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Joint comment: Incoming chairwoman of Gavi Alliance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and WHO Assistant Director General Dr Flavia Bustreo

With climate finance as a key lever in the Paris accord, countries concerned with the costs of a low-carbon development pathway may borrow a page from the playbook of health finance experiences. Societies that invest in low carbon growth will likely emerge as those with the healthiest and most productive workforce according to our authors.

As negotiations in Paris drew to a resolution earlier this month, developing countries’ concerns about having carbon “space” for development and the notion of “differentiated responsibilities” for cutting carbon emissions were common refrains. Similarly, fulfilment of a pledge by developed countries to invest at least $100 billion annually in low-carbon and renewable technologies needed by developing countries is regarded as essential to the agreement’s future success.

Now that the treaty has been signed, however, some broader reflections on its economic implications might be useful drawing from experiences and lessons learned in a linked, but still under-recognized arena of climate impacts, and that is the health sector.

Its apparent that health and climate are inextricably linked. The same inefficient fuel and energy technologies driving CO2 emissions are also driving a rising toll […]

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Credit: BART

I’ve been documenting my experiences with a used Nissan Leaf, and I often reflect on just how quickly electric vehicles are becoming a mainstream transportation option. True, they are still a rare sight compared to their gas and diesel counterparts, but I am no longer surprised to see several Leafs, Teslas and Volts each time I leave my home. (It does help that my neighbor over the road drives a Volt.)

If a new report from the analysts at IDTechEx Research is to be believed, it looks like this trend is set to not only continue—but increasingly it will accelerate and expand into all sectors of the transportation industry including industrial vehicles, boats, planes, buses and more.

According to Business Green’s write up of the report, the growth between now and 2026 will be “breakneck”—with the total market eventually reaching $500bn by 2026.

Interestingly, given how much we TreeHuggers prefer electric buses and worry that electric cars still perpetuate bad planning, the report sees much of the growth (and profitability) coming from […]

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The SeaXplorer
Credit: Damen Shipbuilders

The world’s billionaires are en route to Canada’s High Arctic—and judging by their luxurious, ice-busting rides, Ottawa may have trouble keeping up. In yet another example of how the once-foreboding Northwest Passage has landed on the itineraries of well-heeled global tourists, Dutch shipbuilder Damen wowed the Monaco Yacht Show’s attendees this fall when it unveiled its latest luxury toy: the world’s first polar-capable super-yacht. Called SeaXplorer, the “purpose-built luxury expedition yacht” boasts a double-acting hull that, when piloted in reverse, can crunch its way through nearly a metre of first-year sea ice. Other handy tools for venturing into the frigid Arctic include, on the biggest version: a pair of helicopters, two submersibles, several launch boats and a heated outdoor bar surface—so your highball doesn’t turn into a Popsicle under the midnight sun.

It sounds like something straight out of a James Bond flick. But Damen marketing manager Victor Caminada says the company’s Amels yacht-building arm is merely responding to requests from its well-to-do […]

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