Environment and Climate Change

This policy brief focuses on the specific issue of disaster-response for three reasons. First, the disaster-response cycle describes a well-documented pattern of fiscal surge and a crowding out effect over much needed adaptation investments; second, climate vulnerability will only increase the volatility of this cycle in the future, threatening both the prospects for sustainable and inclusive growth as well as an increasingly untenable trajectory for fiscal sustainability; and third, because fiscal and financial capital flows to SIDS pose a challenge to the international financial architecture at large. The characteristics of the problem are known, as well as the size of the fiscal and financial burdens; this is a problem that would not be a problem if the incentives for public and private capital flows were aligned in the right direction. This presents a challenge for the multilateral system at large.

Climate change impacts on seaports can result in significant and costly damage, operational disruption and delay across global supply chains, with important implications for international trade and the sustainable development prospects of the most vulnerable countries. Timely and effective action on adaptation is a matter of growing urgency. Major scaling up of capacity-building and finance will be critical for developing countries, and time is of the essence.

Latin America, endowed with a rich renewable energy matrix and abundant critical minerals, is well positioned to embark on green transition. Sowing the seeds for a greener future, however, requires its economies to think about energy transition not simply in terms of carbon mitigation but also in terms of overcoming hurdles to green economic transformation. This brief discusses the importance of industrial policy and of regional integration aimed at exploiting complementarities.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a critical moment. It intensifies heatwaves, droughts, flooding, wildfires and famines, while threatening to submerge low-lying countries and cities and drive more species to extinction. It also threatens food supply and food security. The Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report of the IPCC1 highlights the unequal contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions, driven by unsustainable energy and land use, as well as consumption patterns. Human-caused climate change is already impacting weather extremes globally, leading to widespread adverse impacts, especially affecting vulnerable communities. Tackling climate change demands a paradigm shift in mitigation and adaptation measures, policy coherence, institutional arrangements, and coordination across national, regional, and local levels. Multilevel governance, including commonly used strategies to operationalize the principle of subsidiarity, is foundational to the global effort to combat climate change, recognizing that effective action requires collaboration and coordination across various levels of government, as well as with non-state actors. The principle of equity needs to be applied to the design of existing multilevel governance arrangements for addressing climate change, particularly when costs and benefits are often highly concentrated. It emphasizes the importance of considering equity in decision-making processes and the allocation of resources to address climate change effectively and fairly.

The Accelerator Lab conducted an online survey to collect data on segregation and recycling, particularly of plastic. This report highlights some key results. Results suggest that households and businesses prefer their recyclable waste to be collected at their doorsteps, instead of taking it to recycling points. Typically, this is linked to issues of accessibility (location of recycling points), affordability (perceived costs of the journey to recycling points - including time), and the existence of alternatives (including whether there is a recyclable waste collection service in place).

Critical raw materials form the foundation of modern technologies powering energy transition, digital infrastructure, and strategic industries. The secure, sustainable and equitable production of these materials is an urgent international priority. This policy brief presents best practices for sustainable production of critical raw materials through six core pillars: policy and regulatory frameworks, technological innovation, value chain optimization, circular economy strategies, capacity-building and social inclusion, and sustainable financing mechanisms. Through effective governance, resource production should align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and strengthen long-term climate resilience.

بلغت المنطقة العربية منعطفاً حرجاً على مسار تحقيق الهدف 7 من أهداف التنمية المستدامة "ضمان حصول الجميع بتكلفة ميسورة على خدمات الطاقة الحديثة الموثوقة والمستدامة". يقدّم هذا الموجز السياساتي استعراضاً شاملاً لما حقّقته المنطقة العربيّة في إطار عقد الأمم المتحدة للطاقة المستدامة، فيضيئ على ما أُنجز عبر الركائز الرئيسية الأربع المتمثلة في الحصول على الطاقة، والطهي النظيف، والطاقة المتجددة، وكفاءة الطاقة، ويبيّن الفجوات التي لا تزال قائمة. ويركّز الموجز على الحاجة الملحّة إلى توسيع نطاق الاستثمارات وإصلاحات السياسات والاستراتيجيات الشاملة لعدة قطاعات بهدف تسريع وتيرة الانتقال العادل والشامل في مجال الطاقة. ويحدّد عدداً من الإجراءات ذات الأولوية والتوصيات الاستراتيجية حتى عام 2030، مع التركيز على دور رأس المال البشري والرقمنة والتعاون الإقليمي والدعم الموجّه لأقل البلدان نمواً في المنطقة. ويهدف الموجز إلى توجيه صانعي السياسات والشركاء وأصحاب المصلحة في سعيهم إلى تعزيز فرص الوصول إلى الطاقة واستدامتها في جميع أنحاء المنطقة العربية.

بعد مرور ثلاثين عاماً على إعلان كوبنهاغن والتزامات التي أفضى إليها بالقضاء على الفقر، وتعزيز العمالة الكاملة والمنتجة، وتعزيز الاندماج الاجتماعي، لا تزال المنطقة العربية تقف على مفترق. فرغم التقدم الذي حقّقته في مجالات الصحة والتعليم والبنية الأساسيّة، لا تزال أوجه عدم المساواة فيها صارخة، والحوكمة ضعيفة، والعمالة غير الرسمية واسعة الانتشار، والبيئة متدهورة، والصراعات مستمرة، تقض مضجع الملايين من سكانها. ويزداد هول هذه التحديات بفعل تنامي الضغوط المناخية، وتقلّص الحيز المدني، والفجوة الرقمية، ما يؤكد الحاجة الملحة إلى اعتماد نهج جديد في التنمية المستدامة يقوم على العدالة. ومع اقتراب موعد انعقاد مؤتمر القمة العالمي الثاني للتنمية الاجتماعية، لا بدّ من أن تساهم التجارب ووجهات النظر المستمدة من المنطقة في تشكيل أجندة عالمية أكثر شمولاً. يلخّص هذا الموجز حصيلة جلسة التشاور الإقليمية العربية التي عقدتها الإسكوا ومعهد الأمم المتحدة لبحوث التنمية الاجتماعية في أيار/مايو 2025، والتي ضمّت أصواتاً من مختلف مكوّنات المجتمع المدني والأوساط الأكاديمية والسياساتية. فيلقي الضوء على التحديات الرئيسية التي تواجه المنطقة، ويركّز على الدعوة المشتركة التي أطلقها المشاركون لصياغة عقد اجتماعي أساسه القيم، وقوامه الكرامة والمساواة والتوازن البيئي. ويستعرض الموجز مواضيع ذات أولوية وتوصيات قابلة للتنفيذ، تشكّل رؤية إقليمية مقنعة لإثراء مداولات مؤتمر القمة العالمي للتنمية المستدامة. ويدعو القمة إلى عدم إصدار إعلانات رمزية بل إلى اتخاذ إجراءات قادرة على تحقيق تغيير، من خلال معالجة المظالم، وتعزيز السلام الحقيقي والشمول والاستدامة.

A set of studies analyses legal and procedural gaps preventing people with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minorities from getting jobs and building careers in the public sector. Key findings: One of the main barriers for Armenian- and Azerbaijani-speaking people in seeking public employment is insufficient knowledge of the Georgian language. In municipalities with a high concentration of ethnic minorities, the representation of women in the civil service is lower than the national average and does not exceed 33 percent. 1+4 internship program is an important mechanism for increasing the engagement of young people from ethnic minority groups in civil service. In the municipalities densely populated by ethnic minorities, there are certain practices for collecting data on civil servants’ ethnicity. However, this data is not consolidated at the national level in the Civil Service Bureau. The methodology used by individual municipalities is inconsistent and, in many cases, does not meet the principles of self-identification and anonymity stipulated in international standards. The employment of people with disabilities in public service is largely hindered by reasons generally considered the main barriers to employment of people with disabilities: competition in the job market and limited resources for people with disabilities, unadapted infrastructure, and stereotypes. Public service is even less accessible to people with disabilities due to high demands - in most cases, higher education is required, which is relatively rare amongpeople with disabilities. Two specific studies examine staffing and recruitment policies in the civil service. One of these researches focuses on women, people with disabilities and representatives of ethnic minorities, while the other analyses the inclusiveness and accessibility of HR.GOV.GE, the main recruitment resource of the civil service. The researches were carried out by the Civil Service Bureau in partnership with local experts and civil society organizations – the PMC Research and the Disability Research Centre (DRC) of Tbilisi State University with assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UK aid from the UK Government.

The set of publications assesses the extent to which the current policy framework in Georgia is in line with the policies of the EU Green Deal and identifies the main policy measures to be addressed and implemented. The study on Georgia’s readiness for alignment with the EU Green Deal maps the relevant policies and makes a gap analysis of the EU Green Deal critical pillars. The gap analysis is complemented by the national best practice examples (e.g., flagship initiatives), identifying existing bottlenecks and good practices in Georgian climate and environmental policies. The publications include the EU Commission’s opinion on Georgia’s application for membership of the EU adopted on 17 June 2022 and the concluding Analytical Report 2023. The study on Georgia’s readiness for alignment with the EU Green Deal was prepared by the analytical centre World Experience for Georgia (WEG) with assistance from the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).