Author: Favour Eteile

The European Investment Bank (EIB) plans to invest at least €30 billion by the end of 2030 in order to support Climate adaptation projects. For this proposed investment, the bank plans to spend twice as much money on helping people prepare for the effects of climate change as it had planned to spend over a previous five-year period, according to its official announcement on the climate adaptation plan. The funding is expected to support projects that help communities prepare for risks such as flooding, droughts and wildfires. It will also support better water management, coastal protection, climate-resilient farming, stronger energy…

The European Commission is reviewing how tax rules can help businesses reduce waste and protect the environment. On 10 September 2026, it launched a public consultation on Value Added Tax (VAT) as part of preparations for the upcoming Circular Economy Act. While VAT is a tax added to many goods and services, the circular economy focuses on keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible through reuse, repair and recycling rather than throwing them away. To explore how VAT rules can better support this approach, the European Commission’s consultation focuses on three areas: the sale of second-hand…

Imagine a hospital knowing that its roof is leaking, having a written plan to fix it, and even knowing exactly what materials and workers are needed, but never working out how much the repairs will cost or where the money will come from. That is, in simple terms, part of the problem facing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) efforts across Asia and the Pacific. AMR happens when germs such as bacteria stop responding to medicines that previously killed them or stopped their growth. It can make ordinary infections much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat. A new analysis highlighted by the World…

Packaging is designed to protect what we buy. But, guess what is often left unprotected after it has served its purpose and is disposed of? The environment. Plastic packaging eventually becomes waste, and packaging accounts for about 40% of global plastic waste. According to the OECD, only 9% of plastic waste was ultimately recycled in 2019, after accounting for losses and residues. Almost half went to sanitary landfills, while another 22% was mismanaged, including waste that was burned in the open, dumped in uncontrolled sites or leaked into the environment. So while a package may be technically recyclable, that does…

A potentially world-changing idea sprang from an excursion boat that got stuck for five hours on Lake Naivasha. From a frustrating encounter with water hyacinth, Joseph Nguthiru, then an engineering student at Egerton University on a class trip, saw an opportunity. He immediately jumped on it and started a project that involved finding a way to use this invasive plant, which chokes oxygen from lakes, affects aquatic life, disrupts navigation, and impacts the livelihoods of fishing communities, to make something useful while still protecting the environment. Instead of simply seeing the weed as just a problem to be removed, Nguthiru…

Many are dissatisfied with their lives, where they come from, and where they currently are. And the one thing that pokes at them is that they find their situation “not enough”: the satisfaction, not enough; the connections, not enough; the net worth, not enough; and maybe that job or business, not enough. But today, I was thinking about the body and how it functions, so intricately connected, with one organ wired to be dependent on the next. And I related it to how the system of success in the world works. For example, if the excellent nine-to-fiver doesn’t show up…

Exceptional leaders have an internal belief that reinforces their confidence in their own ability to accomplish what they set out to do. To others, it looks like audacity. But for them, it’s a voice in their heads that keeps saying: Maybe I can do this. Maybe if I change strategies, push harder, what will stop this from happening, and how can I go around it? They build patterns of positive maybes and what-ifs in their minds, paving a thought process their minds are bound to follow. They are as unsure as anyone gets, but they question every doubt and every…

We often talk about leadership in terms of vision, strategy and results, but today, we’ll talk about what it costs the person carrying it. The cost that no one takes attendance for. It doesn’t happen in a boardroom or a public handshake. It happens at 11 p.m., when the laptop is still open and the house has gone quiet without you in it. It happens in the missed recital or the birthday dinner cut short by a call that “couldn’t wait.” Leaders give in ways that never make it into their bios. This is the offering no one applauds. There’s…

Vincent van Gogh lived what many would consider an ordinary life and died young, never knowing that the world would one day recognise the extraordinary value of what he had created. He spent much of his life struggling, but through it all, he found expression and never stopped creating. His paintings were his escape, his expression, and his proof that what he carried within him was worth something, even when no one else saw that worth. He never stopped believing in his work, which is perhaps why he refused to change his style to fit the market, even when doing…

Money and relationships satisfy two of our deepest human needs: security and belonging. And while the relationship between the two is complicated, it is no surprise that the way we pursue one often shapes the way we pursue the other. When wealth is available to us, it can become easy to surround ourselves with the appearance of genuine connection. And when that option exists, the temptation to choose it over the work of building meaningful relationships is difficult to resist. The appeal of this shortcut isn’t simply that it’s easier. It’s that it can imitate some of the rewards of…