World Bank to launch first sustainable water bond
First in a new series of Sustainable Development Goal bonds issued by the World Bank will aim to fund projects that promote clean water and healthy oceans.
International organizations
World Bank sets $20b record for climate financing
The international financial institution is spending more money than ever on combatting climate change.
Being transgender is not a mental illness, World Health Organization says
The United Nations health agency announced on Monday the condition, also known as gender dysphoria, has been reclassified as a sexual health condition.
World Health Organization certifies Paraguay malaria-free
The World Health Organization (WHO) certified Paraguay as having eliminated malaria, the first country in the Americas to be granted this status since Cuba in 1973.
First ‘zero-emissions’ Winter Olympics kicks off in South Korea
The POCOG will aim to make the games environmentally friendly at all stages before during and after the events. The overarching goal is to make the games responsible for their carbon emissions and in the process release zero emissions.
U.N. votes overwhelmingly to condemn U.S. decision on Jerusalem
The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly rejected the Trump administration’s decision to recognize the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The World Bank will stop fossil fuel financing beginning in 2019
The World Bank announced its plan to discontinue its financing of upstream oil and gas projects in 2019. The announcement came at the One Planet summit and on the two-year anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement.
U.N. brokers deal to end use of children in Nigeria’s battle with Boko Haram
Officials hail landmark for child protection as youth vigilante group known as Civilian Joint Task Force pledges to draw a line under recruitment of minors
UN agency helps nearly 100,000 migrants return home in 2016
The United Nations migration agency reported today that it helped nearly 100,000 migrants return home voluntarily last year, a 41 per cent increase over 2015.
U.N. conference adopts treaty banning nuclear weapons
The treaty — adopted by a vote of 122 in favour to one against (Netherlands), with one abstention (Singapore) — prohibits a full range of nuclear-weapon-related activities, such as undertaking to develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, as well as the use or threat of use of these weapons.