Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 3h

Goodbye 'hotel Berlin, Berlin' & World Health Summit. Auf Wiedersehen?

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 3h

www.bond.org.uk/news/2025/10... Wonder whether the World Health Summit is all that different.... #WHS2025

The IMF is ideologically committed to neoliberalism despite its pronouncements on social inequality | Bond

Ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual meetings, which start on 13 October, The Bretton Woods Project has launched a new website analysing IMF surveillance from the last ...

www.bond.org.uk

1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 3h

Lancet Planetary Health Editorial www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... "The routes of scientific influence are usually through information either directly to policy makers or to sway politicians via public opinion. Both routes appear to be narrower than they have been in recent times."

Evidence with a quiet voice

Important aspects of this moment in history are typified by two developments during the last week of September. On the one hand an annual report from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research ...

www.thelancet.com

2 1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 16h

Quite something, that Infantino. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/w... And what a wonderful partnership of WHO with FIFA, @drtedros.who.int. Truly one for our crooked times.

Why Was the President of FIFA at the Gaza Summit?

www.nytimes.com

1 1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 16h

www.theguardian.com/environment/... For some reason, i have to think of the movie 'Dumb and Dumber'.

Pentagon retreats from climate fight even as heat and storms slam US troops

For decades, the military treated climate crisis as a threat. Now it’s backing away from plans to protect people and bases from extreme weather

www.theguardian.com

1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 18h

Agree women's health is the smartest investment for our times. But doubt a bunch of philanthropies and MDB's derisking & blending financing " for the private sector to come in", is the breakthrough we need. #whs2015

1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 19h

Pretty impressive, that speech from Kriti Sanon (UNFPA honorary ambassador ) on women's health. #WHS2025

Reposted by Kristof Decoster

Katri Bertram @katribertram.bsky.social · 1d

How do you fight the far right (in #globalhealth)? @profsophieharman.bsky.social
1) Don’t punch down (tell the public their concerns are stupid)
2) Don’t self-censor 😶
3) Get our own house in order (don’t exploit women’s stories, unpaid health and care work, and ignore harassment)

3 3

Reposted by Kristof Decoster

Katri Bertram @katribertram.bsky.social · 1d

Felix Stein asks an interesting question about what “responsibility“ (part of the #WHS2025 tagline) means. We often refer to the more technocratic “accountability“, but should also include the term “complicity“. (I’ll have to think about this more…)

1 3

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

They probably should relabel it the World Health Security Summit :). #WHS2025

2

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

Almost heard 'Nina Hagen' :). #whs2025

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

Any names of the ones campaigning? :)

2

Reposted by Kristof Decoster

WHO @who.int · 1d

WHO launches its latest public health intelligence system featuring:

✅ Improved performance
✅ New data sources
✅ AI integration
✅ Simpler, multilingual interface
...and much more.

The EIOS system helps countries detect and respond to potential threats daily 👉 bit.ly/476kr5S

Graphic poster announcing the launch of EIOS version 2.0 by the WHO Hub in Berlin to boost global health security. Text reads: ‘NextGen public health intelligence system. WHO Hub in Berlin launches EIOS v.2.0 to boost global health security.’

3 20 71

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

The "Global health galaxy". First time I hear that term. Well, I can certainly think of a massive "black hole" this year. #WHS2025

1

Reposted by Kristof Decoster

World Health Summit @worldhealthsummit.bsky.social · 1d

📊 New report reveals: Peace, health and emotional wellbeing rise and fall together
Gallup’s inaugural State of the World’s Emotional Health report released in partnership with the World Health Summit.
Read the full report: https://f.mtr.cool/ardplnthhf

1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

Wondering when we're going to "sunset" Ryanair, Exxon Mobil, Amazon and all the rest of them. #WHS2025 #GHreform

1 2

Reposted by Kristof Decoster

Rob Ralston @policyrelevant.bsky.social · 1d

new article in @reggovjournal.bsky.social that examines how corporations engage in 'venue hopping' as a means to advance agendas in multiple spaces and at multiple levels

This riffs off Baumgartner and Jones' notion of venue shopping, but adapts it for an increasingly multistakeholder world

Corporate Power in a Multistakeholder World: Venue Hopping and the Multilevel Politics of Ultra‐Processed Food

The regulation of business is increasingly characterized by “soft” governance regimes that blur the boundaries of public and private authority, as signaled by the rapid proliferation of multistakehol...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

2 8 15

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

Germany commits €1B to Global Fund as aid cuts shape World Health Summit www.devex.com/news/germany... Love it: "Evangelizing for AI" :)

Germany commits €1B to Global Fund as aid cuts shape World Health Summit

Though Germany committed €1 billion to the Global Fund, this year's World Health Summit in Berlin remained focused on new funding models for global health.

www.devex.com

2 2

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

www.independent.co.uk/climate-chan...

Poor nations pay more on debt interest than they get for climate aid

The world’s least developed countries paid US $37 billion (£28bn) to service their debts in 2023, but received only $32 billion (£24bn) in climate finance

www.independent.co.uk

1

Reposted by Kristof Decoster

RadReduction (Larry Edwards) @radreduction.bsky.social · 5d

Just published, in Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences:

"Flight from reality: sustainable aviation, Jet Zero, and the technofix"

Open access:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Screen shot:

Flight from reality: sustainable aviation, Jet Zero, and the
technofix

Gareth Dale, Josh Moos and Alistair Bernal Holmes

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that rising aviation emissions, which are disproportionally driven by the wealthy, pose a serious threat to climate goals. Using the UK’s Jet Zero strategy as a case study, it explores how policymakers and industry promote speculative technologies—efficiency gains, electric and hydrogen aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels, carbon capture, and offsetting—to justify continued aviation growth. We critically assess these claims: electric aircraft are limited to short routes; hydrogen faces major storage and infrastructure barriers, and green hydrogen remains scarce. SAFs, often derived from land-intensive crops, risk deforestation, biodiversity loss, and higher net emissions. Second generation SAFs, such as used cooking oil, are scarce, and power-to-liquid is speculative and prohibitively expensive. Carbon capture is unproven at scale, and offsetting enables airlines to claim reductions without cutting actual emissions. These “solutions” align with a political agenda that prioritises economic growth and airport expansion. We argue that this techno-optimism delays real action. Rather than gambling on future breakthroughs that may never materialise, policymakers should pursue immediate demand-reduction strategies and support a just transition—ending frequent-flyer incentives, shifting short-haul flights to rail, removing aviation fuel subsidies, and retraining workers for low-carbon sectors.

5 7 8

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

@willemvandeput.bsky.social @gorikooms.bsky.social @rvandepas.bsky.social

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

Liked Jeremy Farrar's call to not give in to nihilism in these dire times. #WHS2025 #VUCAera (as it's called in another, the GPMB report launch session)

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 1d

Not really. It's more a general tendency to avoid the term 'tax justice', also from a climate angle (instead preferring 'innovative financing')

1

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 2d

Surely one of the more annoying things here at #WHS2025 is the ubiquitous use of the term "innovative financing" by many, when they mean "common sense taxation", even of the prudent kind, at least when considering we live in a world of massive inequality.

3 1 5

Kristof Decoster @kristofdecoster.bsky.social · 2d

The nice thing about the #WHS2025 is that every time a private sector person gets the word in the panel, you know it's high time to check your smartphone :). #NCDsplenary

2