Western refiners and petrochemical plants depend on Russian oil, requiring the US and its allies to exclude energy from the sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.  Still, refiners are struggling to get funding and ships to export Russian oil, causing them to cut back production and a backup in Russia’ ...

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program is an opportunity for Russian citizens to help the UN address the challenges of sustainable development and global peace.  Volunteers serve for one year in UN programs and projects in various countries and act as agents of sustainable transition in various professional fields ...

#HospitalityHelps is a platform that connects families that are fleeing the war in Ukraine with hotels around Europe.  Currently focused on key cities in Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, the hotels provide free stays for five nights to Ukrainians who show proof of residency in ...

As the conflict in Ukraine continues and the crisis escalates, we may be on the verge of a humanitarian and refugee crisis of historic proportions.  Humanitarian needs are surging as more people are displaced by the violence in Ukraine, where as many as 12 million people will need assistance.  The UN has committed to s ...

At the end of 2021, Ukraine joined the Open SDG platform for monitoring and reporting on the country's progress in implementing the sustainable development goals (SDGs). With the support of the UNEP Joint SDG Fund, the platform provides access to national SDG implementation indicators for the government and the world c ...

The Smart City Hospitality Framework can serve as the foundation for a destination-design-driven approach to urban tourism governance and dealing with overtourism.  It is intended to stimulate collaboration on solutions to overtourism and urban tourism development and facilitate discussing and analyzing the relationshi ...

We consume 70% more than what the earth can safely replenish and only 8.6% of what we use is returned to the economy.  Rather than rectifying this, global circularity decreased from 9.1% in 2018 to 8.6% in 2020.  Increasing levels of waste accompany the rapid acceleration of consumption, leaving a massive circularity g ...

Sustainability calls for planning and action that can be implemented and shaped according to measurable criteria. Municipalities play a central role in achieving the sustainability goals set out in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and can contribute significantly to a sustain ...

The transition of tourism to net-zero emissions will require significant investment and innovation by the businesses and other stakeholders. UNEP recently launched this initiative to support the urgent transition, which is aimed to address challenges that the private sector faces in financing climate mitigation actions ...

City planning authorities, developers, investors, legislators, and community groups have to collaborate to prepare cities for growth in tourism.  Decision-makers create long-term plans involving all stakeholders, where local residents must be at the heart of the infrastructure developments and investments.  The decisio ...

Cities are increasingly transitioning towards the circular economy (CE).  They are moving towards a sharing economy and implementing CE strategies to reduce their use of resources and environmental impact.  The efforts of municipalities concentrate chiefly on the "lower-level" waste and wastewater management and recycl ...

Cities play a key role in implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and need clear roles and responsibilities on regional policy issues.  Transparency, sufficient access to information, and coordination between all stakeholders in the sustainable development of communities are required for the cities to ...

Most large companies now have public climate strategies and targets, many of which include pledges that appear to significantly reduce or even eliminate their contributions to global warming.  The acceleration and spread of corporate climate pledges makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish between true climate le ...

The need for standardized, comparable information to enhance decision-making by shareholders and stakeholders has accelerated with the great increase in ESG investments, rankings, and exchange-traded funds.  Sustainability reporting, which focuses on disclosing companies' environmental, social, and governance (ESG) imp ...

A large part of the construction sector’s emissions come from building products and materials – embodied carbon.  Embodied carbon has become the focus of regulatory bodies, making it a risk factor for developers and investors to price into construction projects.  This report is for developers and investors, who drive t ...