A mother and daughter from Congo in Mugombwa refugee camp in Rwanda, with fortified food from WFP. Dutch food company DSM, cited in the article, has been working with the WFP to develop new food technologies to tackle malnutrition. (Credit: WFP/Rein Skullerud)

Invention is the mother of profitability. "The Sustainable Development Goals are a statement of what the world needs by 2030 — and where there’s needs there’s opportunity," Mark Lancelott, a sustainability expert at PA consulting tells the Financial Times in this piece exploring why new technologies can both bring benefits to the world's poorest and to investors as well.

🐘 Investors are waking up to the SDGs, but risk still the elephant in the room. Despite ever-growing momentum around the sustainability agenda, businesses are still far from reaching the sustainability goals they set for themselves and from making concrete contributions to the SDGs, says Steve Rocco, of Geneva-based investment adviser Ground_Up Project. He argues that risk remains a key barrier to investment.

⚖️ Creating fairer finance. In January, the United Nations appointed Hiro Mizuno, a Tesla board member and former chief investment officer of Japan's Government Pension Investment Fund, as special envoy on innovative finance and sustainable investments. In this interview, Mizuno addresses how the financial sector can help bridge the growing divide between the rich and poor.

🌱 Green groups raise concerns over Carney carbon credits plan. On Wednesday last week, a taskforce set up by UN climate envoy Mark Carney set out a blueprint for carbon offsetting, even as campaigners warned that it may not be the best approach to tackling climate change. Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Carney said "it's one piece of the puzzle".

Taq Kasra (Credit: Consultancy for Conservation and Development)

Rescuing the Arch of Ctesiphon. ALIPH, a Geneva-based foundation dedicated to protecting cultural heritage sites in conflict areas, has joined forces with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture to restore the Arch of Ctesiphon, the world’s largest brick vault constructed until modern times. The foundation's board has approved a $700,000 grant so that a conservation team from the University of Pennsylvania can implement emergency measures to save the arch from collapse.

3 February | Adapt to Survive: Business transformation in a time of uncertainty. The first in a series of six business briefs to engage and stimulate positive action from business leaders and to discuss environmental challenges that the global community faces.

4 February | Deforestation as a credit risk Deforestation is often discussed because of its impact on carbon dioxide emissions and soil erosion or the destruction of forest habitat. Instead, this webinar will look at deforestation from a credit risk perspective, by exploring how it may affect the probability of default of a debt issuer or of an issue.

10 February | Rethinking the post-crisis economy: opportunities for development. At a time when the world economy is at a turning point, what place for the most disadvantaged? How to help the most vulnerable States to develop, how to ensure effective aid to people directly suffering from the crisis? These events are part of Eduki's press conferences for young and budding journalists.