On the sidelines of the 2015 Paris climate summit, then-UK prime minister David Cameron and 19 other world leaders made a promise to double green energy research and development by 2020. The United Kingdom is on course to break that promise. As a percentage of GDP, spending on low-carbon energy R&D has stayed sluggishly around 0.02 per cent since 2015, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The prognosis for people living with HIV/AIDS has been transformed through anti-retroviral therapy (ART), which is the use of medicines to treat HIV infection, and it is recommended for everyone who has HIV. ART helps people with HIV live longer, healthier lives and reduces the risk of transmission to others. Now, new analysis has established that further investment in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS through ART is one of the 12 best investments that India can make to speed up its achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This finding is an early result from a study that looks at...

Environmental protesters and politicians around the world are calling for countries to become carbon neutral by 2050, if not sooner. These proposals get a lot of attention, but they would incur far higher costs than almost any electorate is willing to pay.

America’s new United Nations ambassador, Kelly Craft, has an opportunity to help refocus global development efforts, using US clout to ensure every dollar spent does more to help people and the planet. Craft is taking her position at a pivotal time, four years after the ratification of the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, the development agenda up to the year 2030. With little more than one decade left, implementation desperately needs shaking up.

The World Bank does a lot of important and effective work, especially in health and education, but its climate policies are poorly considered. The Bank’s new president, David Malpass, should refocus the institution on its core mission of eradicating poverty – including the energy poverty that wrecks so many lives.

The impact of domestic violence is vast, with costs for victims and society at large. New evidence points to additions that could be made to policies, by any government, to help reduce this cost and turn the tide on violence. This comes from India Consensus, a collaboration between Tata Trusts and Copenhagen Consensus.

An election sharpens attention on how to ensure that the poorest in society benefit. As the next general election approaches, it is timely to focus attention on the challenge of Tuberculosis (TB) — a scourge affecting the poorest Indians the most — because its treatment is one of the most cost-effective transformative interventions that can be made. New research undertaken by India Consensus squarely places TB treatment among the top investments that India can make in order to help achieve the UN’s Global Goals.

In setting out a plan to make Manhattan better prepared for extreme weather, Mayor Bill de Blasio is delivering a sorely needed message on climate change. Usually, when extreme weather like a hurricane hits, we hear the same old calls for drastic carbon cuts. Yet these are both ineffective and hopeless at helping victims of hurricanes.

Around the world, thousands of children are striking for climate action. Spurred on by young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, they want to convince adults to “panic.” The campaign is supported by adults who feel the same way: Thunberg has been welcomed to the World Economic Forum in Davos, has delivered a TedTalk, and has been lauded in Rolling Stone and The Guardian. Thunberg’s undeniable passion is directed at perhaps the only challenge in the world where a call for everyone to panic would be received with so little critical thought.