Good morning, I'm Kasmira, and welcome to today's sustainable business and finance news.

Philanthropic funding during the pandemic has shown the sector at its best. But academics in Geneva ask whether tax incentives that come with it are justified - and does philanthropy conflict with principles of democracy?

Plus, a new solution to help meet demand for carbon offsetting, and a benchmark on human rights found that the world's biggest companies are still missing the mark.

Kasmira Jefford

23.11.2020

Today’s reason for hope

Swiss National Park, the canton of Grisons (Keystone/Gaetan Bally

A new UN push aims to feed the world’s rabid hunger for carbon credits. Many companies bent on zeroing out carbon emissions by mid-century or sooner are seeing their ambitions run up against the same big obstacle: there aren’t enough trees. Backers of the “Green Gigaton Challenge” hope to avert a supply shortfall.

Bloomberg (EN)

Sustainable Business & Finance news

The hazards of philanthropy and why its tax treatment needs a proper look. Academics at the Geneva Centre for Philanthropy will this week raise a number of problematic questions, such as whether tax incentives for philanthropic initiatives are justified, or does it conflict with principles of democracy?

Geneva Solutions (EN)

G20 should boost trade financing for developing countries, says WTO official. The organization's deputy director-general Alan Wolff told G20 leaders that they should work to provide trillions of dollars in trade financing to ensure the recovery of the global economy from the COVID-19 pandemic,

Reuters (EN)

Here's what else is happening

Asia-Pacific Leaders reaffirm their committment to global trade, including an endorsement of the World Trade Organization.
Bloomberg Quint (EN)
WHO pandemic envoy slams Swiss Covid response
Swissinfo.ch (EN)
'The Afghan conflict can no longer continue like this', says ICRC director-general Robert Mardini.
Le Temps (FR)
Tigray: why 'final' offensive may not end Ethiopian conflict.
The Guardian (EN)
UN prepares for up to 200,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan.
ABC News (EN)
Palestinian refugee agency boss says Swiss talks went well.
Swissinfo.ch (EN)
G20 leaders seek to help poorest nations in post-Covid-19 world.
Reuters (EN)
Rape, abuses in palm oil fields linked to top beauty brands.
AP News (EN)
How the Sentinel-6 satellite will monitor the rising waters on our planet.
Heidi.news (FR)

Graphic of the day

Corporate Human Rights Benchmark

Negative human rights impacts are overwhelmingly felt in developing countries. A ranking of 225 global companies found that nearly half faced at least one allegation of a severe human rights issue levied against them, with the majority of these occurring in developing countries. Overall, the 2020 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark found that companies are still falling short in upholding human rights.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Next on the agenda

30 November | The Geneva Trade and Development Workshop. Mary Amiti, vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will be hosting the latest in this seminar series aimed at sharing frontier research in trade and development.

The Graduate Institute (EN)

23-24 November | Bold Actions for Food as a Force for Good. The event, which will be co-hosted by 13 organisations, will seek to develop concrete, multi-stakeholder solutions for changing the food system.

UN (EN)

25-27 November | Philanthropy and Taxation The conference provides a forum for experts from around the world to exchange knowledge and policy insights on the tax aspects of charitable giving.

UNIGE (EN)

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Have a good day!

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