Nations people and climate activists down the New York East River.

“Not only would the ICJ be an illegal circuit breaker for global negotiations, but it would also be a major confidence booster for the work of activists all over the world.”

"Girls, women worst climate victims in Bangladesh:
Experts recommend ensuring gender integration into the climate action plan"

Funny how this new article states what was the main conclusion of my master dissertation, written fours years ago, focused on Bangladesh climate adaptation policies. A point worth noting is that it is the "how" gender is included that makes the difference, not including it per se.

If included properly, climate change action plans have the potential to tackle gender discrimination, addressing unequal gender structures.

Let's hope this new climate plan will take up the challenge.