Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

COP31, hosted by Türkiye in Antalya in 2026, is positioned as an Implementation COP — shifting focus from negotiations to turning climate commitments into concrete actions  It builds on the first Global Stocktake and aims to bridge the gap between policy ambition and on-the-ground delivery. Core Principles No duplication but complementarity: aligning with existing initiatives. Prioritizing implementation gaps: focusing on areas where policy has not yet translated into measurable action. Inclusive ownership: reflecting priorities of countries at all development levels. 10 Priority Themes (Action Agenda)  iclei.org +2 Zero Waste – Scaling circular economy solutions, reducing methane from waste, preventing food loss and waste. Oceans and Seas – Enhancing marine ecosystem resilience, blue carbon, ocean observation, and regional cooperation. Food Safety – Transforming agriculture and food systems, addressing water and drought risks. Climate-Resilient Cities – Sustainable buildi...

  Guest blog by OneStop ESG - Sustainability marketplace & media | Sustainability service providers, jobs, courses & insights. First published here The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are the world's shared blueprint for 2030. A professional's guide to how the goals fit together, what the latest progress data shows, and where business fits in the remaining years. In September 2015, all 193 United Nations member states did something unusual: they agreed on a single plan. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals, underpinned by 169 targets, covering everything from poverty and hunger to climate, oceans, justice, and global cooperation. It remains the closest thing humanity has to a shared blueprint for a better future, and the only development framework that virtually every country on earth has signed. A decade on, the blueprint is both vindicated and under strain. The goals have driven measurable gains that would not have ha...

Guest blog: Richard Lee , Global Head of Communications @ Wetlands International Governments meeting at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification conference in Mongolia have decided to postpone negotiations on a decision to tackle drought until the next COP in Egypt in 2028. Wetlands International is alarmed by this failure to make any progress on drought. “Incredibly, governments have failed to agree an approach to tackling drought despite the ever-growing list of drought disasters around the world. Just this year, Europe has suffered a historic drought, while a strengthening El Nino could fuel devastating droughts from southern Africa to Amazonia. We believed that the world’s worsening droughts would force the world’s governments to act. We were wrong. Delaying a decision on drought for at least another two years will cost more than time: communities and economies worldwide will pay the price. This was an opportunity for governments to signal their commitment to combating drought...

Guest Author: Nazeer Ahmed (PhD, Economist). My r esearch integrates economics, management, and data-driven approaches to address challenges in sustainable agriculture, food systems, environmental economics, climate change, agricultural policy, and rural development.   Where is global economic growth coming from in 2026? The answer is becoming increasingly difficult to separate from a broader transformation in the geography of the world economy. While discussions of global growth often focus on whether the world economy is expanding or slowing, an equally important question is which economies are generating that expansion. The distribution of global real GDP growth provides a revealing picture: a relatively small group of economies is responsible for a remarkably large share of the world’s incremental economic activity, with Asia increasingly positioned at the center of this process. The International Monetary Fund’s 2026 World Economic Outlook projected global growth of 3.3% in ...

  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...