Insights

The Middle East conflict poses significant risks to Asia and the Pacific economies through disrupted energy supplies, higher fuel prices, and strained shipping routes, especially via the Strait of Hormuz, a critical channel for about 20% of global oil and gas trade. Major Asian economies like China, India, Japan, and South Korea, heavily reliant on imported energy, face increased costs and inflation pressures. Smaller, energy-import-dependent countries are particularly vulnerable to economic instability. The conflict also tightens financial conditions due to strengthened US dollar and investor risk aversion. Policymakers should focus on stabilizing measures and targeted support for vulnerable groups rather than market interventions or price controls, while managing inflation and exchange rate volatility cautiously to avoid harming growth.
Pakistan | Financial services
How Will the Conflict in the Middle East Affect Economies in Asia and the Pacific?
Climate change is driving up the costs of maintaining ski resorts, particularly through expensive artificial snowmaking needed as natural snow declines. This has led to rising prices for visitors, making skiing increasingly a sport for the affluent. Higher-altitude resorts with resources to adapt will survive and attract wealthy tourists, while smaller, lower-altitude resorts—often serving local communities—face closures and shortened seasons. This shift exacerbates inequality in mountain regions, where skiing once was a mainstream, inclusive activity. To build resilience, lower-altitude areas must diversify their economies and prioritize local communities over tourism volume.
Antarctica
Climate change may not end skiing. But it will make it more exclusive
AI technologies exhibit significant gender bias, reflecting and reinforcing societal sexism. Voice assistants like Siri and Alexa are predominantly female-voiced and programmed to be submissive, perpetuating stereotypes of women as helpful and non-confrontational. Speech recognition systems perform less accurately for women due to biases in data and design, with higher-pitched female voices less well recognized. Historical and cultural preferences favor male voices for authority, while female voices are associated with caregiving roles. AI trained on biased datasets inherits these prejudices, resulting in discriminatory outcomes, such as CV-screening tools downgrading female candidates. These gender biases in AI not only mirror existing inequalities but also contribute to normalizing and spreading sexist attitudes in society.
AIs are designed and trained – by men – to be sexist towards women
The digital landscape mirrors the historical English enclosure movement, where common resources were privatized by landowners without community consent, shifting control without responsibility. Similarly, big tech firms now dominate digital infrastructure, controlling AI technologies like xAI’s Grok, which controversially allowed generation of sexualized images despite policies against it. Platforms have moved away from negotiated content governance toward user self-moderation, shirking accountability while retaining power. This lack of shared governance and responsibility parallels how enclosure freed landlords from duties to commoners. Addressing this requires frameworks to regulate big tech’s control over digital spaces and protect user rights effectively.
We are in a digital version of the enclosures – like the landowners, big tech has power without responsibility
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE—have long enjoyed economic stability and growth, praised for diversifying beyond oil and embracing digital futures. However, recent Middle East conflicts have exposed vulnerabilities, with attacks on US bases, oil infrastructure, and critical facilities causing sharp global market declines and soaring energy prices. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatens oil exports and food imports, essential to the region. This unrest damages the GCC's reputation as a safe investment and tourism hub, potentially reducing foreign investment and prompting population flight, undermining its previously stable economic and geopolitical position.
Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yemen
The Middle East conflict has swiftly exposed economic vulnerability in the region
AI is driving genuine productivity gains in knowledge-based and service jobs, with studies showing significant improvements in task completion speed and quality, particularly among less experienced workers. Adoption is rapid but uneven, concentrated in sectors like information over hospitality. Contrary to fears, widespread job losses and pay cuts have not yet materialized in developed economies, as many roles still require human judgment and tacit knowledge. However, AI tends to benefit incumbent workers more, while entry-level roles are shrinking, potentially exacerbating labor market inequality without deliberate policy intervention. The full AI-driven workplace revolution is still in early stages.
Education
AI and work: an expert assesses how far this revolution still has to run
Health outcomes are deeply influenced by social and environmental factors, which are increasingly worsened by climate change, particularly for impoverished communities that contribute least to global emissions. Integrating health and climate action can produce mutual benefits in four key areas: transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy reduces pollution-related deaths and urban health risks; stewarding nature mitigates heat effects, flooding, and improves mental health; transforming food systems ensures nutritious diets while reducing disease rates; and building resilient infrastructure secures water access, sanitation, and climate-adapted health and education facilities. Aligning these efforts through national climate plans (NDCs) can enhance coordination, accountability, and public support by linking climate initiatives directly to health improvements.
Bangladesh, Nigeria | Financial services, Health
Four ways to tackle health and climate together – and lift millions of people out of poverty
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine revived the EU’s enlargement policy, yet the process suffers from a deep credibility deficit causing mutual frustration between the EU and candidate countries. Enlargement is seen as essential but ineffective, with long delays, shifting criteria, and strategic ambiguity undermining its credibility. While the war accelerated candidate status for Ukraine, Moldova, and Western Balkan countries, institutional hurdles and inconsistent enforcement of conditionality weaken EU leverage and reform incentives. The resulting trust deficit risks democratic backsliding and external influence. Addressing this requires strategic clarity and reform rather than partial adjustments, as phased accession is viewed as a temporary step, not a solution.
Ukraine
The EU must solve the credibility deficit in its enlargement policy
Women and LGBTIQ+ veterans in Ukraine face additional gender-related barriers during reintegration into civilian life, which are often overlooked by state systems. This exclusion hampers inclusive policy development and the effectiveness of support programs, threatening social cohesion and sustainable peace. Research from five pilot regions highlights progress in veteran-led community initiatives but notes challenges like excessive bureaucracy, unclear institutional roles, and persistent gender stereotypes that marginalize these groups. The study emphasizes the need for thorough gender analysis in veteran services to ensure equal access, reduce stigma, and promote a just society.
Building diverse and inclusive reintegration policies and practices for veterans in Ukraine
Transport corridors in India have evolved into integrated economic and industrial corridors combining infrastructure, policy reform, and private sector development, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) through the Industrial Corridor Development Program (ICDP). The program addresses manufacturing stagnation by developing industrial nodes, improving urban-industry linkages, and enhancing competitiveness. Challenges include coordination gaps, logistics constraints, low female participation, and informal sector predominance. Solutions involve institutional strengthening, digitized single-window clearances, multimodal logistics via the PM Gati Shakti platform, and inclusion of gender and environmental sustainability measures. Outcomes show improved government and private sector engagement, operational industrial nodes, and increased manufacturing export activity, laying a foundation for further industrial growth.
Barbados, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, China, Tanzania, Thailand, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Advancing Corridor-Based Industrial Development in India
Plaid Cymru proposes requiring renewable energy projects over 10MW in Wales to offer 15%-25% ownership stakes or benefits to local communities, aiming to keep profits local and ensure a just green transition. Similar schemes elsewhere, like Denmark and Nepal, show that community shareholding can shift local opposition to negotiation and greater accountability, although they rarely grant full control. Nepal's hydropower projects, offering 8%-10% local shares, raised significant funds and changed community engagement, but highlighted challenges like financial risk for vulnerable households and delayed dividends. Wales, with established community energy groups and ethical investment platforms, is well-positioned to implement meaningful community ownership to address fairness concerns in renewables development.
Plaid Cymru plans to share wind farm profits with local people – here’s how that idea has been tried elsewhere
Iran's media landscape is deeply divided between state-affiliated outlets supporting the ruling clerical establishment and reformist publications offering more critical perspectives. During protests and conflict, such as recent strikes and crackdowns, the government imposes severe restrictions including internet shutdowns and targeting reformist journalists, limiting independent reporting. International media face challenges due to limited access and risks to correspondents, relying on regional bureaus and diaspora Persian-language outlets like BBC Persian and Iran International. These diaspora outlets provide key firsthand information and opposition viewpoints rarely seen in Iran's domestic media, contributing crucial insights amid restricted and polarized media environments.
Iran’s divided media landscape makes getting information during wartime even harder
Local climate action is critical to addressing global warming effectively and equitably, requiring alignment with community needs. Key strategies to strengthen and scale local initiatives include community-centered co-creation, predictable and flexible funding, active private-sector engagement with aligned incentives, multilevel coordination with data sharing for accountability, and just international partnerships that prioritize fairness and green development opportunities. Enhanced coordination among donors, policymakers, businesses, and research networks is essential to amplify impact and sustain impactful climate solutions.
Latin America | Health
Mobilising and Scaling Local Climate Action
France’s nuclear deterrence is strictly national, designed to protect its vital interests and maintain full decision-making sovereignty over the use of nuclear weapons. While France contributes to NATO’s collective security, its nuclear force is independent and not committed to alliance decisions. Proposals to extend France’s nuclear umbrella to Europe risk diluting this sovereignty and the credibility of deterrence, as “nuclear sharing” would broaden the scope of French capabilities to other countries without devolving decision authority. Unlike the U.S. nuclear sharing within NATO, France retains exclusive control, and any Europeanization of its nuclear force raises complex strategic and political challenges.
Are You MAD [Mutually Assured Destruction]? - Nuclear Sharing: Stakes and Limits for France
Artificial intelligence can significantly advance European federalism by overcoming barriers like diverse legal systems, languages, and regulations. AI enables regulatory harmonization, evidence-based subsidiarity, streamlined cross-border administration, and optimized fiscal federalism. It also enhances democratic legitimacy through real-time multilingual communication, improved transparency, scalable citizen participation, and multilingual fact-checking. Strategically, AI necessitates federal-scale investment and coordination for Europe to remain globally competitive and autonomous, addressing challenges from crises to technological dependence. Ultimately, AI can create a virtuous cycle, driving deeper integration and technological sovereignty in a truly federal Europe.
Education
Could artificial intelligence advance European federalism?
Financial regulators in Malaysia are urged to implement stronger, binding rules for banks and investors to address deforestation risks, as current frameworks lack full alignment with the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Most regulatory policies offer only voluntary or partial references to biodiversity targets, limiting their effectiveness. Malaysian banks hold significant investments in forest-risk sectors like palm oil and logging, influencing deforestation through financing decisions. The report from Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Forests & Finance Coalition calls for mandatory rules with clear timelines, enforcement, and enhanced transparency to protect forests, Indigenous rights, and mitigate climate change impacts.
Brunei Darussalam | Financial services
Malaysia urged to tighten financial rules to protect forests, communities
China’s new five-year plan targets a 17% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030, relying heavily on renewable energy expansion to curb coal use and greenhouse gas emissions. Although this falls short of the Paris Agreement goal of a 65% cut since 2005, China aims to replace 30 million metric tonnes of coal annually with renewables over five years. Currently the largest renewable energy market, China leads global wind and solar capacity growth, with over 1.8 TW of combined renewable power expected by 2025. The plan focuses on controlling carbon intensity through emissions caps on industries and projects, aiming for a 3.8% reduction in 2026, as China strives to peak emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
China sets 17 per cent carbon intensity cut in new five-year climate plan
Unemployment and precarious jobs carry significant psychological and social costs beyond financial loss. Employment fulfills crucial mental needs like autonomy and social connection; losing work can cause stigma, diminished self-worth, and long-term emotional scarring. High local unemployment eases stigma, reducing distress among the jobless. Economic changes, including globalization and AI, have led to more insecure work and uneven job losses, fostering political discontent and support for populism. Addressing unemployment is therefore vital not just for economic growth but for social cohesion, democratic stability, and maintaining human wellbeing amid evolving labor market realities.
Latin America | Financial services, Education
Why unemployment – and bad jobs – carry hidden social and political costs
India's multi-alignment strategy faces challenges as US-India relations strain due to punitive tariffs linked to India's Russian oil imports, though recent negotiations have reduced tariffs to 10%. India's foreign policy is further constrained by US reassessment of Pakistan and the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which affects India's energy security reliant on the Hormuz Strait. Despite India's tilt towards the US, Washington maintains close ties with Pakistan, recognizing its strategic importance in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Pakistan has strengthened partnerships, including with Saudi Arabia, enhancing its regional influence amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.
India, Pakistan
India’s Multi-Alignment and Pakistan’s Foreign Policy Breakthroughs
This research chronicles Russian and Western nuclear signaling from February 2022 to November 2025 during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It systematically examines politically significant nuclear-related statements and actions from Russia, the United States, and NATO allies, focusing on how nuclear rhetoric influenced escalation dynamics. The study aims to interpret nuclear interactions and the reciprocal responses between Russia and the West, providing a detailed timeline of nuclear rhetoric and escalation management. Led by Dr. Liviu Horovitz and Dr. Michal Smetana, the project contributes to understanding deterrence strategies amid the conflict.
Russia’s Nuclear Signaling in the War Against Ukraine: A Chronology of the Biden Era

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