Norway is starting the world’s biggest divestment in oil and gas
The Government Pension Fund Global, which was built off Norway’s oil revenues, will begin phasing out $8 billion held in 134 firms to reduce the fund’s risk from volatile oil prices.
Finance
This archive covers progress in finance — from expanded access to credit and banking for underserved communities to policy shifts that redirect capital toward public good. Stories here document real changes in how money moves, who controls it, and what it builds.
Multilateral Development Banks commit to align activities with Paris Agreement
The MDBs’ commitment goes beyond specific MDBs’ 2020 and 2030 climate finance targets, and builds on their ongoing contribution to climate finance, which amounted to US$35 billion in developing and emerging economies in 2017.
Development banks pump record $35 billion into climate finance
The six largest multilateral development banks spent $35 billion on climate financing in 2017, a 28 percent rise on the previous year and the highest since recording began in 2011.
Banking giant Lloyd’s of London to divest from coal over climate change
Lloyd’s of London, the world’s oldest insurance market, has become the latest financial firm to announce that it plans to stop investing in coal companies.
Tang Dynasty China pioneers paper money with flying-cash system
Paper money began quietly in 7th-century Tang Dynasty China, when merchants tired of hauling heavy bronze coins started depositing them at regional offices in exchange for lightweight paper certificates called fei-ch’ien, or “flying money.” Redeemable at the capital, these slips weren’t quite currency yet, but they planted the idea that trust itself could travel.
Lydia’s King Alyattes mints the world’s first official coins
Lydian coinage began around 600 B.C.E., when King Alyattes authorized small stamped lumps of electrum — a natural gold-silver alloy from local rivers — as official money in what is now western Turkey. The stamp, likely a lion’s head, meant the crown vouched for the metal. It was an early leap toward trusting an institution, not just a substance.