In a year that saw the climate change and energy team tackle 35 new projects, IISD has gained increased exposure and influence in the debate. In Canada, IISD works with governments to galvanize Canadians so that they can become a more effective part of the solution to climate change. Internationally--particularly with developing countries--the goal is to explore how to integrate climate change issues more effectively with their priorities for sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Achievements and Highlights

• Over the past year, IISD has developed a strong profile around Canada's Kyoto Protocol ratification debate. John Drexhage, Director of the Climate Change and Energy team, participated actively in the Analysis and Modelling Group and the Domestic Emissions Trading Working Group, and was invited regularly by the Liberal Party caucus in Ottawa to discuss the costs and benefits of Kyoto ratification.

• IISD worked closely with a number of provinces on the issue of climate change. Staff in Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and New York provided intelligence on national and international climate change developments. The Institute's strategic advice was sought by Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario.

• President David Runnalls and Board member James Carr served on the Manitoba Climate Change Task Force, led by the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy. A number of IISD staff supported the province's Clean Environment Commission in organizing the public consultations in developing the Task Force's Final Report. The Task Force's web site, designed and hosted by IISD, http://www.iisd.org/taskforce
  /default.htm.

• In collaboration, with the Canadian Energy Research Institute, IISD organized a conference in February that considered the development of a Continental Energy Strategy and its implications for addressing climate change in North America. For coverage, see http://www.iisd.ca/sd/sdcem/.

• IISD continued to work with Canadian companies taking a proactive role on the climate change issue. Intelligence and strategic advice were provided to Canada, Manitoba Hydro, Ontario Power Generation, Pan Canadian and Trans Canada Pipelines.

• IISD continued to focus on how it can help strengthen the voice of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic in the Canadian ratification process. Building upon its success in Sachs Harbour and the Inuit Observations on Climate Change project, IISD representatives visited six other communities in the North, working with the First Nations people to report on and monitor the climate change impacts in the North.

• IISD strengthened its working relationship with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) on the issue of climate change. A second phase of the Climate Change Knowledge Network was approved. Working with 14 other institutions around the world, CCKN II will focus on decentralized renewable energy strategies for developing countries; building capacity for developing country negotiators; and broadening local capacities to address climate change. Two projects in India--one examining implications for agriculture and the other focusing on economic instruments and green budget reform--continued over the year. In addition, IISD is concluding a negotiation with CIDA for a project in Chile that would explore the potential application of the Clean Development Mechanism as a tool for reducing emissions from the transportation sector.

• IISD worked closely with the Government of Canada in helping Morocco as hosts of the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in the fall of 2001. This included a number of orientation sessions with government officials, helping them become more familiar with the issues under international negotiation.

• IISD continued its work with a network of institutes in Europe, Japan and Russia to study how emissions trading investments could be used to help the Russian government develop and implement a national strategy on climate change.

• The Institute redesigned and expanded the web site content of the Climate Change Knowledge Network at http://www.cckn.net
  /compendium/.

Long-term Vision

Within the larger objective of integrating climate change actions with sustainable priorities, IISD's long-term Climate Change and Energy vision is to:

• play a substantive and influential role at the national level in advancing the climate change issue;

• provide strong, in-house expertise on the critical policy issues being considered in Canada, including, for example, domestic emissions trading;

• convene and/or facilitate conferences and meetings among the major actors on the climate change file in Canada and internationally;

• champion the cause of that segment in the private sector that is prepared to treat the issue of climate change seriously and develop substantive policies and practices that will work to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions;

• develop and enhance understanding of climate change impacts in Canada's regions, particularly the north;

• work at the community level to develop appropriate adaptation/mitigation responses;

• work with provinces to help develop action programs on climate change; and

• build on IISD's ability to enhance capacities of developing countries to participate in the international negotiations and in implementing actions at the ground level.

From the Director of Climate Change and Energy...

"Since coming on board with IISD a little more than a year ago, I have grown to appreciate two critical elements: how complex and far reaching the issue of climate change has become and how committed and capable IISD staff are on this issue. From Moscow to Yellowknife, from Marrakech to New Delhi, IISD carries a strong reputation throughout and clearly makes a difference in the national and international debate on this most perplexing of global environmental issues."

-John Drexhage