News & Events

Co-organized by the Non-communicable Diseases (NCD) Alliance, UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Planetary Health Dialogue aimed to support exchange between the environment and health communities on the linkage between climate change and NCDs, present existing and novel strategies to accelerate action towards planeta

A round table entitled Economic Diversification of Coal-Mining Regions: Challenges and Ways Forward took place in Dnipro (Ukraine) on June 14, 2019. The participants discussed challenges and opportunities for the just transition of coal-mining regions of Ukraine.

New Delhi, August 6, 2019 – Most coal-fired power plants in India have not installed pollution control technology, although the Central Government revised emissions standards almost four years ago. A new analysis estimates the cost of installing technology to control for sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter (among others) at between INR 73,000 crore (USD 10 billion) and INR 86,000 crore (USD 12 billion).

Ottawa, July 31 2019 – Ontario, a province undergoing an aggressive push to balance its budget after projecting a deficit of CAD 11.7 billion in 2018/19, still provides roughly CAD 700 million in subsidies to fossil fuels that increase greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to climate change, according to a new study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)’s Global Subsidies Initiative.

New Delhi, July 25, 2019 – Until last month, Indian drivers were paying a tiny bit less to fill their vehicles with petrol and diesel thanks to a government decision that was reversed in the recent Union Budget. While the INR 2.5 (USD .03) per litre may not have mattered too much to consumers, it had big consequences in terms of government revenue.  

New York, 10 July 2019 – High-Level Political Forum side event explored FFS reform as the missing piece of the climate change challenge. Aiming at more effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, the event highlighted how FFS contradicts the spirit of a number of SDGs, including SDG3 (Health) and SDG7 (Energy), and explained how their removal may contribute to reach SDG13 (Climate Action) and to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda. 

Bonn Climate Sessions, SB50 June 16 to June 21 – The Global Subsidies Initiative along with the Friends of Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (FFSR) and the German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) launched a new report on greenhouse gas mitigation opportunities from fossil fuel subsidy reform. The research modelled the possible impacts by 2025 of policy changes across 26 countries.

Geneva, June 25, 2019 - G20 governments have more than doubled the amount of financial support they provide to coal power plants in just three years, despite pledging a decade ago to phase out subsidies to all fossil fuels and help prevent catastrophic climate change. In a new report, ‘G20 coal subsidies: Tracking government support to a fading industry’, researchers found that despite a historic fall in total inves