ESG and Of Interest News
Ranked: 25 Richest Countries in the World, by Three Metrics
July 29, 2025--Key Takeaways
Luxembourg's immense GDP per capita ($141K) masks the fact that much of it is generated by non-residents who commute in to work.
Qatar's oil windfall lifts GDP per capita ($72K) but that hasn't translated into broader wealth.
English-speaking countries translate middling GDP per capita into high median wealth through property ownership and strong pension systems.
Generating national wealth and distributing it to people are distinctly different economic challenges.
Previously when we've covered 25 richest countries, we did so by GDP per capita alone. As a result, tiny states and global city-states tended to dominate the top of the rankings.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
Currency Dominance in the Digital Age
July 28, 2025--As digital technologies become the rails upon which money moves, the resilience and credibility of currency networks increasingly hinge on the integrity of technological infrastructure. This fundamentally changes the logic of monetary competition, with far-reaching implications for financial and geopolitical stability.
For more than 80 years, the US dollar has enjoyed unrivaled supremacy in world trade and finance, thanks to America's unique combination of economic scale, credible institutions, deep and liquid financial markets, and geopolitical might, as well as, crucially, network effects. But a new variable is poised to reshape the global monetary order: data integrity.
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Source: project-syndicate.org
Unprecedented continental drying, shrinking freshwater availability, and increasing land contributions to sea level rise
July 25, 2025--Abstract
Changes in terrestrial water storage (TWS) are a critical indicator of freshwater availability. We use NASA GRACE/GRACE-FO data to show that the continents have undergone unprecedented TWS loss since 2002. Areas experiencing drying increased by twice the size of California annually, creating "mega-drying" regions across the Northern Hemisphere.
While most of the world's dry/wet areas continue to get drier/wetter, dry areas are now drying faster than wet areas are wetting.
Changes in TWS are driven by high-latitude water losses, intense Central American/European droughts, and groundwater depletion, which accounts for 68% of TWS loss over non-glaciated continental regions. "Continental drying" is having profound global impacts. Since 2002, 75% of the population lives in 101 countries that have been losing freshwater water. Furthermore, the continents now contribute more freshwater to sea level rise than the ice sheets, and drying regions now contribute more than land glaciers and ice caps. Urgent action is required to prepare for the major impacts of results presented.
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Source: science.org
Monitoring exposure to future climate-related hazards
July 22, 2025--Forward-looking indicator results and methods using climate scenarios
Abstract
Understanding how climate-related hazards will evolve due to climate change is crucial to guide adaptation decisions. Building on OECD indicators monitoring historical exposure to climate-related hazards, this paper develops forward-looking indicators to monitor exposure of people and agriculture (cropland and livestock) to three major climate-related hazard types (extreme temperature, extreme precipitation, and drought).
The methodology relies on climate multi-model ensembles covering a range of emission scenarios, from very low to very high. Results indicate that exposure to extreme temperature, precipitation, and drought is projected to worsen over the century in many countries, with considerable variation within and between countries. The presentation of indicator results in this paper focusses on 50 OECD member and partner countries but results for all countries globally are available online.
Mean temperatures are projected to increase by +4.2°8451; across the OECD and +3.5℃ in OECD partner countries by the end of the century under a high-emissions scenario.
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Source: OECD
Ranked: The Countries With the Most Seniors (2025-2100P)
July 20, 2025--Key Takeaways
European nations currently lead as countries with the most people aged 65+, but their increases through the century are projected to be slower and less extreme.
On the other hand, China is projected to move from outside the top ranks in 2025 to the world's 3rd most senior-heavy population by 2100.
The world has entered a demographic transition that it's never quite contended with before.
As fertility rates fall and longevity rises, the share of people aged 65 and over is climbing rapidly.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
Global Gas Flaring Hits Highest Level Since 2007, Undermining Energy Security, Access, and Emissions Goals
July 18, 2025-New report estimates wasted gas amounts to Africa’s annual gas consumption
Global gas flaring surged for a second year in a row, wasting about $63 billion in lost energy and setting back efforts to manage emissions and boost energy security and access.
Flaring, the practice of burning natural gas during oil extraction, reached 151 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2024, up 3 bcm from the previous year and the highest level in almost two decades.
An estimated 389 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent-46 million of that from unburnt methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases-was needlessly emitted.
While some countries have reduced flaring, the top nine largest-flaring countries continue to account for three-quarters of all flaring, but less than half of global oil production. Satellite data compiled and analyzed in the World Bank's annual Global Gas Flaring Tracker shows that flaring intensity-the amount of gas flared per barrel of oil produced-has remained stubbornly high for the last 15 years.
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Source: worldbank.org
OECD-Environment at a Glance Indicators
June 30, 2025--Human activities, particularly the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), are disrupting the earth-atmosphere system by enhancing the natural greenhouse effect. This leads to rising temperatures and broader climate disruption. Changes in land use and forestry practices also influence the balance of GHGs, as they affect the capacity of carbon sinks to capture or release emissions.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) primarily from fossil fuels combustion and deforestation, is the main contributor to climate change, comprising the largest share of global GHG emissions.
National emissions are increasingly influenced by global demand and supply chains. As carbon-intensive production is relocated abroad, domestic emission reductions may be partially or wholly offset by increases elsewhere. This underscores the need to assess emissions from both production and consumption perspectives.
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Source: oecd.org
Extreme Heat Could Cost Cities in Europe and Central Asia 2.5% of GDP Annually by 2050
June 24, 2025-Cities across Europe and Central Asia (ECA) have experienced a sharp and consistent rise in temperatures in recent decades, which is projected to triple the already tens of thousands of heat-related deaths and decrease annual GDP by an estimated 2.5 percent by 2050, according to a new report by the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery released today.
The report, Unlivable: How Cities in Europe and Central Asia Can Survive and Thrive in a Hotter Future, says the number of hot days in the region's major cities, where over 70% of people live, could more than triple by 2050, with many cities likely to experience more than 40-70 additional hot days per year, especially in Southern Europe and Turkiye.
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Source: worldbank.org
Global Energy Transition Gains Ground, but Security and Capital Challenges Persist
June 18, 2025--The World Economic Forum 2025 Energy Transition Index shows the fastest progress since pre-COVID-19, with 65% of countries improving and 28% advancing across all core dimensions-security, sustainability and equity.
Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Switzerland top the Index, driven by strong policy commitment, infrastructure and clean energy diversification.
Emerging Europe posted the biggest gains while Emerging Asia outpaced the global average.
Despite $2 trillion in clean energy investment in 2024, energy security stalled and emissions hit record highs, highlighting the need for resilient grids, digital infrastructure and targeted capital flows.
Global progress towards secure, equitable and sustainable energy is accelerating after years of sluggish gains, according to a World Economic Forum report released today. However, rising geopolitical tensions, investment gaps, and a growing disconnect between clean energy innovation and deployment where it is needed most threaten to undermine momentum.
The Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2025 report, developed in collaboration with Accenture, benchmarks the performance of energy systems of 118 countries across three performance dimensions-security, sustainability and equity- and five readiness factors: political commitment, finance and investment, innovation, infrastructure, and education and human capital. In 2025, 65% of countries improved their Energy Transition Index scores, with 28% advancing across all three core dimensions.
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Source: (WEF) World Economic Forum
Pacific Economic Update: Slowing Growth Highlights Need for More Inclusive Workforce
June 17, 2025-Increasing women's workforce participation could boost GDP per capita by over 20 percent across Pacific countries, shows World Bank report
Economic growth is slowing across the Pacific as countries face weak global growth, natural hazards and climate related shocks.
The World Bank's flagship Pacific Economic Update, released today in Honiara, projects regional growth to fall to 2.6 percent in 2025, down from 5.5 percent in 2023.
This comes as post-COVID recovery fades, tourism weakens in some countries, and global policy uncertainty rises. Inflation is easing but remains above pre-pandemic levels-keeping the cost of living stubbornly high.
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Source: worldbank.org
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