This is a special feature on 2021, kickstarts the first podcast on Social Impact Update from The middle Road. Do refer to the add on educational publication following this podcast. This is going to be a regular feature from The middle Road.

First a bit about The middle Road platform. Inspired by the seventeen sustainable development goals, and keeping the model simple yet elegant, The middle Road’s mission is to make a holistic change within the world. The startup promotes themes on sustainable development, art, culture, well-being supported by well-rounded and comprehensive online learning initiatives. Despite being a one-person company, The middle Road platform has a global audience with readers and learners from across the globe. Known for its intense and educative reads, insightful and informative podcasts, webinars and videos, and educational online courses, the company is a global thought leader in social impact. The startup is a refreshing change from any of its peers, youthful yet measured, enlightening yet fun, creative yet simplistic, thought-provoking, multifaceted and, instructional. Within a short period, the startup has interviewed leading social enablers across continents, posted research focussed futuristic publications on topics related to the social and development sector artistically leading the way. This read captures some significant news from 2021, especially the reads covered on The middle Road platform.

GRAPH DATA SOURCE UNESCO | THE MIDDLE ROAD 

Note: GERD figures are in PPP$ (constant 2005 prices). Many of the underlying data are estimated by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for developing countries, in particular. Furthermore, in a substantial number of developing countries data do not cover all sectors of the economy.

 

 

GRAPH: SOURCE CLIMATE BONDS INITIATIVE : THE MIDDLE ROAD
Asian Development Bank estimates that Asia and the Pacific will need to invest $1.7 trillion per year to support climate and sustainable development goals.

Enel, a European multinational is a pioneer in issuing SDG-linked bonds, with coupon payments linked to sustainable development goals. Enel established a Sustainability-Linked Financing Framework to aid issuance of Sustainability-Linked Financing instruments for its Euro Commercial Program. The financing instrument targets Sustainable Development Goal 7 on Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7). These bonds have a step-up coupon feature i.e. they have to pay a penalty for missing the key performance indicator mapped to coupon payment. Refer to publications and articles on Sustainable Finance on www.themiddleroad.org to get in-depth knowledge on Sustainable Bonds.

If Denmark is a champion of implementing best sustainable practices example promoting cycling as a mode of transport, then Singapore’s 2030 Green Plan is an inspiration for thought leadership within the sustainable development sector. The middle Road envisions Singapore’s 2030 Green Plan to a bell weather effort comparable to the Finland’s or better Nordic countries holistic foray in bettering K-12 education globally. The little Asian dynamo, Singapore plans to invest 50 percent more (200 hectares) of land for nature parks as part of its biodiversity drive. The fact that every household will live within 10 minutes of walk to a park, has numerous positive externalities example healthier life, lower healthcare costs, better wellbeing, more productivity at work, etc. The country is increasingly deploying circular economy solutions and by 2030, expects to reduce waste to landfills by 30 percent. Many ground-breaking initiatives like expanding the cycling network to 1320 km and raising the share of public transportation to 75 percent by 2030 can serve as a beacon for other countries in implementing and understanding impact evaluation to foster a greener tomorrow.

Listen Notes

 

# COP26

The 2021 UN Climate Change Conference; Conference of Parties known as COP26 took place in Glasgow this year. The conference committed to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels understanding the impact of climate change would be much lower at these levels compared to the 2 °C agreed under Paris Agreement.

At the summit, leaders from more than 120 countries representing about 90 percent of the world’s forest pledged to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. The $100 billion climate finance contribution pledged every year at COP9 held at Copenhagen summit, Denmark is puny when compared to the $5.2 trillion post-tax energy subsidies roughly (0.37 percent of Global GDP in 2017) based on IMF estimates. The coming together of more than 500 global financial services firms to commit $130 trillion roughly 40 percent of the world’s financial assets for climate change aligned with the Paris agreement and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius helps to override the financial gap discussed earlier in implementing sustainable development goals per year. COP26 emphasized collaboration and the importance of civic societies in limiting loss due to climate change and promoting the Paris agreement through various actors’ example indigenous people and local people for effective implementation of the climate change agenda.

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# Science & Technology 

In 2021, the United States and China landed a rover on MARS, a fantastic achievement in the realms of space exploration. Space travel got a boost this year with space exploration by Virgin, SpaceX, and Blue Origin. UNESCO is a leading publication that discusses the interaction of science, its transition towards a greener, digitally connected society and public policy? In the last few years, the world has made critical progress as digitalization and technology penetrate our lives. But has the technology created an inclusive society? How has gender parity been measured over these years? How are different countries measuring comparatively on the research and innovation parameters?

Gender Equality is one key area where a lot of progress has been made in many countries covered. Globally, women have achieved parity (45–55%) at the bachelor’s and master’s levels of study and 44% at the Ph.D. level but the parity reduces as women pursue their careers. Women are also gaining in research as a profession; women researchers were one-third of all researchers in 2018, up from 28.4% in 2013.

2021 WILL ALSO GO DOWN IN HISTORY BOOKS, AS THE YEAR SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED THE FIRST MILLIPEDE IN THE WORLD HAVING 1306 LEGS IN AUSTRALIA. A SOFT YET SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERY.

Did you know, according to the World Bank, 1 million out of the present 8 million animal and plant spices are facing extinction. 

 

 

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