Confronting the ecological and social emergency
The facts are indisputable. Our ecological and social systems are in deep, unprecedented crisis.
Climate disasters causing death, disease, displacement and widespread economic damage are occurring at an estimated rate of one a week.
In the world’s towns and cities, these climatic shocks combine with rapid growth to deepen risks to citizens, hitting the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest. Unsustainable production and consumption patterns are speeding mass extinction, wildlife population decline and the collapse of vital ecosystems with grave impacts for our societies, our economies and our food systems. Vast inequality, driven by growing levels of elite wealth, undermines the global solidarity needed to create a future where both people and nature can survive and thrive.
Last year we launched our strategy identifying where we can make the biggest difference in addressing five of the world’s most pressing challenges. The stories in this annual review show how we are delivering our ambition.
Read our 2019-24 strategy: Make Change Happen
A full PDF version of our 2019 annual review is available.
Download the report
The climate crisis
More than two thirds of people killed in climate-related disasters over the past 50 years were living in the world's poorest nations. Less than 10% from international climate funds is intended to reach the local level – where communities are feeling the worst effects.
Increasing urban risk
By 2025, 100 African cities will have more than one million inhabitants. Major shortfalls in infrastructure spending leave cities at risk: around two thirds of urban infrastructure investments needed by 2050 have not been made.
Unsustainable markets
80% of non-agricultural jobs in developing countries and up to 90% of all employment in West Africa are in the informal sector. Informal jobs are particularly important for women’s livelihoods.
An assault on the natural world
More than a quarter of the world’s people rely on forest resources, and some three billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. The people who directly depend most on the natural world for their livelihoods tend to be among the poorer and more vulnerable.
Increasing inequality
After decades of decline, the number of people suffering from hunger and undernourishment rose by 40 million over two years, driven by sharp increases in hunger levels in sub-Saharan Africa.
The climate crisis
Global climate action remains wholly inadequate to meet the scale of the challenge. We responded by collaborating with progressive voices to drive rapid change, and we trained women climate negotiators from developing countries to reflect national ambition at the highest levels. With climate finance still failing to reach those experiencing the harshest realities of the climate crisis, we advanced our ‘money where it matters’ work – providing a model for shifting funds to community level.