Global poverty is on the rise. With the toxic mixture of the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the ensuing economic instability, and the mushrooming cost of living crises, for people and communities around the world it is difficult to imagine how life could be any harder or how it could improve. The World Bank estimates that in 2020 the number of people living in extreme poverty rose by 70 million to more than 700 million. The bumpy road to post-pandemic recovery has brought little improvement as the present overall number is only expected to have dropped to around 685 million people. If this global turbulence were to continue then we can expect to still see 574 million people living in extreme poverty i.e. living on less than $2.15 a day, in 2030 (The World Bank, 2022)…

2022 was a busy year for the climate movement with peaks and troughs throughout. We saw economic volatility and war in Europe change our reliance on fossil fuels. We saw successful and unsuccessful summits, talks and conferences, bringing us 'loss and damage finance', fossil fuel lobbyists and commitments to protect biodiversity. We saw seriously questionable behaviour by governments and big business as greenwashing spreads and green commitments fall by the wayside. Importantly, we also experienced moments of sheer joy through positive developments in areas ranging from technology to rewilding, to seeing a gradual shift in public awareness of the climate crisis. As the festive season drew to a close and we stepped into a new year once again full of hope for what could be achieved it is important that we take a moment to look back and remind ourselves of those moments which have shaped sustainable finance moving into 2023.