In the context of the UNSG Climate Action Summit, Member States and financial institutions are invited to sign on to pledge to assess and monitor the climate impact and the alignment of their financial flows with the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. Interested parties are invited to indicate their – even preliminary - interest in joining the pledge by 12 August 2019.

The Social & Human Capital Protocol launched today in Geneva, Switzerland. It provides a consistent process to guide businesses as they assess their relationship with social and human capital. It offers an overarching framework for collaborative action to bring together different approaches for social and human capital measurement and valuation and is designed to be used alongside the Natural Capital Protocol to understand the full spectrum of business interactions with people, society and the environment.

The 2nd Batumi Talk Show, Greening the economy and cleaning the air, provided an opportunity for countries to showcase success stories and share lessons learned around the transition to greener economies, improved air quality, and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For the first time, a pilot study shows how many raw materials and other products are traded from Switzerland and how large the associated environmental impact is. It is almost nineteen times higher than the environmental impact of Switzerland's final consumption.

In 2018, EfD will launch a new collaborative research program called Policy Instruments for Sustainable management of oceans and marine resources. The two focus areas of the program will be effective management of fisheries and combating marine pollution, the latter with a specific focus on plastic waste.