When considering climate change, most people think wind turbines and solar panels are a big part of the solution. But, over the next 25 years, the contribution of solar and wind power to resolving the problem will be trivial – and the cost will be enormous.

If ratified, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that was recently agreed to in Atlanta will be one of the most significant poverty-reduction measures this decade. And what really needs to happen next in the fight against poverty is the introduction of global free trade, so nobody misses out.

The TPP agreement is significant, but covers just 40 per cent of the world’s economy. Negotiations have been going on for five years.

The decision by the Conservative government to spend 50% more on so-called "climate aid" is a feel-good policy that does little for the world’s poorest or the planet. It is part of an indefensible international movement towards ever greater chunk of aid going towards climate.

The money – £5.8 billion – is to be diverted from the United Kingdom’s overseas aid budget to its International Climate Fund over the next five years.

The Australian government's decision to step up its fight against the scourge of domestic violence does not just make moral sense: it is underpinned by a sound economic case too.

Researchers for Copenhagen Consensus recently conducted one of the first analyses of the total costs of violence worldwide, and found that gender-based violence – believed to affect around one in three women globally – has a considerably higher financial impact on society than many would think.

After years of build-up, world leaders at the U.N. Friday set some of the most important priorities for the next 15 years, the sustainable development goals. At stake is about $2.5 trillion in development aid. Unfortunately, because of politicking and a desire to please everyone, this massive budget will likely achieve less good than it could.

Over the past three days, after years of build-up, world leaders have been getting down to the business of setting some of the most important priorities for the next 15 years.

At stake is $2.5tr in development aid, and countless trillions in national budgets. Unfortunately, because of politicking and a desire to please everyone, this massive budget will achieve four-times less good than it could.

At the United Nations in New York today, world leaders are gathering to finalize the Global Goals -- the targets that will replace the Millennium Development Goals and shape trillions of dollars of spending over the next 15 years. There is much high-minded rhetoric here at the United Nations that development is all about people.

This has been a key theme during the consultations on the targets that took years and have brought us to this point. As United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has put it, "People should be at the centre of our vision".

The global elite has little idea what afflicts the poor, says Pope Francis. He’s right — but that observation sometimes applies to him, too.
In his US visit, the pope is already creating headlines about the urgent need to respond to climate change. Invoking the need to “protect the vulnerable in our world,” he calls for an end to humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels.

Later this week, world leaders will gather in New York at the United Nations to endorse international development goals for the next 15 years. It is the culmination of a four-year process for setting priorities to help the world’s most disadvantaged people—a process beset from the start by horse-trading, haggling and endless consultation. In a bid not to offend anyone, the new development agenda is expected to include an incredible 169 targets for investment. Giving priority to 169 things is the same as giving priority to nothing at all.

At the end of this month, one of the most consequential political conferences of the decade will take place, with more than 150 world leaders gathering in New York to set the path for global development spending – more than $2.5 trillion – between now and 2030. But, in fact, heads of state are not expected to do much at the conference at all. With the so-called Agenda for Sustainable Development having been quietly finalized by diplomats and United Nations bureaucrats last month, the leaders are expected just to smile for the cameras and sign on the dotted line.