The Australian government introduced a carbon pricing scheme or “carbon tax” through the Clean Energy Act 2011. The initiative was intended to control emissions in the country, as well as support the growth of the economy through the development of clean… Read more

The Chinese central government officially introduced the “one-child policy” in 1979, although it had introduced several birth control initiatives during the previous decade. The policy was led by the national government and implemented by local family planning committees at the provincial… Read more

Over the past few decades, Japan has faced a dual challenge of decreasing birth rates and an ageing population. To address this, the government has launched several major initiatives since the 1990s to tackle the problem, including the Angel Plan, the… Read more

In 2002, the UK government launched development of the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) NHS Care Records Service, which was intended to deliver an electronic health records system containing patient records from across the UK. There were problems with… Read more

The Sparkassen are a group of savings banks that have been operating across Germany since the first one was established in Hamburg in 1778. They were born of the need to invest in the country and in German society, and they… Read more

The Rockefeller Foundation was set up in 1913 to deploy the vast wealth of the John D. Rockefeller’s company, Standard Oil, in philanthropic projects. The first major donation was to the American Red Cross, and health and education were initially… Read more

The liberalisation of the use of marijuana in the Netherlands was initiated in 1976 as a radical response to the social problems of drug abuse. It was founded on the recommendations of the country’s Baan Commission, published in 1972, and has… Read more

In the 1970s, the Netherlands was becoming dominated by the car, with high levels of pollution and traffic-related deaths. Thanks to pressure groups and enlightened local politicians, cities such as the Hague, Delft and Groningen began to encourage the growth… Read more

As part of its response to climate change, the Canadian province of Québec aimed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions significantly. To reach their self-imposed GHG reduction targets, one of the central measures of the government of Québec was… Read more

MillionTreesNYC was an urban forest initiative that formed part of PlaNYC, which focuses on encouraging sustainable projects across the city. It involved a partnership between a city department, NYC Parks, and a New York not-for-profit, The New York Restoration Project. Read more