Against a backdrop of ongoing conflict, natural disasters, and economic tumult—which helped the term “permacrisis” gain wide traction—international diplomats made significant and sometimes surprising steps forward in coordinating global environmental governance. After coordinated pressure from diverse G77 countries, climate negotiators agreed to establish a dedicated loss and damage fund. Countries adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework despite thorny issues and late-night negotiating drama. Talks kicked off to shape an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution.

However, how much traction these achievements will make remains to be seen, even as many multilateral environmental agreements shift into full “implementation mode.”

Join the globetrotting Earth Negotiations Bulletin team for a review of an unprecedented year in sustainable development negotiations as they draw links between talks, consider the context of an uneven pandemic recovery, and reflect on next steps in addressing the triple planetary crisis.

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Shifting toward sustainable consumption is vital to addressing the world's pressing environmental issues and achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The scope of the sustainable consumption challenge is daunting, with trillions of products produced in millions of locations and sold to billions of consumers. Meaningful progress will require a tectonic shift for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers.

Two trends offer an opportunity to accelerate this shift. The first is the growing number of consumers worldwide who are concerned about their environmental footprint and are willing to change their consumption habits to be more sustainable. The second is the significant growth of e-commerce, which will continue reshaping consumption worldwide after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This report outlines how policy-makers can realize e-commerce’s potential to accelerate sustainable consumption by supporting clear and reliable product sustainability information for online consumers. Toward that end, this report sets out five core and three supporting actions for policy-makers who regulate product sustainability information.

The Policy Action Framework is supported by a policy and literature review entitled: E-Commerce and Product Sustainability Information: An Overview of Policies and Practices.

These publications were created as part of a project led by Consumers International and implemented in partnership with IISD. They were launched along with two additional publications from Consumers International: The State of Sustainability Information: Critical Trends, Trade-offs, and Solutions and Action Agenda: Informing Sustainable Consumer Choices in E-Commerce.

The world is not on track to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The prevalence of hunger and poverty—the two core goals which are the litmus test for everything else—are on the rise. This is being made worse by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, skyrocketing food, fertilizer, and energy prices, COVID-19, and climate change. In Africa, the situation is exacerbated by internal conflicts, political unrest, economic recessions, and swarms of desert locusts. To get back on track, it is critical to pursue policy pathways that encourage synergies and limit the trade-offs between hunger, poverty, nutrition, and climate change. This report summarizes the evidence-based and costed country roadmaps for effective public interventions to transform agriculture and food systems in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria in a way that ends hunger, makes diets healthier and more affordable, improves the productivity and incomes of small-scale producers and their households, and mitigates and adapts to climate change.

The financing gap is immense. This report shows that while it is possible to achieve sustainable food system transformation in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria, in the next decade, it would require an average additional public investment of USD 10 billion per year from 2023 to 2030 and targeting spending on a more effective portfolio of interventions that achieve multiple sustainable development outcomes. Of the total USD 10 billion, the donor share averages USD 5.8 billion per year, and the country share averages USD 4.2 billion per year. Importantly, comparing the financing gap between the long-term investment needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 and the short-term investment needed for emergency food assistance shows that while emergency assistance has increased in recent years, there is significant underfunding of the longer-term investment needs. The shortfall in longer-term funding increases the vulnerability to shocks, pushing the number of people affected by hunger and poverty higher. Donors should therefore complement and better link the increased allocation of emergency food assistance with increased investments in longerterm agricultural development priorities to prevent future crises when the next shock hits.

Filling the financing gap of USD 10 billion per year will yield immense economic, social, and environmental benefits. The prevalence of undernourishment in all three countries will decrease to under 3% in 2030 from a current projection of 22% in Ethiopia, 25% in Malawi, and 21% in Nigeria, by 2030. The transition toward healthier diets will be achieved for 248 million people, or roughly 60% of the population in each country. The incomes of 29 million small-scale producers will double on average in 2030 compared to 2015 levels. These economic and social gains will be achieved while confining greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to nationally determined contribution goals and increasing resilience to climate change of the most vulnerable.

The findings in this report are based on analysis of academic and grey literature, as well as donor-funded projects, micro- and macroeconomic modelling, and engagement and consultations with key stakeholders in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria. The report summarizes the findings of a project that explores the interactions between reducing hunger and poverty, achieving healthy diets, and addressing climate change within the evolving food systems in three countries—Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria.

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Commission, through the GIZ implemented projects Knowledge for Nutrition (K4N) and Agricultural Policy and Food and Nutrition Security. The project was designed as a contribution to, and to build upon the progress made at,  the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.

A legal framework is central to planning and implementing an orderly, just, and equitable transition to a low-carbon economy in Canada. Jurisdictions around the world that are leading the just transition—including New Zealand, Scotland, Spain, and the European Union—all have legislation grounding their just transition efforts. This brief canvases best practices from these jurisdictions and builds off the IISD report Making Good Green Jobs the Law: How Canada Can Build on International Best Practice to Advance Just Transition for All to make recommendations for federal just transition legislation here in Canada.

As non-tariff barriers become an increasingly relevant source of trade costs, regulatory policy has become an important feature in trade negotiations and the trade policy agenda overall. This paper provides an overview of how stand-alone regulatory policy chapters are increasingly featured in recent regional trade agreements (RTAs). It then does an in-depth analysis of a specific type of regulatory policy provision—that of good regulatory practices (GRPs)—as these types of provisions are becoming more prolific and are being integrated into a more diverse range of agreements involving both developed and developing countries.

The paper analyzes how GRPs, especially those promoting stakeholder engagement, are evolving in select key RTAs, notably that of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the EU-Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA). The paper concludes with key insights highlighting the policy implications for developing and least developed countries and proposes some considerations for policy thinking.

This material has been produced with funding from UK aid from the UK Government. Views expressed in the publication are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect HM Government’s official positions.

Ethiopia is not on track to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with poverty and hunger levels projected to be higher in 2030 than they are today. This is being made worse by the conflict in Tigray, swarms of desert locusts, an economic slowdown, skyrocketing food, fertilizer, and energy prices—exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as the COVID-19 pandemic—and climate change. To get back on track, it is critical to pursue policy pathways that favour synergies and limit the trade-offs between hunger, poverty, nutrition, and climate change. This report presents an evidencebased and costed country roadmap for effective public interventions to transform agriculture and food systems in Ethiopia in a way that ends hunger, makes diets healthier and more affordable, improves the productivity and incomes of small-scale producers and their households, and mitigates and adapts to climate change.

The report shows that it is possible to achieve sustainable food system transformation in the next decade by increasing public investment by USD 4.6 billion and targeting this spending on a more effective portfolio of interventions that achieve multiple sustainable development outcomes. Importantly, when comparing the financing gap between the long-term investment needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 and the short-term investment needed for emergency food assistance, there is significant underfunding of the longer-term investment needs (Figure 11). The shortfall in longer-term funding increases the vulnerability of Ethiopia to shocks and crises, increasing the number of people affected by hunger and poverty. Donors should, therefore, simultaneously increase emergency food assistance while ensuring this is linked to—and complemented with—an increase in longer-term investments to build resilience and help mitigate against future shocks and crises.

The findings are based on a review of academic and grey literature, donor-funded projects, micro- and macroeconomic modelling, and engagement and consultations with key stakeholders in Ethiopia. This report is part of a project that explores the interaction between achieving hunger, poverty reduction, and healthy diets while addressing climate change within the evolving food systems in three countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, and Nigeria.

From the clothes we wear to critical medical equipment, cotton is the most widely used natural fibre in the textile industry today, accounting for almost one quarter of all fibres manufactured worldwide.

Cultivating cotton provides livelihoods for 100 million households, of which 90% are in lower-income countries. An additional 350 million people support cotton production and basic processing by working in transportation, ginning, baling, and storage. Voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) emerged in the cotton sector more than 20 years ago to help address social and environmental challenges in the sector. As of 2019, VSS-compliant cotton accounted for at least 25% of global production. This IISD report shows that VSS compliance can help cotton producers build resilience to climate change by conserving water, protecting soil health, and adapting to climate change. In many cases, farmers that adhere to VSSs can also benefit from higher prices and incomes when compared to those growing conventionally produced cotton.

India’s energy sector is changing rapidly in response to increasing demand, the rise of clean energy, and the energy security imperative. Government policies—particularly financial support—are hugely influential in determining how the sector develops, including the direction of private sector investments, energy access, and the benefits and costs for the people of India. Mapping India’s Energy Policy is a resource to help the Government of India and others make the energy sector more equitable, secure, and aligned with the government’s target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.

In 2022, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District (SRRWD), and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Living Lab Eastern Prairies economic team collected and analyzed cost, benefit, and other related information for 10 water retention projects constructed in the Seine, Rat, and Roseau watersheds in Manitoba, Canada. The water retention projects examined in this study were constructed predominantly on livestock farms.  However, many of the producers surveyed had a combination of pasture and cropland on their farms.

Based on the evidence collected, the installation of water retention projects changed farm management, allowing for more efficiency and multiple benefits in wet and dry years. The most common benefits reported by producers were:

• Flood protection
• Extended grazing period
• Reduced need to haul water for livestock
• Improved livestock, machinery crossing through berm
• Enhanced wildlife habitat
• Improved downstream water quality

Based on the analysis of 10 projects, the average benefit-to-cost ratio for implementation of water retention project is 2.45, which means that for every dollar invested in water retention over the period of 20 years, producers and the watershed receive $2.45 in water quality, extended grazing, and other co-benefits.

Considering only livestock farms, the average benefit-to-cost ratio is 3.16, meaning that for every dollar invested, livestock producers and the watershed receive $3.16 in water quality, extended grazing, and other co-benefits. Net benefits tended to be highest for the projects that were in operation longer than other water retention projects and reported multiple on-farm benefits.

Learn more from Water Retention: A win-win option for both farm owners and neighbours

The Seal River Watershed is located in northern Manitoba, Canada, and encompasses an area of 50,000 km2, nearly 8% of the province. Due to its remote, pristine environment, the watershed holds immense value from environmental, cultural, social, and economic perspectives, including:

• Biodiversity: The watershed is home to an estimated 250 bird species and at least 350 species of other taxa, including 48 mammal species.
• Carbon storage: It stores an estimated 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to 6.2 billion tonnes of CO2, valued at CAD 314.5 billion.
• Indigenous culture: The pristine nature of the watershed allows members of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, Northlands Denesuline First Nation, Barren Lands First Nation, and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation to maintain a connection to their culture and identity.

Establishing the Seal River Watershed IPA presents a unique opportunity to protect this important ecosystem for future generations and for the Indigenous communities to share their Traditional Knowledge, history, and culture with visitors from Canada and around the world.

To support the Seal River Watershed IPA Initiative, the government of Manitoba can:

• Adopt interim measures to protect the watershed from commercial resource extraction and development.
• Establish a Seal River Watershed IPA committee or working group to undertake a feasibility study and identify provincial legislative options for establishing an accompanying Crown designation for the watershed.
• Provide in-kind technical and communications support for the Seal River Watershed Alliance, partner nations and organizations.