The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) urban greening programme, Green Cities, is quadrupling in size and has also won €87m from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board.

The annual 'Building a More Just Marketplace: The 2018 Rankings of America’s Most JUST Companies' have been published, listing the companies that Americans most respect – and also the issues that they believe are the most important components to asses them on. Both are revealing.

Most Chinese deals in energy and transportation from 2014 to 2017 were tied to carbon-intensive sectors and did not show a strong alignment with the low-carbon priorities included Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries’ NDCs.

Investors with more than $32tr in assets under management have called for governments to step up efforts to avert climate change as COP 24 continues in Poland.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s small to medium-scale renewable energy sector will benefit from the UK Government’s commitment to £100m of extra funding – announced at COP24.

Oil major Shell has declared that in future its executive pay will be linked to performance in meeting carbon reduction targets.

Blockchain might help provide a solution to Africa’s energy deficit, where demand for electricity largely exceeds supply and thus the need for large-scale imports of polluting power generating sets.

A cross-party group of 200 former and current MPs has called on the MPs’ Pension Fund to phase out its investment in fossil fuel.

Unfriend Coal’s newly released report, 2018 Scorecard on Insurance, Coal and Climate Change, reveals that Europe’s four biggest primary insurers have now restricted insurance for coal, one-third of the reinsurance market has done the same, and 19 major insurers with more than $6tr in assets have divested from coal.

The UK leads Europe for sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) according to data from Eurosif, Europe’s sustainable and responsible investment membership organisation.

Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler will purchase battery cells worth more than €20 billion over the next decade as part of its continuing investment in the expansion of its electric fleet and related technologies such as the global battery production network.

The World Economic Forum has published work by the Women Political Leaders Global Forum, that has, in cooperation with Kantar, created the ‘Reykjavik Index for Leadership’ to help understand global attitudes to gender equality in leadership roles.

Customers can sign up to help at dementia research kiosks inside Virgin Money Lounges, where people can register their interest to take part in research studies close to them.

Following the announcement by Shell that it will link executive pay to carbon-reduction, logistics company Maersk and US electric power company Xcel Energy have pledged to cut their carbon emissions to zero by 2050.

Barclays has launched a new feature for customers within its mobile banking app giving them the ability to ‘turn off’ spending with certain types of transaction.

The UK is second only to Denmark when it comes to implementing measures to mitigate climate change, according to a new global energy revolution league table.

Just 10 per cent of the companies have implemented a carbon reduction target, and very few have committed to setting science-based targets, which reflect the action needed at a corporate level to keep global warming within 2°C.

McVitie’s owner pladis UK & Ireland has announced a wide range of measures to reduce its environmental impact through plastic waste.

Panalpina, the Swiss logistics company with branches in more than 80 countries has a seasonal tradition of offering its air charter expertise to UNICEF. As with last year, it has assisted UNICEF by flying relief aid to Africa to help children in South Sudan.

Global fossil CO2 emissions are projected to rise by 2.7 per cent in 2018 according to the Global Carbon Project (GCP). This is on top of 2017's rise of 1.6 per cent after being flat for the three years before.

Sky has announced that 2019 will be the final year of its involvement in cycling, after over a decade of support. Team Sky will compete for the last time throughout the 2019 road racing season following its very successful, but at times controversial, history.

The UN climate talks in Poland are nearing the end, with a number of issues still unresolved. As nations grapple with the huge number of decisions and potential consequences of those, the stumbling blocks seem to remain as countries most vulnerable seek faster action.

Neil Young has criticised the promoters of his Hyde Park concert with Bob Dylan in London for including Barclays as a sponsor, citing its funding of fossil fuel extraction, forcing the promoter to remove Barclays from the event.

During the COP24 Poland has vowed to be the first country from Central Europe to join the United Nations Global Compact Government Group initiative – the forum of UN cooperation that brings together companies that want to work for responsible development, and it enables them to influence the direction of UN activities in this field.

A group of 15 large institutional investors, coordinated by ShareAction, with assets totalling over £180bn are writing to FTSE companies to encourage them to accredit with the Living Wage Foundation.

The UK’s main gambling companies have voluntarily agreed to a ban on television advertising during live sports broadcasts. The Remote Gambling Association (RGA), including firms such as Bet365 and Ladbrokes has responded to criticism from anti-gambling groups and MPS and introduced the ban to all sports events except horseracing.

Thames Water has signed a £1.4bn 5-year revolving credit facility (RCF), with the interest rate linked to annual performance against ESG metrics.

The European Commission has outlined its vision for a climate neutral Europe, in line with the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

PensionsEurope, the body that represents national associations of pension funds, has welcomed the EU’s initiatives in sustainable finance that include establishing a unified EU classification system of sustainable economic activities and regulation on disclosure of sustainable investments and sustainability risks for pension funds.

UN Environment Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) and 28 banks have launched the Principles for Responsible Banking for global public consultation at a meeting in Paris.