Mongolia has provided housing mortgages to 6,469 borrowers since the beginning of this year, the country’s Ministry of Construction and Urban Development reported.

Over 80 percent of the housing mortgages were provided to residents in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, which is home to over half of the country’s 3.4 million population. However, the Government is now focusing on providing housing mortgages in more provinces than Ulaanbaatar in order decreasing population density.

Since beginning implementing a mortgage loan program in 2013, a total of 109,800 borrowers have benefited from the housing program.

In order to increase affordability and accessibility of apartments and reduce air pollution in urban areas, the Mongolian government started implementing a mortgage loan program in 2013, targeting mostly families living in Ger district areas. With loan funding from the Bank of Mongolia, commercial banks have been providing Mongolian citizens aged above 18 years old housing mortgages at a subsidized interest rate of eight percent per annum for a maximum of 30 years for the purchase of an apartment of up to 80 square meters.

Beginning from October 2020, the Bank of Mongolia’s regulation on the housing mortgage financing have been changed to reduce the annual interest rate of housing mortgages issued after October 01, 2020 down to six percent with a view to make mortgages more affordable by providing reduced interest rate loans with government subsidies.

The COP27 has begun in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Leaders from over 100 countries and about 50,000 representatives from 180 countries are participating this year, being held 6-18 November 2022.

This year, Mongolia is paying huge attention and participating in more than 60 people which considering the largest delegations from Mongolia in COP’s history. President of Mongolia, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, will be attending high-level meetings on November 7-8, and will present Mongolia's position on combating climate change, desertification, and mitigating global warming, as well as presenting policies and activities that have been implemented at the national level.

The COP27 officially included loss and damage in its agenda for the first time. According to the National Emergency Agency of Mongolia, the country faced direct economic losses of 1.6 trillion MNT between 2009 and 2019. Additionally, Mongolia need 30.3 trillion MNT or USD11.5 billion financing on adaptation and mitigation of climate change to reach its climate target by 2030.

“It is an important issue for less developed countries how to receive support, then deliver that support locally. Within this context, [support from] the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund, the Special Climate Fund, etc, that have been established to give support. However, addressing climate change is not just a matter of international organisations, to support developing countries. Mongolia needs to intensify its own efforts to combat climate change using public funds, also funding from the private sector,” said Damdin Dagvardorj, the Managing Director of Climate Change Development Academy.

When the pandemic hit, many countries were already grappling with economic challenges; inflation and poverty levels are rising, if no significant measures are taken to address climate change, developing countries will lose half a billion US dollars by 2030 and 1 trillion by 2050, according to the London School of Economics and Political Science. Mongolia emits 0.1 percent of the world's greenhouse gases today, half of which comes from the energy sector, but its per capita greenhouse gas emissions are 2.7 times higher than the world average, ranking 23rd in the world. Also, it’s estimated that 74 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent or greenhouse gas emissions would be emitted by 2030

In its Nationally Determined Contributions document, Mongolia targets to reduce its emissions by 27.2 percent by 2030. But Mongolia has only recently submitted its emission action plan to the UNFCCC, said Batjargal Zamba, UN Climate Change Special Envoy to Mongolia.

“We should not only talk about this issue at the national level, but also at the international level. We should also consider what kind of collaborative pathways we can pursue, and where we should get our support from,” said Zamba.

Last year at COP26 in Glasgow, Khurelsukh introduced the One Billion Tree initiative by 2030. Since then, the country has planted 1 percent or 10 million trees, while biggest mining companies in Mongolia have pledged funds to plant 600 million trees. The One Billion Tree initiative is expected to absorb 11 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and neutralize desertification in the region.

This is a summary of a broadcast. Watch the original piece in Mongolian from NTV Broadcasting below.

This story was produced as part of the 2022 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security. It was first published in Mongolian by NTV Broadcasting on 8 November 2022 and has been translated to English and lightly edited for length and clarity.

New York, 15 November 2022 – The global population is projected to reach 8 billion on 15 November 2022, signalling major improvements in public health that have lowered the risk of dying and increased life expectancy. But the moment is also a clarion call for humanity to look beyond the numbers and meet its shared responsibility to protect people and the planet, starting with the most vulnerable.

“Unless we bridge the yawning chasm between the global haves and have-nots, we are setting ourselves up for an 8-billion-strong world filled with tensions and mistrust, crisis and conflict,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

A more demographically diverse world than ever before

While the world’s population will continue to grow to around 10.4 billion in the 2080s, the overall rate of growth is slowing down. The world is more demographically diverse than ever before, with countries facing starkly different population trends ranging from growth to decline. Today, two-thirds of the global population lives in a low fertility context, where the lifetime fertility is below 2.1 births per woman. At the same time, population growth has become increasingly concentrated among the world’s poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Against this backdrop, the global community must ensure that all countries, regardless of whether their populations are growing or shrinking, are equipped to provide a good quality of life for their populations and can lift up and empower their most marginalised people.

“A world of 8 billion is a milestone for humanity – the result of longer lifespans, reductions in poverty, and declining maternal and childhood mortality. Yet, focusing on numbers alone distracts us from the real challenge we face: securing a world in which progress can be enjoyed equally and sustainably,” said UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem. “We cannot rely on one-size-fits-all solutions in a world in which the median age is 41 in Europe compared to 17 in sub-Saharan Africa. To succeed, all population policies must have reproductive rights at their core, invest in people and planet, and be based on solid data.”

Complex linkages between population, sustainable development and climate change

While the Day of 8 Billion represents a success story for humanity, it also raises concerns about links between population growth, poverty, climate change and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. The relationship between population growth and sustainable development is complex.

Rapid population growth makes eradicating poverty, combatting hunger and malnutrition, and increasing the coverage of health and education systems more difficult. Conversely, achieving the SDGs, especially those related to health, education and gender equality, will contribute to slowing global population growth.

Relatedly, although slower population growth–if maintained over several decades–could help to mitigate environmental degradation, conflating population growth with a rise in greenhouse gas emissions ignores that countries with the highest consumption and emissions rates are those where population growth is already slow or even negative. Meanwhile, the majority of the world’s population growth is concentrated among the poorest countries, which have significantly lower emissions rates but are likely to suffer disproportionately from the effects of climate change.

“We must accelerate our efforts to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement as well as achieve the SDGs,” said Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs. “We need a rapid decoupling of economic activity from the current over-reliance on fossil-fuel energy, as well as greater efficiency in the use of those resources, and we need to make this a just and inclusive transition that supports those left furthest behind.”

The need for a sustainable future built on rights and choices

In order to usher in a world in which all 8 billion people can thrive, we must look to proven and effective solutions to mitigate our world’s challenges and achieve the SDGs, while prioritising human rights. In order to pursue these solutions, increased investment from member states and donor governments is needed in policies and programmes that work to make the world safer, more sustainable and more inclusive.

Key facts and figures at a glance

It took about 12 years for the world population to grow from 7 to 8 billion, but the next billion is expected to take approx 14.5 years (2037), reflecting the slowdown in global growth. World population is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100.

For the increase from 7 to 8 billion, around 70 per cent of the added population was in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. For the increase from 8 to 9 billion, these two groups of countries are expected to account for more than 90 per cent of global growth.

Between now and 2050, the global increase in the population under age 65 will occur entirely in low income and lower-middle-income countries, since population growth in high-income and upper-middle income countries will occur only among those aged 65 years or over.

Mongolia’s ministry of health reported 163 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, taking the national tally to 988,054.

No new related deaths were recorded since March, 2022, leaving the death toll unchanged at 2,179.

Last week, Mongolia reported the first case of new COVID-19 variant BF7-1, that has enhanced immunity evasion ability in comparison to its parental strain.

Mongolia is among countries that have highest vaccination rate against covid-19.

With high vaccination coverage and declining daily infections, life in Mongolia has essentially returned to normal. The country has resumed in-person classes for all educational institutions and fully opened its borders to foreign tourists in March, 2022.

Minister of Road and Transport Development S. Byambatsogt emphasized that the Ministry will support both public and private air carriers of Mongolia equally to improve their international competitiveness and issued the following degree to stimulate cheap passenger and cargo transportation in various routes.

In particular, according to the degree of the Minister of Road and Transport Development, “MIAT Mongolian Airlines” SOE was granted the right to operate scheduled flights to Novosibirsk, “Mongolian Airways Cargo” LLC was granted the right to conduct scheduled flights to Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Singapore, Urumqi, and Shanghai, and “Eznis Airways” LLC was appointed as an air carrier to operate cargo flights to Chengdu, Sanya, Seoul, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, and Moscow respectively.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia, “Mongolian Airways Cargo” LLC was assigned to the Berlin route. The company plans to start its Berlin-Moscow passenger flights in January 2023.

“Eznis Airways” LLC has imported “A330-200” aircraft for cargo transportation, while “Mongolian Airways Cargo” LLC is preparing to purchase “A330-243” aircraft for passenger transportation.

Technology-based loaning or Fintech lending rose 40 percent, and fintech borrowers accounted for 88.8 percent of the 1.6 million Non-bank Financial Intuitions (NBFI) borrowers.

Specifically, the total assets of NBFI reached MNT 3.4 trillion, and the number of customers doubled to 4.9 million. 92.2 percent of them are fintech loan customers.

According to the Financial Regulatory Commission, 522 Non-bank Financial Intuitions operate nationwide.

Demand for NBFI loans has increased intensely since last August. Based on all the previously mentioned issues, the FRC discussed the debt-to-income ratio for fintech loan products provided by NBFI and limited the amount of monthly interest and principal payments to no more than 70 percent (compared to monthly after-tax income). However, this is more of a regulation than a restriction, noted B. Itgelsuren, the head of the Department of Non-banking Financial Services of the FRC.

MNT 237.5 thousand be allotted per Fintech borrower.

The above decision will be implemented from the first day of next year and applied to 36 NBFIs. In particular, the above number of NBFIs are engaged in fintech lending services.

Fintech lending has the advantage of providing low-value consumer loans to citizens regardless of location, but it is emphasized that if this type of the loan becomes widespread, there is a risk of putting people under a debt burden.

Therefore, to prevent this, the SRC has decided to regulate the granting of loans by considering the borrower's debt-to-income ratio not exceeding 70 percent in the lending activities of 36 NBFIs.

The Energy Ministers of Russia and Mongolia Nikolai Shulginov and Battogtoh Choizhilsuren discussed the possibility of increasing electricity supplies to Mongolia in winter. This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation.

"The ministers discussed the possibility of increasing the volume of electricity supplies from Russia to Mongolia in winter, as well as the need to coordinate work on repair programs for the stability of these supplies," the ministry said.

At the same time, the parties considered the possibility of further cooperation in the field of electric power, in particular, related to the modernization of the CHP-3 in Ulaanbaatar.

"To date, a feasibility study for the modernization of the station has been agreed, as well as a number of fundamentally important sequential steps for the transition to the practical implementation of the project. We expect that the intergovernmental agreement on the reconstruction of the CHP-3 and the contract for the basic design will be signed in the near future," the Russian minister said.