#28 - Weekly News Digest 20240715-0721

This weekly news digest is created by community members in the Hyperledger Supply Chain and Trade Finance Special Interest Group as a way to keep people up to date on the latest developments in this space.  If you have news to share that you would like to let the group know about, please feel free to edit this wiki page or join one of the upcoming group meetings and share your news with other group members.

News:

a. Supply Chain Management:

• International Taxation and the Extractives Sector
• Agritech: Shaping Agriculture in Emerging Economies, Today and Tomorrow
• INATBA - International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications Industrial Blockchain Task Force report
• Perishable goods such as Fruits, Vegetables, Meat, and Dairy products are essential components not just in our day-to-day life, but also in global trade.
• Global trade can support humanitarian relief. Here's how
• Creative Economy Outlook 2024 | UN Trade and Development
• Analyzing the European Innovation Scoreboard 2024

b. Trade Finance:

• EU ETS Frequently Asked Questions
• HSBC Thailand, a premier global financial institution and the country’s first commercial bank, has introduced The Sustainable Supply Chain Finance programme.
• BIMCO's "25 by 25" campaign reaches 25.1% eBL adoption in first year
• 'Explainer" video_ Episode 1 (UNCITRAL project on negotiable cargo documents and negotiable electronic cargo records) produced with the help of the UN Volunteer Program!
• The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has released a consultation report with proposed policy recommendations to improve consistency in regulating and supervising banks and non-banks providing cross-border payment services, proportionate to the risks involved.
• Types of Documentary Credit – a Comprehensive Guide
• The World Bank is exploring interoperability between Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and faster payment systems! This move aims to enhance efficiency and security in transactions, bridging CBDC systems with traditional banking infrastructures. By enabling mixed payments between retail CBDCs and faster payment systems, this initiative could revolutionize how we handle money transfers globally.
• The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted four new texts and agreed on a future programme of work at its 57th session in New York
• Alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital has acquired Atalaya Capital Management for US$450 million, aiming to bolster its alternative credit and asset-based finance capabilities.
• Addax Energy, the trading arm of African oil and gas company Oryx Energies, has closed its first-ever committed unsecured revolving credit facility totalling US$195mn.

c. Sustainability & ESG

• Achieving Net-Zero GHG Emissions of Saudi Arabia by 2060: The Transformation of the Building Sector
• Accelerating an Equitable Transition: A Data-Driven Approach
• Evaluating impacts: Lessons from food systems interventions across Africa and Asia
• The world needs a new global deal on climate and development finance
• IFC Partners with FirstRand Bank to Expand Green Building and Affordable Housing Finance in South Africa
• At London Climate Action Week, legal experts unpacked the latest trends in climate-related lawsuits.
• The World Economic Forum's latest report sheds light on the pivotal role of technology in reshaping the future of global trade and development
• UNDP is seeking for a Project Analyst (home-based) to join the Food & Agricultural Commodity Systems team.
• AgroEcology_Italy Reducing GHG Emissions and Increasing Carbon Sequestration in Italian Agriculture
• Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) is a low-cost and market-ready hashtag#storage solution that is safe and can build on existing hashtag#infrastructure resources, as well as complement a nascent hashtag#hydrogen ecosystem in hashtag#Europe. Currently, hashtag#salt hashtag#caverns, depleted gas fields, hashtag#aquifers, and rock caverns are the pre-dominately used storage technologies.
• The World Economic Forum's latest report sheds light on the pivotal role of technology in reshaping the future of global trade and development.
• India’s dubious ESG regulations could scare global investors
• World Economic Forum released the report First Movers Coalition: Status Report. This report captures the achievements of the First Movers Coalition (FMC) in stimulating demand for low-carbon technologies since its launch in November 2021.
• Migration and displacement associated with climate risks are becoming more frequent, and are expected to increase.
• Carbon removal news
• The recent report highlights the critical need for public-private collaboration to tackle global challenges. It emphasizes leveraging technological advancements and innovative strategies to drive sustainable development and economic growth.
• The IFC - International Finance Corporation plays a pivotal role in bolstering trade and supply chain finance in emerging markets, addressing critical gaps, and promoting inclusive economic growth. Here's an in-depth look at how IFC's initiatives are making a significant impact:
• Ecosystems are defined by their complex interlinked relationships. When climate change threatens one part of the system, the trickledown effects are visible across the board.
• The Reserve Bank of India at 100: preparing for climate change
• One week to go to our Corporate Climate Responsibility Webinar
• Paying the real cost of stopping deforestation
• On Tuesday, July 30, at 9:00 am ET / 3:00 pm CAT, Verra is hosting a webinar for regional stakeholders in Africa to provide an overview of Verra’s Plastic Waste Reduction Program (Plastic Program). Join us to discover how the Plastic Program and Plastic Credits can support regional plastic waste management efforts!
• IFC - International Finance Corporation’s Global Trade Partners Meeting in Barcelona, celebrating the 20th anniversary of IFC’s Global Trade Finance Program.
• The World Bank is exploring interoperability between Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and faster payment systems! This move aims to enhance efficiency and security in transactions, bridging CBDC systems with traditional banking infrastructures. By enabling mixed payments between retail CBDCs and faster payment systems, this initiative could revolutionize how we handle money transfers globally.
• Climate X launches our CSRD whitepaper - A Guide to Physical Risk Requirements!
• UNDP and Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) have launched a new platform for inter-country cooperation and exchange focused on financing tropical forests.
• Approximately 12% of deaths in children under 5 years are attributed to wasting.
• De-Risking the Solar Industry in Europe
• Verra has submitted feedback to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the draft design of a program that would enable America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to participate in the voluntary carbon market by identifying high-integrity protocols (i.e., methodologies) for generating carbon credits
• Power dynamics shape every aspect of our hashtag#FoodSystems — from corporate influence to governance structures.
• Report on Transition Finance by Expert Committee on Climate Finance
• The Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ) has released the new drafts for proposed standards for companies.
• A New Report Published by the European Court of Auditors Titled the EU’s Industrial Policy on Green Hydrogen July 2024
• World Trade Organization Talks on Subsidies that Contribute to Overcapacity and Overfishing: What's on the table?
• Intersection of Blockchain and ReFi for Climate Impact
• World Trade Organization Trade Monitoring Update: Key Takeaways and Implications
• The Pacific island nation of Palau is partnering with Soramitsu Labs to develop a blockchain-based government bond issuance platform.
• Technology: The Key to Unlocking a Sustainable Economic Future
• The Role of Underground Hydrogen Storage in Europe: Main Takeaways and Challenges
• Gold Standard is seeking proposals to support two vital projects aimed at developing and implementing green finance taxonomies in Ecuador and Peru.
• Analyzing the Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) in Macroeconomic Modelling
• The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) released its final guidance on assessing nature-related financial risks for central banks and regulators in early July.
• What do we know about the state of DPI in the world? Preliminary insights from the DPI Map
• Temasek reports drop in portfolio-level carbon emissions
• Last week, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) published two reports on nature-related risks:
• More climate finance is needed to achieve hashtag#Africa's climate goals.
• From Finance to the Real Economy: A Matter of Survival
• inter-agency policy brief on SDG Localization and Subnational Climate Action Synergies that was launched at this years HLPF!
• Digital Economy Report: Why the future of humanity depends on how we manage technology.
• Swift for Corporates: a way to build the global treasury of the future?
• Companies that wait until the late 2030s to purchase carbon credits for neutralization are unlikely to reach net zero by 2040 due to supply constraints in high-quality segments of the voluntary carbon market
• How much of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from the food system?
• Preparing your ERP for Comission's EUDR Information system? The open-ended API testing phase is now underway. Ensure to consult with your IT specialists on the possibilities of API service
• Trade growth varied significantly across sectors, with green energy and AI-related products experiencing stronger increases
• The European Central Bank will set emission reduction targets for its corporate bond portfolios and could rebalance assets away from those that don’t align with its climate targets.
• Join socialprotection.org on July 18 for the hashtag#SPorgWebinar 'Can human-centered design (HCD) improve the nutrition impact of social protection? An exploration of evidence and opportunities'.
• New WBCSD Guide Helps Businesses Navigate Carbon Removal Adoption
• The Climate Of Business #126: The sustainability executive’s guide to effective carbon management
• BP Energy Outlook 2024
• SEK:s ESG Factbook 2023 är nu publicerad
• Emerging Horizons: Youth Insights on Climate Change and Breakthrough Solutions
• Understanding Energy Innovation - Learning from Smart Grid Experiments authored by Heather Lovell draw on new hashtag#empirical findings from a four-year project on the hashtag#socialscience of smart grids, including over fifty research interviews and several focus groups and workshops.
• Transitioning to Green Fuels in Shipping: A Critical Step Forward
• he EC has published a report exploring impacts of climate-related risks on financial stability, challenges to measuring them, and possible policy developments. It does not shy away from acknowledging how steep ESG learning curves can still be for lawmakers, market supervisors and players.
• Germany's Green Hydrogen Import Strategy: Securing Supply, Enabling Transport
• hashtag#ICYMI: OECD - OCDE says that in 2022 developed countries provided and mobilised a total of $115.9 billion in hashtag#climatefinance for developing countries, exceeding the annual USD 100 billion goal for the first time. This achievement occurs two years later than the original 2020 target year, but one year earlier than in projections produced by the OECD prior to COP26. More details:
• Carbon pricing, both external (e.g. regulatory) and internal (e.g. applying a charge to support strategic planning) is a part of the toolkit which support decarbonisation in companies and industrial sectors.
• Banks Still Play a Major Role in Oil and Gas Funding

Events:

• Sept 9-11, 2024: ASCM Connect 2024, Austin, TX
• Sept 16-18: Linux Foundation Open Source Summit Europe, Vienna, Austria. Includes a "SupplyChainSecurityCon" track.
• Sept 29-Oct. 2, 2024: CSCMP’s EDGE Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition, Nashville, TN
• Nov 19-21, 2024: Future of Freight Festival, Chattanooga, TN
• Feb 10-12, 2025: Manifest, Las Vegas, NV