This hybrid event discusses strategies to create an internationally competitive electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem in India. The country has the potential to become a hub for EV manufacturing and recycling with the right incentives and government policies by producing battery cells and expanding mineral processing. However, India faces a challenge in sourcing critical minerals to develop locally- made batteries that will power the EV transition, which gives rise to two priorities. On the one hand, recycling existing batteries can secure a certain domestic supply of critical minerals while creating local employment. On the other hand, Indian companies will need to source primary raw minerals abroad in the short- to medium-term. 

To contribute to this discussion, the project partners, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and Invest India launch and present the findings of three reports at this event:

1. An assessment of India’s midstream potential
2. A lithium sourcing roadmap for India
3. ICRIER “Sampada” model for assessing the macroeconomic impact of Rajasthan’s Waste Recycling Park on battery waste recycling.

Agenda

Opening

Welcome Remarks

Amrita Goldar, Senior Fellow, ICRIER

Introductory Remarks

Kanchi Gupta, Program Manager, ClimateWorks Foundation

Keynote Session

Sanjiva de Silva, Counsellor, Energy and Resources, Australian High Commission
Gaurav Joshi, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries
Periasamy Kumaran, Officer On Special Duty, Ministry of External Affairs

Session 1: India’s potential in the battery supply chain

Presentation of Report

Tom Moerenhout, Senior Associate, International Institute for Sustainable Development
Abhishek Bansal, Senior Investment Specialist, Invest India
Arishna Saxena, Senior Investment Specialist, Invest India

Panel Discussion

Devashish Aneja, Vice President Partnerships, C4V
Deb Mukherji, Managing Director, Omega Seiki Mobility
Vikram Handa, Managing Director, Epsilon Carbon

Q&A

Session 2: Critical minerals strategy for India

Presentation of Report

Siddharth Goel, Senior Policy Advisor, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Sonali Nandrajog, Communications Consultant, Climate Trends

Rajesh Chadha, Senior Fellow, Center on Social and Economic Progress
Murtiani Hendriwani, Policy Advisor, Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Metals, Minerals and Sustainable Development
Manish Dua, Principal Consultant, Benchmark Minerals Intelligence
Rishabh Jain, Senior Program Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water

Q&A

Session 3: Macroeconomic impacts of a circular economy

Presentation of Report

Amrita Goldar, Senior Fellow, ICRIER

Panel Discussion

V. P Yadav, Scientist ‘F’, Central Pollution Control Board
Vijai Singhal, Director, Greenhub Systems Private Limited
Parveen Kumar, Head Research and Development, Exigo Recycling
Suneel Pandey, Director Environment and Waste Management Division, The Energy and Resources Institute

Q&A

Final Remarks

The WTO's Public Forum is taking place from September 12 to 15, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland. With the theme "It Is Time For Action", this year's Public Forum will examine how trade can contribute to a greener and more sustainable future. The Forum will explore how trade can facilitate access to environmental goods, services and technologies, help achieving the Paris Agreement's Nationally Determined Contributions, and maintain the ambition to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

Please note that you must be registered for the WTO Public Forum to attend.

IISD Co-organized Events

Ending Harmful Fisheries Subsidies: From Treaty to Reality

• Co-organized with The Pew Charitable Trusts (PEW), World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), and Friends of Ocean Action (FOA).
• September 13, 2023, 17:00–18:15 CET, Room D (WTO).

Over a billion people depend on fish as primary source for protein and a 100 million are directly dependent on fishing for their livelihoods. According to the UN FAO, one third of global fish stocks are already exploited beyond sustainable levels. In 2022, the WTO reached a landmark agreement to finally end subsidized overfishing. By speeding up the entry into force of this agreement and complementing it with additional rules to tackle all harmful fisheries subsidies, WTO members can make a crucial contribution to restoring and maintaining the sustainability of fish stocks and supporting livelihoods. This session showcases perspectives from high level representatives, fisheries experts and environmental advocates. The panel will discuss why swift ratification and successful implementation of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies as well as an ambitious result from the second wave of negotiations is urgently needed to support coastal communities, ocean health and build resilience to climate change.

Speakers

Moderator:

• Alice Tipping, Director, Trade and Sustainable Development, IISD.

Panel:

• Alfredo Giron, Head, World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda & Friends of Ocean Action, World Economic Forum.
• Sebastian Mathew, Executive Director, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF).
• Nella Pepe Tavita-Levy, Permanent Representative/Ambassador of the Mission of Samoa.
• Heike Vesper, Chief Executive, Transformation Politics and Markets, World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Germany.

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The Scramble for the Markets of the Future: Decarbonization, Trade and Geopolitics

• Co-organized with the Foreign Trade University (FTU), and E3G. 
• September 15, 2023, 9:00–10:15 CET, Room E (WTO).

Decarbonization and climate change mitigation policies may be the biggest stressors of the overall framework of WTO rules since those rules were agreed. Climate-related trade restrictions, from border carbon adjustment mechanisms to deforestation requirements in supply chains, green subsidies that aim to stake out shares of the markets of the future, and trade agreements securing access to critical minerals are testing the capacities of the multilateral trading system to adjust and reform while making sure that no one is left behind. Geopolitical rivalry and lack of trust means the world’s political environment is making collaboration difficult, and walls are starting to rise together with the shift of values of electorates worldwide. Will we find ways for the multilateral trading system and the climate regime to work together? This session will look into the challenge of international cooperation in this race against the clock.

Speakers

Moderator:

• Alice Tipping, Director, Trade and Sustainable Development, IISD.

Panel:

• Aaron Cosbey, Senior Associate, IISD.
• Henry Gao, Professor of Law, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University.
• Ngan Vu Kim, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Foreign Trade University, Vietnam.
• Jonny Peters, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G.

IISD's Presence in Other Public Forum Events

Fish Map Reveal 

• Organized by WWF, and other SFO organizations. 
• September 12, 2023, 15:30 CET, Atrium (WTO).

The Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, will present a map that shows each Member that has formally accepted the Fisheries Agreement up to date.  

Our Trade Team will be present. 

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Managing Materials for a Sustainable Future

• Organized by the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica.
• September 13, 2023, 17:00–18:15 CET, Atrium (WTO).

This session will look at the sustainability of raw materials from a broad perspective, including circular economy considerations, and the importance of ensuring that the raw materials needed for the green transition are produced in an environmentally responsible way.

Grégoire Bellois, Senior policy advisor for IISD's Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF), will be a speaker in this session.

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EU and African Perspectives on the Green Transition 

• Co-organized by the European Commission (EU), and the Permanent Mission of Kenya. 
• September 14, 2023, 17:00–18:15 CET, Room D (WTO).

This session will offer the EU and African perspectives on the green transition. The panel will examine how to drive respective efforts with appropriate policy frameworks, including the role of trade. The panel will bring together the perspectives from government, business and think tank with a focus on development.

Alice Tipping, Director, Trade and Sustainable Development, IISD, is participating in this debate.

The Investment Policy Forum, organized by IISD, is the world's only annual event exclusively for investment policy-makers from developing countries.

The 15th edition of the forum was hosted by the Government of Panama from October 25 to 27, 2023. 

Over 100 investment policy-makers and negotiators from more than 50 developing countries (covering Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America), regional bodies, and multilateral institutions participated in 3 days of panel discussions, workshops, and peer-to-peer learning sessions.

IISD Model Contract Clauses for Responsible Investment in Agriculture launch

At the 2023 Investment Policy Forum, the IISD Model Contract Clauses for Responsible Investment in Agriculture toolkit for developing countries was launched. The toolkit provides legal provisions to help developing countries implement international best practices, principles, and guidance on responsible agricultural investment.

A new IISD policy brief on the need to revisit tax incentives as an investment promotion tool—with the Global Minimum Tax coming into force in January 2024—was also released and discussed at the forum. 

Participants Develop "Institutional Coherence" Toolkit to Support Sustainable Investment Reform

During the opening ceremony, a new Investment Policy Forum supra theme for the coming years was introduced: fostering coherence for sustainable investment governance.

Guided by the new supra theme of coherence, the Investment Policy Forum is set to become a focal point for efforts to harness the growing global momentum for sustainable investment governance reform—and tackle the risk of these efforts being carried out in a fragmented fashion.

With the direction of travel mapped out, the 2023 Investment Policy Forum focused specifically on institutional coherence. After 3 days of unpacking, the participants wrapped up the 15th edition of the forum by building an institutional coherence checklist—a tool to support the Investment Policy Forum community in mapping and strengthening sustainable investment reform efforts in their countries.

Progress on institutional coherence efforts will be evaluated at the 2024 Investment Policy Forum. 

The Thirteenth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC13) was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from February 26 to 29, 2024. 

Running alongside this, IISD's Trade + Sustainability Hub brought together thought leaders from both within and outside governments for a series of conversations on the challenges of building cooperative trade policy that delivers for sustainable development. 

The 2024 theme was:

Trade policy in turbulent times: can we find a way back to cooperation?

International cooperation is difficult, and it is especially hard in times of increasing polarization. The last few years of trade policy have felt like ongoing crisis management, and the forces pulling governments away from cooperation have been persistent. However, we also know that cooperation—where it makes sense—delivers better outcomes, and many of the long-term challenges to global sustainable development cannot be met without it. The question is, how can we find our way back to cooperation on trade policy? 

Within this overall theme, conversations at the Hub focused on three key issues:

What was on the agenda?

You can view the full agenda here.

When and where?

The Trade + Sustainability Hub took place from Monday, February 26 to Wednesday, February 28. The Hub was held in person at the Pearl Rotana Capital Centre Hotel, a 5-minute walk from the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre Conference Centre where MC13 took place.

Sessions in Room B were livestreamed throughout the day. Recordings are available here. 

Environmental leaders from 185 countries will gather in Vancouver, Canada, for the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) from August 22 to 26. Building on recent diplomatic breakthroughs on biodiversity loss, toxic chemicals, and the high seas, the GEF Assembly aims to act as a critical stocktaking for 2030 goals to end pollution and nature loss, combat climate change, and propel inclusive, locally led conservation.

Follow the event with news coverage from ENB.

IISD is excited to attend the GEF Assembly, moderating a round table as part of the main program, as well as speaking at various side events.

N.B. This event will take place at the Seventh GEF Assembly in the Vancouver Convention Centre, so you will need to be registered in order to attend. 

N.B. This event will take place at the Seventh GEF Assembly in the Vancouver Convention Centre, so you will need to be registered in order to attend.

 N.B. This event will take place at the Seventh GEF Assembly in the Vancouver Convention Centre, so you will need to be registered in order to attend.

N.B. This event will take place at the Seventh GEF Assembly in the Vancouver Convention Centre, so you will need to be registered in order to attend. 

Building on recent landmark decisions on the high seas agreement and biodiversity, as well as the ongoing discussion on plastic pollution including the marine environment, the GEF Assembly offers an opportunity for a critical stocktaking for the future of the GEF with new agreements/landmark decisions and for exploring emerging modalities and innovative approaches to address these emerging themes for the global environment. The new and emerging global agreements and frameworks that are relevant to the future of the GEF, include the Biodiversity beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution, and Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) for the Convention on Biological Diversity. Panelists will exchange views and perspectives on how the partnership can evolve as the GEF’s mandate expands and will include a panel on new and emerging agreements and a second panel on emerging modalities and innovative approaches.

Emerging Modalities and Innovative Approaches 

Moderator

• Nathalie Bernasconi, Interim Co-President and Co-CEO, International Institute for Sustainable Development 

Panelists

• Warren Evans, Special Senior Advisor, Office of the President, Asian Development Bank  

• Monika Stankiewicz, Executive Secretary, Minamata Convention on Mercury

• Annette Windmeisser, Head of Climate Finance Division, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development; GEF Council Member  

• Winner of the Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program

• Andrew Deutz, Managing Director, Global Policy, Institutions and Conservation Finance, The Nature Conservancy 

This session will bring together key stakeholders in climate adaptation that include private companies, investors, civil society, entrepreneurs and members of the GEF partnership to discuss how to accelerate innovation and private investment in climate change adaptation in developing countries. This event will also showcase some projects funded under the GEF Challenge Program for Adaptation Innovation. Discussions will particularly focus on three themes identified as key: SMEs incubation and acceleration; investment funds; and metrics and standards for climate adaptation risk management and opportunity assessment. 

Benjamin Simmons, Director of Infrastructure at IISD, will be a panelist at the event, presenting the work of the Nature-Based Infrastructure Global Resource Centre.

Concern is growing around the use of conventional indicators, notably GDP, to assess the progress of nations. GDP and other short-term indicators lead decision-makers to favor policies with benefits today over those focused on long-term sustainability. While short-term growth as measured by improvements in conventional indicators has long been the focus of governments, leaders increasingly recognize the need to ensure well-being for both the present and future generations. The recent policy brief by the UN Secretary-General invited member states to move beyond GDP by measuring what truly matters for sustainability and prosperity.

This session at the Seventh GEF Assembly will explore the experience of recent applications of expanded wealth framework to complement GDP. Based on the global inclusive wealth frameworks implemented by the UN Environment Programme, the framework complements GDP by measuring the assets that underpin well-being in all its forms: economic, environmental, and social. Partner organizations, IDRC and UNEP, understand the framework's utility and are working with IISD to implement it using country data and expertise. The session will share lessons learned from developing expanded wealth measures and their relevance for policymaking.

Agenda

Opening and context setting

Bhim Adhikari, International Development Research Centre

Expended Wealth measures: national estimates and policy relevance

Rob Smith, International Institute for Sustainable Development

Reflections from Inclusive Wealth Report (IWR) 2023

Doreen Lynn Robinson, United Nations Environment Programme

Questions and comments

Moderation 

Bhim Adhikari

This event is part of the WTO's Public Forum, taking place from 12 to 15 September in person in Geneva, Switzerland. You must register before 17 August to attend, which you can do at the link above. 

Event Description:

Decarbonization and climate change mitigation policies may be the biggest stressors of the overall framework of WTO rules since those rules were agreed. Climate-related trade restrictions, from border carbon adjustment mechanisms to deforestation requirements in supply chains, green subsidies that aim to stake out shares of the markets of the future, and trade agreements securing access to critical minerals are testing the capacities of the multilateral trading system to adjust and reform while making sure that no one is left behind. Geopolitical rivalry and lack of trust means the world’s political environment is making collaboration difficult, and walls are starting to rise together with the shift of values of electorates worldwide. Will we find ways for the multilateral trading system and the climate regime to work together? This session will look into the challenge of international cooperation in this race against the clock.

Speakers:

Moderator: Alice Tipping, Director, Trade and Sustainable Development, IISD

Panel: Aaron Cosbey, Senior Associate, IISD

Henry Gao, Professor of Law, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University

Ngan Vu Kim, Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Foreign Trade University, Vietnam

Jonny Peters, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G

Partners:

Foreign Trade University (FTU)

E3G 

This event is part of the WTO's Public Forum, taking place from 12 to 15 September in person in Geneva, Switzerland. You must register before 17 August to attend, which you can do at the link above. 

Event Description

Over a billion people depend on fish as primary source for protein and a 100 million are directly dependent on fishing for their livelihoods. According to the UN FAO, one third of global fish stocks are already exploited beyond sustainable levels. In 2022, the WTO reached a landmark agreement to finally end subsidized overfishing. By speeding up the entry into force of this agreement and complementing it with additional rules to tackle all harmful fisheries subsidies, WTO members can make a crucial contribution to restoring and maintaining the sustainability of fish stocks and supporting livelihoods. This session showcases perspectives from high level representatives, fisheries experts and environmental advocates. The panel will discuss why swift ratification and successful implementation of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies as well as an ambitious result from the second wave of negotiations is urgently needed to support coastal communities, ocean health and build resilience to climate change.

Partners:

The Pew Charitable Trusts (PEW)

World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)

Friends of Ocean Action (FOA)

Speakers

Moderator:

• Alice Tipping, Director, Trade and Sustainable Development, IISD

Panel:

• Alfredo Giron, Head, World Economic Forum’s Ocean Action Agenda & Friends of Ocean Action, World Economic Forum.
• Sebastian Mathew, Executive Director, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF).
• Nella Pepe Tavita-Levy, Permanent Representative/Ambassador of the Mission of Samoa.
• Heike Vesper, Chief Executive, Transformation Politics and Markets, World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Germany.