Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

  Guest blog by:  Michael Stanley-Jones, Fellow, Environmental Policy and Governance, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health & Claire Egehiza, University West, Sweden “Integrating learner-centred approaches into sustainable development curricula ensures practical and lasting impact across developing regions.” – Enzo di Taranto Capozzi, author, diplomat and climate-tech entrepreneur What happens to almost two decades of knowledge when a major international development programme comes to an end? Our recent chapter in Springer Nature’s Curriculum Development for Sustainable Development: Theory and Practice (2026) explores this question through the experience of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Poverty-Environment Initiative and Poverty-Environment Action for Sustainable Development Goals (2005–2018, 2018-2022) across more than 30 developing countries. Titled “Sustainabl...

Guest blog by Dr Radek Stech is Senior Academic, Exeter Law School, and Founder of Global Principles for Sustainable Securities Lending (Global PSSL) and the ABC Score™. Michael Stanley-Jones is Environmental Policy and Governance Fellow, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), and Senior Advisor on Communications and Networking at Global PSSL. Increased private sector investment is needed to help fill the $4 trillion gap in annual SDG investment in emerging markets and developing economies   Unlocking greater long-term investment in SDGs will require policies that promote the long-term development of capital markets and institutional investors. Global financial markets rely on confidence in the issuance of stocks, bonds and loans to finance sustainable economic growth. The post-issuance phase, which includes the use of proceeds in investment projects, the trading of securities after they are first issued, the management of loans and...

Guest blog by Michael Stanley-Jones is an Environmental Policy and Governance Fellow at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. First published on IPS here. RICHMOND HILL, Ontario, Canada, Jul 28 2025 (IPS)  - The UN80 Initiative, unveiled in March by Secretary-General António Guterres, is a system-wide effort to reaffirm the UN’s relevance for a rapidly changing world. The Initiative comes at a time of brutal budget cuts across the UN system. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is cutting 3,500 jobs and making reductions in senior positions and offices to manage budget shortfalls. The World Health Organisation is expected to cut 20-25% of its global staff. Cuts at The World Food Programme range up to 30%. And yet the needs served by the United Nations remain stark. The UN appealed for US$29 billion funding for the Global Humanitarian Overview 2025 to assist nearly 180 million vulnerable people, ...

Guest blog by: Michael Stanley-Jones, Senior Advisor, Global PSSL Secretariat Securities lending involving green bonds poses a rapidly emerging integrity risk with direct implications for sustainability strategy, risk governance, and fiduciary duty. While green bonds are structured to support the climate transition, their unmonitored deployment in lending markets risks undermining that purpose. Where Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) mandates or regulatory frameworks require demonstrable environmental alignment, lending without restrictions or oversight these may breach internal policies or regulatory expectations—particularly when green assets are used to finance carbon-intensive short positions.  A short position in finance refers to a trading strategy where an investor sells borrowed securities with the expectation that their price will decrease. A persistent lack of transparency in secondary market activities—including securities lending, collateral reuse, repurchase ...

Guest blog by: Michael Stanley-Jones , Enviromental Policy and Governance Fellow, United Nations Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) In the Science Talk, ʻInclusive Stakeholder Participation in Watershed Management’, Michael Stanley-Jones , Environmental Policy and Governance Fellow UNU-INWEH, explored how to mobilize the participation of the civic stakeholders in the negotiation, adoption and implementation of legally binding policies affecting the management of two major watersheds: the Danube River Basin and the Santa Clara Basin Basin in California’s Silicon Valley region.   Both cases illustrate how inclusion of environmental and other civic stakeholders led to success negotiation and implementation of the Danube Environmental Protection Convention (1994) and the regional watershed management and pollution prevention plans )1998-2002) aimed at protecting and enhacing the watershed of the Lower South San Francisco Bay. The Danube River stretches 2,780 ...