The world is falling short in keeping its climate commitment targets on track. Despite international commitments and national targets, progress remains slow, and many countries are struggling to implement measures that will keep global warming to below 1.5°C. One of the key tools to enhance climate action is climate transparency—as a foundation for evidence-based policymaking, accountability, building international trust—and creating some peer pressure to keep up with the challenge. (mehr …)
Governments’ decisions to grant preferential tax treatments have a direct impact on their ability–or inability–to finance their sustainable development goals. At the Fourth Conference on Financing for Development in June, countries must commit to greater oversight of tax expenditures, including implementing minimum reporting standards and rationalizing ineffective or harmful tax expenditures. (mehr …)
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), scheduled for 30 June – 3 July 2025, presents a pivotal opportunity to address the large financing gap hindering sustainable development. The recent first draft of the outcome document of FfD4 underscores the urgency of mobilising additional and innovative financing from all sources, both public and private, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (mehr …)
At flabbergasting speed, we currently see a very unappetising authoritarian turn in the United States under President Donald Trump. Numerous executive orders, often on questionable legal basis, target international cooperation and funding for academia, which, in the mind of “strongmen”, merit little attention, anyways. (mehr …)
Bonn, den 20. März 2025. Die USA erschüttern in diesen Wochen die Strukturen internationaler Sicherheits- und Kooperationspolitik. Sie stellen die Beistandsverpflichtung der NATO und das Zusammenwirken mit Europa in den Vereinten Nationen in Frage. Sie überziehen ihre Partner mit Zöllen. Sie verabschieden sich aus Vereinbarungen wie dem Pariser Klimaabkommen und der 2030 Agenda für nachhaltige Entwicklung. Sie lösen ihre zentrale Entwicklungsorganisation (USAID) auf und ziehen sich aus dem Entwicklungsausschuss (DAC) der OECD zurück. (mehr …)