The current humanitarian system is failing. This system excludes, overlooks, and underfunds those on the frontlines — local feminist and Women’s Rights Organizations. It’s time to shift power and invest in a feminist humanitarian system.

The 2025 Anne Klein Women’s Award goes to the Belarusian feminists and women’s rights activists Darya Afanasieva, Irina Alkhovka and Julia Mickiewicz. 

COP29 was expected to deliver a global goal for climate finance that meets the challenges of the future. It failed to do so. Instead, it launched international carbon markets that create new loopholes for fossil fuel emitters.

Funding climate protection through carbon certificates for soil may seem beneficial at first. However, a greater focus on soil health and supporting farmers in adopting sustainable practices would be far more effective in practice.

When the Loss and Damage Fund was created last year, it was hailed as a triumph for climate justice. But it might turn out to be just the opposite, as it not only fails to deliver the support developing countries need to cope with loss and damage, but also provides an excuse not to include such support in new climate-finance goals.

Geogenic hydrogen—often called "white" or "natural" hydrogen—is gaining attention in recent reports as an alternative energy source in the transition away from fossil fuels. Formed deep within the Earth by geological processes, it promises to be a cheaper and less energy-intensive alternative to "green" hydrogen, which is produced from renewable electricity. However, this untapped resource comes with a large to-do list of research, policy development, social and environmental safeguards.

Halida Uzunović, a Bosnian war survivor, talks about her experiences during the Bosnian war, especially the harrowing events in Foča that became a byword for brutal ethnic cleansing. The former head of the Foča War Victims Association also reflects on her commitment to breaking the silence about these atrocities and to advocating for truth and justice for the survivors and victims, despite their ongoing social stigmatisation and the denial by some political actors that war crimes occurred.

Nuclear weapons and the development of other means of destroying people are a matter of justice and human security. They reflect the priorities of governments and powerful institutions that control decisions on spending.

For the Azerbaijani regime, hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku represents a chance to obscure its poor climate record and relentless attacks on civil society.

The sixteenth UN Biodiversity Conference (COP16) in Cali, Colombia, faced significant challenges and ran overtime due to disagreements between developing and developed countries. A resumed meeting will be required to address these unfinished issues.