Tala Oury Sow has to wash her kitchen utensils and clothes in brown, murky water in the village of Koussadji in Guinea’s western Kindia region.

“Do you think we can cook and wash with this? We have no other choice,” the 28-year-old farmer said, gesturing to the water she collected from a nearby river, 500 metres (550 yards) from her home in the Télimélé prefecture of the West African nation.

Mexico is attracting ever more sprawling data centres but a shortage of renewable energy means Big Tech is pumping oil, firing up gas generators and using diesel to fuel the global boom in artificial intelligence (AI).

The shortfall in green power – despite pledges by industry and government to grow capacity – has overloaded the country’s existing power infrastructure and exacerbated local pollution.

Ten years ago, the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement focused on cutting planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions, known as ‘mitigation’ measures. This was the top priority in the Global North, spelled out in Article 2 of the agreement.

Yet the priority for many in the Global South – dealing with extreme heat and intense flooding, or ‘adaptation’ measures – lives further down in Article 7. And measured in terms of political energy, scientific ambition and financing, the distance between the two Articles is enormous.

Clothes destined for Europe could soon require digital passports to prove their green credentials, opening a new era of transparency for the world’s $1.7-trillion fashion industry.

Consumers will be able to scan QR codes or electronic tags to see the garments’ digital product passports (DPPs) and check if a fashion brand’s green claims are true.

The world’s reliance on burning planet-heating fossil fuels for energy showed few signs of relenting in 2025, but neither has the acceleration of renewable energy.

Despite countries agreeing to transition away from fossil fuels two years ago, the use of coal, oil and gas has remained stubbornly high – driving record carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Global Carbon Project compiled by scientists.

The demise of the coal industry left the U.S. Appalachian region in tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water and countless miles of abandoned underground mines.

Now entrepreneurs are eyeing the rural region with ambitious visions to rebuild its economy by converting old mines into solar power systems and data centres that could help fuel the increasing power demands of the artificial intelligence boom.

As the world accelerates efforts to decarbonise, a crisis continues to unfold: the rising toll of climate shocks on people least equipped to bear them. When Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica as a Category 5 storm, it produced extensive damage and highlighted the exposure of vulnerable communities to climate risk.

Early estimates suggest tens of billions of dollars in economic losses, yet insurance penetration – a tool that could help remedy these losses – remains very low with less than 5% of properties estimated to have meaningful cover.

Working in the renewable energy sector today, you are more likely to spend time typing than with turbines.

One WindEurope member, preparing its planning application for the North Irish Sea Array Offshore Wind Farm, had to rent a delivery van just to submit the paperwork – 13 printed copies, each 13,000 pages thick.

In a dim room off a crowded alley in northeast Delhi, Shahjahan sits on the floor peeling wires with a knife. Her two children sort copper beside her, taking care to avoid tripping on scrap when they move across the room.

She earns a few hundred rupees, or about $2, a day by breaking down discarded electronics brought in by small scrap dealers.

There may be opportunity in crisis. While the upended global development system – curtailed foreign aid, diminished multilateral assistance – has exacerbated already severe financing gaps for emerging markets’ climate, economic and inclusion goals, a new paradigm of local leadership is gaining momentum.

This is the moment for investors, philanthropies and other private-sector actors to lend their support.