Posts tagged with 'Africa'
National vs. County E-Mobility Readiness in Kenya
National vs. County E-Mobility Readiness in Kenya
Urbanization and rising transport demand are putting real strain on Kenya’s transport systems. Road transport already accounts for about 13% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, and this share is projected to rise to around 17% by 2030 as the population and ...
Cities Absorb the World's Shocks. Who Protects Them?
Cities Absorb the World’s Shocks. Who Protects Them?
There is a pattern to how global crises unfold that receives far less attention than it deserves: A disruption originates somewhere in the architecture of global trade, energy or finance, travels through supply chains and shipping corridors, and eventually deposits ...
Climate Startups Can Power a Green Transition. But They Need a Different Playbook
Climate Startups Can Power a Green Transition. But They Need a Different Playbook
Today’s global challenges of prolonged fuel crises, rising consumer prices, dwindling natural resources and new workforce pressures demand disruptive innovators willing to test new technologies and business models that enable countries to rapidly transform their economies.   Accelerating these national ...
Retired EV Batteries Can Play a Vital Role in Making Clean Energy More Affordable and Accessible
Retired EV Batteries Can Play a Vital Role in Making Clean Energy More Affordable and Accessible
Most electric vehicle (EV) batteries are retired with as much as 70% to 80% of their original capacity remaining. They still work, but their performance no longer matches automotive requirements that demand full charging capacity for long-range driving. Over time, ...
Advancing Transport Electrification in Ethiopia Amid Global Fuel Supply Disruptions
Advancing Transport Electrification in Ethiopia Amid Global Fuel Supply Disruptions
When fuel queues stretch for kilometers and commuters wait hours hoping public transport will eventually show up, the fragility of Ethiopia’s transport systems becomes impossible to ignore. A recent national fuel crisis — triggered by global supply disruptions after the ...
African Cities Use Nature to Fight Floods and Climate Change
African Cities Use Nature to Fight Floods and Climate Change
When torrential rains hit Kinshasa in April 2025, the city of 20 million came to a standstill. Floodwaters submerged more than half the city as the Ndjili River and smaller streams overflowed, quickly overwhelming the city’s drainage capacity. Lives were ...
4 Levers for Addressing Africa’s Housing Crisis
4 Levers for Addressing Africa’s Housing Crisis
The thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) convenes this month in Baku amid converging geopolitical and economic shocks: conflict-driven energy spikes, rising debt burdens and persistent inflation. Around the world, these shocks are squeezing public budgets and household incomes alike.  ...
Solving World's Housing Crisis Requires More Than New Construction
Solving World’s Housing Crisis Requires More Than New Construction
There’s a growing housing crisis that’s impossible to ignore. Consider the stats: Nearly 3 billion people lack access to housing that is both safe and connected to basic services like energy, water and sanitation. Around 40% of the world’s population lives in ...
Celebrating 50 Years of Bogotá’s Ciclovía and the Growth of the Open Streets Movement
Celebrating 50 Years of Bogotá’s Ciclovía and the Growth of the Open Streets Movement
Every Sunday morning, Bogotá, Colombia, transforms its streets. Over 120 kilometers (75 miles) of major city roads are closed to cars and opened to cyclists, walkers and runners in the Sunday Ciclovía. The 50-year-old weekly tradition has evolved from a social ...
Reviving Nairobi's Libraries Is Building Healthier Communities
Reviving Nairobi’s Libraries Is Building Healthier Communities
At Eastlands Library in Nairobi, Kenya, students compare notes and work through assignments as music from a tree-lined courtyard drifts through the windows. In another part of the library, a dance instructor is leading a group of children through breathing ...
Most Cities Are Getting Hotter. Not All Residents Feel It Equally
Most Cities Are Getting Hotter. Not All Residents Feel It Equally
On a hot day in February 2024, volunteers dispersed across Cape Town, South Africa, with sensors affixed to their cars. Their aim was to measure heat differences across the city. In Cape Town’s dense, highly developed center, they recorded air temperatures ...
Rwanda’s Cities Turn to Green-Gray Infrastructure to Address Climate Risks
Rwanda’s Cities Turn to Green-Gray Infrastructure to Address Climate Risks
Over the next few decades, Rwanda is positioned to become one of the most competitive investment destinations in East Africa. National targets, such as achieving upper middle-income status by 2035 and high-income status by 2050 (Vision 2050)1, signal the government’s ...
Climate Action Can Be One of the World’s Biggest Job Creators
Climate Action Can Be One of the World’s Biggest Job Creators
We are in the midst of a great economic shift — one that will shape livelihoods and growth for decades to come.  The rise of AI and digitalization, geopolitical changes, uneven population growth, and the urgent need to cut emissions ...
Challenging Discriminatory Cultural Norms to Build Fair, Resilient Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Challenging Discriminatory Cultural Norms to Build Fair, Resilient Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Social norms and gender biases are widely recognized as major barriers to the social and economic empowerment of women, people with disabilities and other underrepresented groups, including limiting their participation in governance and decision-making. For instance, in many parts of the world, domestic and caregiving ...
Are Countries’ New Climate Plans Ambitious Enough? What We Know So Far
Are Countries’ New Climate Plans Ambitious Enough? What We Know So Far
2025 is a pivotal moment for climate action. Countries are submitting new national climate commitments, known as “nationally determined contributions” or “NDCs,” that will shape the trajectory of global climate progress through 2035. These new commitments will show how boldly ...
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