It has been eleven years since the uprising against the president of Syria turned into a full-scale civil war. The war in Syria has led to millions of people experiencing food security, poverty, and terrorism, and being internally displaced within the country’s borders and externally into other parts of the Middle East and Europe. On June 30, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published the 2021 Annual Report for the Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF) mentioning five major issues in Syria in 2021, including food security and malnutrition crisis, water crisis, disease outbreak, protection crisis, and internal displacement. Meanwhile, According to the estimation of the United Nations, the cost of reconstruction would be $250 billion, which is about four times Syria’s pre-war GDP and forty-seven times Syria’s 2022 estimated budget ($5.3 billion). How to rebuild Syria? Who will help rebuild Syria? Obstacles to humanitarian aid and reconstruction may indicate that it will take more than a decade to rebuild Syria.

Colombia has elected Gustavo Petro as president, making him the South American country’s first leftist head of state. Petro beat Rodolfo Hernández, a business mogul and former mayor of the city of Bucaramanga, with 50.47% of the vote in a runoff election on June 19th and will take office in a context of deepening discontent over inequality and rising costs of living. Hernández had 47.27% of the valid votes, highlighting the current scenario of polarization. Petro’s election marks a unique shift for Colombia, a country that has never before had a Leftist president, and follows similar victories for the Left in Peru, Chile and Honduras. (…)

Petro’s victory might represent an important step towards the improvement and enforcement of environmental regulation. Deforestation and clean energy were important topics in his campaign, different to what is seen in other neighboring countries, like Brazil.

It is no secret that climate change and extreme weather threaten human health and safety in Latin America. Because climate change is not just a problem for Latin America but the entire world, there have always been climate negotiations between post-industrial countries in the Global North and developing countries in the Global South. So, who's at fault that Latin American countries continually fall short of their climate promises? To answer this question, we must examine how climate negotiations are shaped.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) faces a unique Energy/Climate Change predicament. Even though KSA is vulnerable to climate change, it is the world's largest producer and exporter of Oil and one of the top 10 CO2 emitters global producers. In recent years, KSA announced its "Green Initiative" action plan to fight against climate change. What are the challenges and opportunities facing Saudi’s Green Initiative?

Europe’s phase-out of Russian energy pushes the EU to look for solutions to the energy crisis. The African continent, a resource giant, might have an opportunity to develop their energy (export) markets while also investing in renewable energy production. A balanced approach is critical.

Ending deforestation - mainly in the Amazon rainforest - was considered one of COP26’s first major deals and was endorsed by more than 100 world leaders. Biden and Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro also agreed during the Summit of Americas to join efforts to combat deforestation. However, this issue still seems far from a resolution.

At TBG Purpose, we curate the latest and most interesting articles on Climate Change, Climate Action and Sustainability. Click for more, bookmark and visit often.

Click here to access our new “Sustainability Matters” series which will feature some of the most important statistics and inspiring facts.

A global food/hunger crisis is just one of the many pitfalls of the war in Ukraine. The country, long known as Europe’s Bread Basket, is now dealing with massive hunger crisis and a destabilized agriculture sector that could lead to a global food crisis. Ukraine and Russia account for a quarter of global grains trade and the war will severely impact production and trade. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that food prices could surge by as much as 20 percent, a significant spike that could exacerbate global food insecurity. Nearly 283 million people in 81 countries currently face acute food insecurity or are at high risk, according to the World Food Program, with 45 million on the brink of famine.”

The Bassiouni Group (TBG Purpose) and CSR-Accreditation (CSR-A) are pleased to announce the establishment of a strategic partnership to provide a suite of complementary CSR consulting and accreditation solutions to small-to-medium businesses (SMBs), large corporations & institutions in the North America market and Transatlantic region.

With the Superbowl coming up on Sunday, Feb 13th, we asked the question: How sustainable/green is the Rams’ SoFi Stadium? Click here for a full assessment. “Sports stadiums/arenas are some of the largest consumers of energy, water and materials. As such, they represent one of the most exciting venues for Sustainability/ Climate Action as teams can really innovate on all fronts (energy usage, water usage, waste management, recycling, materials management, carbon impact/decarbonization, responsible sourcing, transportation etc) in order to reap environmental as well as financial benefits. There are great examples all over from…

This Black History Month, The Bassiouni Group is celebrating the many Black inventors who created many of the products we now take for granted such as traffic lights, refrigerated trucks, the carbon-filament light bulb, central heating, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), automatic elevator doors, caller ID/call waiting, home security systems, the blood bank, protective mailbox, lawnmower, peanut butter and many more. Click here for the list of more than 120 inventions.