ESG and Of Interest News
Women's Economic-Opportunity Laws Only Half-Enforced Globally
February 24, 2026--Only 4% of women worldwide live in economies that provide nearly full legal equality
Laws designed to ensure equal economic opportunities for women are only half-enforced on average across the world, indicating that the barriers that keep women from contributing fully to growth and prosperity are far steeper than previously thought, according to a new report from the World Bank Group.
Even if the laws were fully enforced, women would still enjoy barely two-thirds of the legal rights of men.
For the first time, the latest Women, Business and the Law report assesses not only the degree of equality in laws on the books, but also the extent to which those laws are enforced. Legal experts surveyed estimated that laws that encourage full economic participation by women are only half-enforced, indicating that governments have a long way to go.
Even as they make progress in establishing new equal-opportunity laws, economies on average have in place fewer than half of the policies and services needed for enforcement. Only 4% of women across the world live in economies that provide nearly full legal equality. That is keeping economies from reaching their full potential to grow and create jobs.
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Source: worldbank.org
Ranked: The World's 50 Largest Economies, Including U.S. States
February 20, 2026--19 U.S. states rank among the world's 50 largest economies in 2025.
California ($4.30T) is now the world's 4th-largest economy, ahead of Japan and India.
Texas ($2.94T) is larger than Italy and Russia; Florida's economy is bigger than Australia's.
The U.S. has the world's largest economy at $30.6 trillion. But if you break it apart, individual states would rank among the world’s economic superpowers.
In 2025, 19 U.S. states place within the top 50 largest economies globally, according to IMF projections and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
Technology will take our jobs? We've heard that one before
February 19, 2026-Professions threatened by technology have proven surprisingly resilient throughout history.
That's worth recognizing as artificial intelligence assumes more tasks, though this particular story won't necessarily end well for everyone.
Ramon Novarro was very good at one thing. Or so it seemed.
The first part of the Hollywood actor's career was spent in silent films as a "sheik type," a job that mostly required strutting around and being handsome. According to news accounts from the late 1920s, it was also a job threatened by a technological breakthrough: sound. A grating voice or a thick accent could suddenly be a career-ender.
It turned out that Novarro was good at more than one thing. A former singing waiter with some killer pipes, he was able to croon his way into a second part of his career that capitalized on the novelty of "talkies."
There's a long history of technology erasing jobs. There's a story just as old of people successfully manoeuvring through a middle ground to adapt-by leaning into skills that maximize innovation and genuinely add value.
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Source: World Economic Forum
Charted: The Growth of $100 by Asset Class (1965-2025)
February 19, 2026-Key Takeaways
Stocks had the best returns, turning $100 into $43k-roughly 29x the return of cash and about 5x that of gold.
Real estate and government bonds beat cash, by a factor of 1.4x and 1.9x respectively.
What would $100 invested in 1965 be worth today? For stocks, it would've multiplied 435 times, but other asset classes have significantly lower returns.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
How Do Interest Rates Impact the Real Estate Market?
February 14, 2026--Real estate performance has historically strengthened during periods of falling interest rates.
Lower rates reduce financing costs and improve real estate valuations, supporting returns.
With rate cuts expected into mid 2026, real estate could benefit from a renewed tailwind.
Interest rates play a central role in real estate returns. When borrowing costs fall, real estate investment trusts (REITs) often see improved performance as financing becomes cheaper and income-producing assets become more attractive relative to fixed income.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
Ranked: EV Share of New Car Sales by Country in 2025
February 13, 2026--Norway leads the world, with EVs making up an estimated 97% of new car sales in 2025.
China is the largest EV market by volume, with over 13 million EV sales estimated for 2025.
In 2019, electric vehicles were still a niche purchase in most countries, accounting for single-digit shares of new car sales.
By 2025, EVs had moved from niche to dominant in several markets. In Norway, EVs were estimated to make up 97% of new car sales, meaning nearly every new car sold was electric. Several other countries crossed the 50% threshold, and in China, EVs made up more than half of all new car sales in the world's largest auto market.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
China's carbon emissions may have reached a critical turning point sooner than expected
February 12, 2026--The carbon emissions of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter have plateaued for nearly two years.
Carbon dioxide emissions from China have flatlined or fallen for 21 months, meaning the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter may have reached a global turning point sooner than expected.
China's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions dropped by 1% in the last quarter of 2025 and likely by 0.3% over the whole year, keeping them just beneath the record highs reached in May 2024, according to a new analysis by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for Carbon Brief. The nearly two-year flatline or fall is the longest on record not driven by an economic slowdown in the country, which emits over a third of global CO2.
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Source: livescience.com
The Role Of Finance In Addressing Sustainable Development
February 12, 2026--The Z/Yen Group today released a publication titled "The Role of Finance in Addressing Sustainable Development" as commissioned by the Financial Services Development Council (FSDC).
The global financial system is evolving from a passive allocator of capital to an active force shaping growth pathways that foster resilience and inclusion. Global financing for sustainable development rose by 22% to USD 5.2 trillion between 2015 and 2024.1
Despite this progress, a persistent funding gap remains in critical sectors such as clean energy, infrastructure, and social resilience, with developing countries alone requiring an additional USD 4 trillion annually to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and other climate targets.2
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Source: zyen.com
Corruption Perceptions Index 2025: Decline in leadership undermining global fight against corruption
January 10, 2026-At a time of massive Gen Z-led protests against corruption and a dangerous disregard for international norms by some governments, the 31st edition of Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index reveals a concerning picture of long-term decline in leadership to tackle corruption, alongside limited signs of progress
Corruption is worsening globally, with even established democracies experiencing rising corruption amid a decline in leadership, according to Transparency International's 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published today. This annual index shows that the number of countries scoring above 80 has shrunk from 12 a decade ago to just five this year.
Our data show that democracies, typically stronger on anti-corruption than autocracies or flawed democracies, are experiencing a worrying decline in performance. This trend spans countries such as the United States (64), Canada (75) and New Zealand (81), to various parts of Europe, like the United Kingdom (70), France (66) and Sweden (80). Another concerning pattern is increasing restrictions by many states on freedoms of expression, association and assembly. Since 2012, 36 of the 50 countries with significant declines in CPI scores have also experienced a reduction in civic space.
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Source: transparency.org
5 Things to Know About GEMs
February 9, 2026--The Global Emerging Markets Risk Database (GEMs) Consortium is a joint initiative of 29 multilateral development banks and development finance institutions that pools 40 years of credit risk data on their lending operations in emerging markets.
It provides the related statistics at no cost to members and to the public at gemsriskdatabase.org and on other platforms like Bloomberg and Data360.
The European Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) created the Consortium in 2009. It has since evolved into a community of practice that develops common approaches and data methodologies to record default and recovery statistics. It offers insights into the true potential of emerging markets.
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Source: African Development Bank
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