COP26

The UN Under Secretary-General Who Also Sits on the Board of Shell

• December 21, 2021

Jane Holl Lute is in high demand. In 2020, on top of her two high-level United Nations jobs, the American diplomat has juggled other numerous executive roles on corporate and/or nonprofit boards, earning more than $900,000, according to public records. Lute was the UN envoy for Cyprus until she resigned in August, and she …

Gender Violence, UN Diplomats

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COP26 President Fights Back Tears as the Summit Ends

Mark Hertsgaard

• November 15, 2021

GLASGOW, Scotland — COP26 president Alok Sharma held back tears as he accepted India’s last-minute motion to weaken the summit’s pledge to “phase out” coal. Sharma had been saying for months that he wanted COP26 to “consign coal to history.” And until India insisted otherwise at the eleventh hour, it looked like the summit …

Climate Change

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THIS WEEK @UN

Further Souring of Ethiopian-UN Relations; Deep-Sea Mining Dangers; Polish-Belarusian Standoff

Anna Bianca Roach

• November 12, 2021

PassBlue probes the global body granting licenses to mine the deep seas; UN staff detained in Ethiopia; global famine rises. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This week, Mexico’s president proposes a plan …

Africa, Asia, Climate Change, Human Rights, Humanitarian Aid, Middle East, Migration, Myanmar, Refugees, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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Who Is the World’s Greatest Climate Champion?

Mark Hertsgaard

• November 10, 2021

GLASGOW, Scotland — It’s an article of faith in United States political and media circles that American leadership is essential to global climate progress. That message was repeated Tuesday at the United Nations climate conference, COP26, as speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and a delegation of 16 fellow Congressional Democrats …

Climate Change, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

Spoilers of Peace in Yemen; COP26’s First Week; Morale Boosting by Blinken

Anna Bianca Roach

• November 5, 2021

COP26 opens with a foreboding announcement from the UN secretary-general; peacekeepers shot by the presidential guard in the Central African Republic; Mexico’s agenda on the Security Council. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. …

Africa, Asia, Climate Change, General Assembly, Humanitarian Aid, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Agencies, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Good News From COP26: UN Members Agree on a New Enterprise to Transform Global Responses to Climate Change

Petteri Taalas, Achim Steiner and Inger Andersen

• October 31, 2021

Just days before the COP26 environment summit in Glasgow, Scotland, three of the United Nations’ lead agencies on climate and development each published alarming reports. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) produced evidence to show that greenhouse gases reached a new record high in 2020. Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the …

Climate Change, WORLDVIEWS

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THIS WEEK @UN

A Coup Unravels Sudan; UN’s New Envoy for Myanmar; the Security Council Visits the Sahel

Anna Bianca Roach

• October 29, 2021

A coup in Khartoum; global carbon emissions revert to pre-Covid levels; a new UN envoy is named for Myanmar. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres unveiled …

Africa, Myanmar, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN

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BOOKS

New Pressures Are Shaping Environmental Debates, a Leader Says

Barbara Crossette

• June 5, 2021

For half a century, Gus Speth has been at the forefront of the global environmental movement as an adviser on environment policy to two United States presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and then administrator of the United Nations Development Program, under Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan. Speth was also a civil society leader …

BOOKS, Climate Change

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The UN Moves Toward ‘Climate Neutrality,’ but Is It Fast Enough?

Fiona Shukri

• February 18, 2020

The United Nations system has instituted some important changes toward becoming what it calls climate neutral. Some employees and former employees, however, think the UN could be doing much more to reduce the organization’s carbon footprint globally and to be a stronger role model in mitigating climate change. After all, Secretary-General António Guterres recently …