World Bank Group: Development Finance Frontline – Strategic Investment Funds

This is the first of a series of occasional interviews with senior strategic investment fund (SIF) professionals. Tasked with attracting private investors to priority economic sectors and projects, SIFs combine developmental aims with commercial financial return objectives.  “The only way

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UNCTAD: A Policy Compact to Get Investment Flowing Again

James Zhan suggests world leaders make a joint effort to formulate effective investment policies to help build investment firepower to face 21st Century development challenges. Forecasts of deeper global economic gloom are tumbling one over the other. The global economy

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UK Independence Day

Great Britain has declared its independence. By a margin of 52 against 48, voters delivered a stunning blow to the establishment and instructed their government to take the country out of the European Union. The world, as it had been

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European Investment Bank: Investment Plan for Europe

Investment Plan for Europe – Paradigm Shift in the Use of Public Resources The Marshall Plan did much to inject life into the post-war recovery of Europe. Initially comprising $13 billion, mostly in direct aid, the plan constituted a substantial

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Evan Harvey, Nasdaq: Where the Market Stands

The stock exchange industry has been increasingly active in advocating for smart and strategic disclosure of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) performance data. Investors use these non-financial metrics to evaluate the health, resilience, and sustainability of public companies. And

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Hermès: Corporate Savoir Vivre

Horse & Hound magazine recently rated the Hermès Cavale among its top ten saddles in the world – and at almost £5,000 – if you’re looking for sturdy luxury, you would expect to pay nothing less. This particular saddle, hand-crafted

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Otaviano Canuto, IMF: What Happened to World Trade?

World trade suffered another disappointing year in 2015, experiencing a contraction in merchandise trade volumes during the first half and only a low recovery during the second half (Figure 1). While last year’s trade performance can be associated to the

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Ann Low, US Department of State: Good Corporate Governance is Good Business

OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. Over the past decade, cross-border trade and investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) has surged. According to the OECD, whereas in 2005, there were only three SOEs in the Fortune Global 50 list

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Energy for the Masses: Raiders of the Lost Promise – The Holy Grail of Nuclear Fusion

All You Ever Wanted to Know about Stellarators and Tokamaks The vast amounts of energy released by splitting the atom has enabled scientists to produce both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, demonstrating that mankind’s amazing technical and creative ingenuity is

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Science-Based Emissions Targets: A New Foundation for Corporate Climate Action

Corporate emissions-reduction targets have become commonplace. In 2014, 80% of companies that reported their emissions to CDP, an international NGO that holds the largest collection of corporate emissions data, also reported targets for cutting their emissions. These targets vary significantly

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