After years of administrative uncertainty, short-term employees at the United Nations in Geneva are now being told to pay Swiss taxes or face fines. Consultants say that may send some of them below the national poverty line, if that’s not already the case.

After the signing in 2015 of the Paris climate agreement, shipping, together with aviation, was largely left out of pledges set by the United Nations members. The argument was that its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could not be attributed to any specific nation. “The view was that the sea is large and one could go on polluting. This view is very clearly coming to an end,” explains Giacomo Luciani, a professor specialising in commodities trading at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

On Sept. 1, France outlawed five neonicotinoid pesticides to help protect its bee population.

Pope Francis is seeking Christian unity, raising fears among some clergy. But who should really be afraid?

After Warsaw Pact tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia on the night of August 20, 1968 to crush the Prague Spring movement, many Czechs and Slovaks found refuge in Switzerland.

With less than a year remaining ahead of the expected departure of the U.K. from the European Union, the European Commission unveiled one of the world’s biggest research programs, known as Horizon Europe, to run from 2021 to 2027.

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross says partnerships with businesses may offer solutions for some of the challenges the organization faces. Peter Maurer told CNNMoney Switzerland that investors looking for social impact projects may be attracted to ICRC’s model, where funds are immediately used for critical humanitarian aid. He also admitted certain risks may be involved at times in partnering with the private sector.

The illegal trade in endangered species has become a major threat to wildlife, according to Barend Van Rensburg, chief of enforcement support at CITES, the UN agency responsible for regulating trade in protected species. Wildlife trafficking is now the fourth biggest illegal trade after drugs, arms and people trafficking. But as wildlife crime moves online, several tech firms have united to fight this illicit industry, estimated to value between $5-20 billion annually.

In Geneva to unveil a new disarmament agenda, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told CNNMoney Switzerland that Geneva continues to play an important role in conflict resolution and disarmament. "I see more and more Geneva being chosen for important negotiations in relation to the prevention and resolution of conflicts," he said. His statements come as the prospect of nuclear disarmament talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un was put on hold after the US head of state announced their cancellation. On Friday, however, the U.S. president said he was willing to talk to his North Korean counterpart, which had been scheduled to take place in Singapore in June.

Pope Francis’ visit to the headquarters of the World Council of Churches next month highlights efforts by churches to "walk, talk and work" together, according to the organization's secretary general, Olav Fyske Tveit. The head of the Geneva-based organization also tells Paula Dupraz-Dobias that the WCC has become a peacemaker involved in helping warring parties to sit down and talk. He recently returned from North Korea, where he met with local churches and authorities in what he calls the country’s “spring of peace."

Adrian Aebi, head of international affairs at the agriculture ministry, explains that Switzerland would lose its competitive edge if EFTA did not follow the European Union in concluding a free trade agreement with Mercosur. While the deal is being criticized by the Swiss Farmers' Union as potentially "sacrificing" Swiss agriculture in favor of other sectors, Aebi assures critics that markets would not be opened completely.

Swiss businesses involved in cleantech now employ 5.5 percent of the active population and generate some CHF 20 billion annually. Yet getting innovations to the market is often difficult. Various developers spoke to CNNMoney Switzerland at the Climate Show in Geneva about the challenges of transforming concepts into operations that are sustainable financially and environmentally.

Ten years ago, two researchers from ETH Zurich developed Climeworks, a firm specializing in extracting carbon from the air. Experts now say that technology is essential for keeping global warming under control, together with carbon reduction measures. Climework's CEO and co-founder Christoph Gebald expects a global carbon tax by 2030, which will help cover the high costs involved. "Classical VCs are not interested in what we are doing since it is a very long term venture," he told Paula Dupraz-Dobias. But the company has found backers among a number of wealthy, forward-looking individuals in Switzerland.

Highlighting the importance of providing global healthcare is challenging when policymakers are unable to find personal connections, says Joanne Liu, president of Médecins Sans Frontières. The Canadian pediatrician heading the NGO says that Western leaders only realized the urgency of the deadly Ebola outbreak after cases were repatriated back to Europe and the United States. She also says that access to medicine needs to be considered a "collective issue" in dealing with diseases that have no borders.

The head of an international transparency organization says the move to reduce corruption between resource-rich countries and trading partners is a complex one. Jonas Moberg, the executive director of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, told CNNMoney Switzerland that "stamina and daring" is required in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an increasing demand for cobalt has business partners at a crossroads in terms of transparency as well as labor issues.

Khalid Koser, executive director of Geneva-based GCERF (Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund), tells CNNMoney Switzerland that "soft" alternatives provided to disenfranchised populations may be more effective in countering the rise of violent extremism than military means.

Mexican actor Gael García Bernal came to Geneva to take action. During his short stay he addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council to seek justice in Mexico's cycle of violence. He also attended the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, where CNNMoney Switzerland's Ana Maria Montero caught up with him to talk about his activism.

As the United States and China begin a tit for tat on tariffs, Arancha Gonzalez, executive director of the International Trade Center, tells CNNMoney Switzerland that developing countries will have the most to lose. "Protectionism does not protect anyone," affirms Gonzalez. Just back from Kigali, Rwanda, where a historic continental free trade agreement was signed on Friday, March 23, the ITC chief says African leaders were proud of their achievements but confused that developed countries were now regressing on free trade.

Swiss CEO and co-founder of energy group Mercuria, Marco Dunand shared his business forecast with CNNMoney Switzerland's Paula Dupraz-Dobias. He said that with global GDP expected to grow by 3-4 percent, in the coming years, energy consumption is also set to rise. Decarbonization following pledges made in the Paris climate treaty mean that the energy mix should change over the next 15-20 years. But Dunant said nationalist leaders are hampering effort for global commitments to climate change policies.