ESG and Of Interest News
The Longevity Dividend
June 3, 2025--Aging populations should be embraced, not feared
The story of demographic doom has become familiar: Declining birth rates will cause populations to shrink, while longer lifespans will increase the costs of pensions and eldercare. Relatively fewer workers will have to pay for it all.
This story is partly true: One in ten people worldwide are now over 65, and that proportion is projected to double over the next 50 years (see Chart 1). Population decline has already begun in places such as Japan and China. Those countries are also experiencing a sharp increase in median age, as is Europe.
But the pessimism around an aging population is too one-sided. In fact, the combination of older people becoming more numerous and more likely to work makes them essential to economic dynamism.
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Source: IMF.org
Sustaining Growth in an Aging World
June 2, 2025--Older populations need not lead to slumping economic growth and mounting fiscal pressures
The demographic dividend that has supported global economic expansion in recent decades will soon make way for a demographic drag. In advanced economies the share of working-age people is shrinking already.
The largest emerging market economies will reach this demographic turning point within the decade, while the most populous low-income countries will get there by 2070. What do falling fertility and rising longevity mean for the world economy?
Our recent study with coauthors from the IMF's Research Department weighs the economic headwinds from older populations against the tailwinds from healthy aging. We show that improved labor market outcomes for people aged 50 and older, thanks to better health, could contribute about 0.4 percentage point annually to global GDP growth in 2025-50.
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Source: IMF.org
Green Technologies: Decarbonizing Development in East Asia and Pacific
June 2, 2025--East Asia is helping the rest of the world decarbonize and encouraging the domestic adoption of renewable energy. But there is an imbalance: Even as the region's innovation and investment improve global access to green technologies, the region's own emissions continue to grow, because of the reluctance to penalize carbon-intensive practices.
The region has helped advance green tech development and diffusion
Countries in the region, notably China, are contributing significantly to the development and global diffusion of green technologies.
The division of labor and high levels of competition across countries in the region-such as Viet Nam in solar panels and Thailand in vehicle components-have led to significant reductions in costs.
China and other EAP countries hold a large share of downstream segments of clean energy supply chains. As a global manufacturing hub, the region is uniquely positioned to harness the green transition to boost its own economic growth.
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Source: worldbank.org
IEA- Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025
June 1, 2025--Executive summary
Demand for key energy minerals continued to grow strongly in 2024. Lithium demand rose by nearly 30%, significantly exceeding the 10% annual growth rate seen in the 2010s. Demand for nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earths increased by 6-8% in 2024.
This growth was largely driven by energy applications such as electric vehicles, battery storage, renewables and grid networks. In the case of copper, the rapid expansion of grid investments in China has been the single largest contributor to demand growth over the past two years. For battery metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite, the energy sector accounted for 85% of total demand growth over the same period.
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Source: IEA (International Energy Agency)
A Critical Look at Dollar Dominance
May 23, 2025--The dollar remains central to the global economy despite the search for alternatives.
How has the US dollar dominated the global financial system for so long? Harvard economics professor Kenneth Rogoff seeks to answer this question in Our Dollar, Your Problem. As the world comes to terms with the dollar’s weaponization in geopolitical rivalries and recent flight from US financial assets, the book couldn't be timelier.
Rogoff compares the dollar's post-World War II performance with other major currencies. While the Soviet ruble was never a serious competitor to the dollar, the Japanese yen at one point was. However, the yen’s sharp appreciation after the 1985 Plaza Accord fueled a bubble in Japan's stocks and real estate. By the time Japan had recovered from the bursting of the bubble, the US and its dollar had forged ahead.
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Source: IMF.org
Economics and Nature's Laws
May 23, 2025--A provocative new book proposes a radically different approach to economic theory
Among ongoing efforts to rethink the basic tenets of mainstream economics is a provocative new book by James Galbraith and Jing Chen. The authors sweep aside the intellectual structure of mainstream theory-which rests on concepts like the marginal utility theory of value, market equilibrium, and a steady state for the economy-and propose a radically different approach: "entropy economics."
The book is part of an emerging biophysical view of the world, grounded in the laws of nature, which sees economic activities as resembling biological and mechanical activities. For example, economies are prone to become unstable as they expand and become more complex, and they need regulation to exist and survive.
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Source: IMF.org
AI Needs More Abundant Power Supplies to Keep Driving Economic Growth
May 13, 2025--The power-hungry technology requires policies to help expand electricity supplies, incentivize alternative sources, and help contain price surges
Artificial intelligence is an emerging source of productivity and economic growth that's also reshaping employment and investment.
AI has the potential to raise the average pace of annual global economic growth according to scenarios in our recent analysis, included in the IMF's April 2025 World Economic Outlook.
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Source: IMF.org
Africa Poised to Become a Global Leader in Carbon Markets, Says New Report
May 7, 2025--A new report, the 2025 Africa Carbon Market Outlook (ACMO 25) says Africa is poised to become a global leader in carbon markets.
The report, set for online launch on Wednesday, 14th May at 10am GMT, says Africa's carbon markets, both for voluntary and compliance carbon credits, are expected to see rapid expansion in 2025 and succeeding years, underpinned by the continent's extensive natural resources and ecosystem.
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Source: Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.
Charted: Countries Accumulating the Most AI Patents
April 22, 2025-Key Takeaways
According to the 2025 AI Index Report. China has accumulated 70% of global AI patents
Evidence suggests that the majority of China's AI patents are only applied for and protected within China
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to reshape industries globally. but which nations are leading its innovation?
One way to measure leadership is through patent filings. which legally protect novel ideas or inventions. In the case of AI. securing a patent typically involves demonstrating unique methodologies. machine learning algorithms. or applications capable of significantly advancing existing technologies.
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Source: visualcapitalist.com
State of the Global Climate 2024
April 15, 2025-Key messages
Key climate change indicators again reach record levels
Long-term warming (averaged over decades) remains below 1.5℃
Sea-level rise and ocean warming irreversible for hundreds of years
Record greenhouse gas concentrations combined with El Niño and other factors to drive 2024 record heat
Early warnings and climate services are vital to protect communities and economies
The clear signs of human-induced climate change reached new heights in 2024, which was likely the first calendar year to be more than 1.5℃ above the pre-industrial era, with a global mean near-surface temperature of 1.55 ± 0.13 °C above the 1850-1900 average.
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view the World Meteorological Organization State of the Global Climate 2024 report
Source: World Meteorological Organization
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