Good morning, this is Kasmira. With sweeping changes to the aid landscape and many countries in survival mode, are climate finance and sustainable development still top of the agenda? UNDP’s Marcos Neto makes the case for why sustainable finance is the means to addressing today’s most pressing challenges.

Meanwhile, our colleagues at Le Temps sought to uncover what role a Geneva foundation is playing in Israel’s controversial plans to take control of aid in Gaza.

Kasmira Jefford

08.05.2025

On our radar

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Marcos Neto, policy director at UNDP, at the meeting of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions in Geneva on 28 April 2025. (Geneva Solutions/Kasmira Jefford)

UNDP’s Marcos Neto isn’t worried about a sustainable finance popularity slump. Geopolitics will come and go, but the permanent effects of climate change on the planet mean sustainable finance will remain an urgent priority for world leaders, argues the United Nations’ development agency’s policy boss.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Here's what else is happening

😶‍🌫️A Geneva-based foundation at the heart of Israel’s Gaza aid plan. Israel plans to take full control of humanitarian aid entering Gaza. The blueprint includes biometric screening, US mercenaries – and an obscure organisation recently set up in Geneva.
Le Temps via Geneva Solutions (EN)
📌US, China to hold ice-breaker trade talks in Geneva on Saturday. The face-to-face talks between top trade officials from Washington and Beijing could mark the first step in defusing an escalating trade war that has upended the global economy.
Reuters (EN)
📢AI developers should counter misinformation and protect fact-based news, global media groups say. The European Broadcasting Union and thousands of other media and publishers have joined a global initiative calling for more accuracy and transparency on news sources behind AI-generated material.
Associated Press (EN)
🛠️Opinion: The world is changing fast – it is now crucial to restructure the UN. A lack of political will has failed to bring about much-needed reforms. But in today’s reality, there are no more excuses, and the UN needs to seize the moment for change, writes humanitarian and peace consultant Damian Lilly.
PassBlue (EN)

From our partners

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📌15 May | Conflict and Nature: How to Protect the Environment? How does war impact the environment, and what can be done to protect it? The Geneva Graduate Institute invites you to an online panel discussion at midday on 15 May, where experts will explore the overlooked links between armed conflict and the natural environment, including the ecological consequences of war in Yemen, Sudan and Ukraine.

They’ll examine key legal, economic and policy challenges, and discuss how states and other actors can strengthen environmental protection during conflict.

Speakers include:
🔹Gilles Carbonnier, professor of development economics, Geneva Graduate Institute and vice-president, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
🔹Helen Obregón Gieseken, legal adviser, ICRC
🔹Doug Weir, director, The Conflict and Environment Observatory

Register for this lunchtime webinar now.

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