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The great environmental benefit of electric vehicles, no matter where they are produced or driven, is that they generate zero tailpipe emissions. That’s a huge plus, given that transportation accounts for 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and about 8 percent in China. But the environmental news isn’t all good.

Medical staff and nurses gather during a protest at La Paz hospital in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 5, 2020 (AP photo by Manu Fernandez).

The coronavirus pandemic has upended life as we know it with its devastating effects on health and domestic economies, but also multilateral trade, cooperation and aid. Among the victims of COVID-19 might be the multilateral system that has helped to ensure peace and coordinate global responses to challenges that cut across borders.

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This week, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, into law. The act, which aims to transition the U.S. power sector to using 100 percent renewables by 2035, represents the biggest commitment to climate policy in U.S. history. But the IRA is a game-changer not just in size, but also in scope.

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As inflation rates spike and interest rates rise, many countries are facing looming sovereign debt crises. A mechanism like the G-20’s Common Framework for Debt Treatments, aimed at addressing what could become a global debt crisis, is becoming more important than ever—but to be effective it needs to address major shortcomings.

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In these early days of the global monkeypox outbreak, it appears as though we have failed to take any lessons from earlier disease outbreaks, including the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This apparent inability or unwillingness to learn is startling, and runs the risk of weakening global health governance.

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In our current age of nonstop emails and texts, many of us find it hard to take any real time off work. So perhaps we can learn some lessons from senior U.N. officials who have the weight of the world on their shoulders at all hours. Is there any way for them to get a rest? To find out, I asked some for their tips.

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When U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres first released “Our Common Agenda,” his 2021 report on the future of multilateralism, many diplomats were skeptical of how it would apply to peace and security. But parts of the report actually look more, rather than less, relevant after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.