Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies in Canada requires provinces to step up. While the federal government has committed to ending fossil fuel subsidies by 2023, movement on the subsidy file cannot rely on federal commitments alone. This report examines levels of fossil fuel subsidies in Canada’s main fossil fuel-producing provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

In total, these four provinces provided at least CAD 2.5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies in fiscal year (FY) 2020/21 and 1.5 billion in FY 2021/22 (as of December 2021).

Provinces are diverting significant public funds to incentivize fossil fuel production that may not otherwise occur, and provincial governments are missing out on millions in uncollected royalty and tax revenue from fossil fuels.

Key findings:

• British Columbia provided CAD 765.3 million in subsidies in FY 2020/21. The province continues to support liquefied natural gas, undermining the CleanBC plan as well as any other climate progress the provincial government is making.
• Alberta’s subsidies totalled CAD 1.32 billion in FY 2020/21. Alberta committed to fossil fuel production as a pandemic recovery strategy, increasing subsidies and dispensing the Technology, Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Fund in ways that incentivize fossil fuel production.
• Saskatchewan provided subsidies of CAD 409.3 million in FY 2020/21 and has introduced new subsidies in recent years, such as drilling incentives for producers.
• Newfoundland and Labrador’s subsidies totalled CAD 82.6 million in FY 2020/21. Subsidies are increasing, and recent changes to the royalty structure for the Terra Nova oil field will cost taxpayers an additional CAD 300 million over the lifespan of the project.

Shifting waves of COVID-19 cases, unequal vaccines distributions, and ongoing travel restrictions continued to harm countries' efforts to reach agreement, even in a year when the impacts of climate change wreaked havoc around the world.

But 2021 was also a year of learning. Online meeting practices evolved. We had “hybrid” meetings involving both online and in-person modes of work, often rotating starting times as delegates tried to juggle time zone equity with day jobs. Forays into in-person meetings took massive leaps at the IUCN World Congress, the Barcelona Convention COP 22, and the Glasgow Climate Change Conference.

Our Earth Negotiations Bulletin team explores the highlights and lowlights in a tumultuous year—including the problematic popularity of pledging, the strategies that helped online meetings make progress, and the growing recognition of inequality as an environmental issue. With 2022 featuring possible milestones for plastics, biodiversity, the ocean, and chemicals, it's more important than ever to build on lessons learned.

Mining activity has the potential to affect many aspects of the environment, and the responsible management of natural resources is key to preserving them for future generations. Water, in particular, is a critical resource for which competing demands may often be the root source of conflict and tension within and between communities, societies, and nations.

Governments play the critical role of balancing competing demands for water between mining, agriculture, industry, recreation, and household usage, among others. Within the context of the mining sector, governments are responsible for overseeing water extraction, use, discharge, and quality at the site, watershed, and regional levels.

To uphold this responsibility, governments must effectively monitor and evaluate mine water management efforts. Many mining nations have implemented water monitoring frameworks (WMFs), and this document reviews these existing programs to provide details on commonalities between them.

This document reviews key issues of mine water impacts on the aquatic environment along with international standards for WMFs. Then it reviews the role of governments aiming to develop and implement a WMF and summarizes available tools for policy-makers. It also reviews the implementation of participatory monitoring programs under the umbrella of a WMF.

Officially adopted in 2015 by Canada and 192 other countries as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda, the SDGs are commitments to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure all people enjoy peace and prosperity by promoting inclusive, equitable, safe, and sustainable societies. Winnipeg is the second Canadian city to publish a Voluntary Local Review (after Kelowna, British Columbia), joining cities around the globe that are working towards a better world with fair, safe, and sustainable societies.

Using data from Peg, Winnipeg’s community indicator system, this report highlights where Winnipeg is rising to meet today’s most difficult policy challenges, as well as identifying gaps that can help us move forward in the years ahead. All data included in this report is tracked on Peg, an interactive data dashboard that gathers statistics from official agencies (Statistics Canada, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Winnipeg Police Services, City of Winnipeg, etc.) at both the neighbourhood and city levels, and translates it into easy-to-grasp charts, graphs, and maps.

The report shares the city’s progress towards localizing the SDGs and contains deep insights into well-being trends, including how the pandemic has reshaped life for those living in Manitoba’s capital.

This scoping report was commissioned under the project, Enhancing Caribbean Civil Society’s Access and Readiness for Climate Finance. The project is being implemented by national designated authorities (NDAs) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) across seven Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States, including Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Suriname. The Climate Change Division, Ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change in Jamaica is the lead NDA. The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is the implementing entity. The project is funded by the GCF’s Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme.

Energy fiscal policies (of which fossil fuel subsidies are a subset) in South Africa are linked to promoting domestic energy production, increasing energy security, and providing access to affordable energy. This report aims to assist the South African government by identifying whether or not its energy fiscal policies are aligned with its stated objectives for the energy sector. Fiscal policies include broad government spending, including subsidies, taxes, and grants.

The report compares fossil fuel subsidies, tax and non-tax revenues, and externalities, revealing that social costs are five times higher than revenues and that billons are spent every year on propping up the fossil fuel industry.

Foreign investment can provide much-needed financial resources for developing countries, but the risk of costly claims under the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) system can counteract these benefits. Investment dispute prevention and management agencies (DPMAs) are therefore frequently touted as a potential solution to the ISDS challenge, but how much do we know about them?

Only a relatively small number of states have established such agencies and there is considerable variation in their design and operation. This report reviews and analyzes how they operate and what effects they have had. It seeks to contribute to a more informed and evidence-based policy discussion.

The report starts by situating DPMAs in the context of wider discussions about investment governance, pulling apart some of the assumptions regarding the inevitability of ISDS risks and the underlying drivers of investment disputes. It then reviews and compares existing DPMAs in seven different states, drawing attention to the risks and benefits associated with them and how they operate in relation to other systems of investment governance.

There is a democratic imperative for fast and comprehensive action on just transition in Canada. This paper examines how federal legislation could advance just transition, based on practices from jurisdictions around the world and results from 15 qualitative interviews with domestic and international just transition experts. Learning from jurisdictions such as Spain, South Africa, New Zealand, Illinois, and others, IISD identified the following priorities for federal just transition legislation:

1. Link just transition to a 1.5°C-aligned pathway.
2. Entrench just transition principles, including social dialogue and decent work, in line with International Labour Organization guidelines.
3. Name who will take part in social dialogue. This includes governments (including Indigenous governments), unions, and employers, with an inclusive role for civil society.
4. Commit to Leave No One Behind, refer specifically to Indigenous rights, and make linkages to environmental justice.
5. Formally establish and identify the role, mandate, membership, and independence of the proposed advisory body.
6. Mandate the creation of a comprehensive just transition strategy.
7. Establish sufficient institutional structure, including identifying responsibilities for implementation, and a mechanism to ensure collaboration between relevant ministries.
8. Ensure adequate authority for implementing bodies and specify approaches for accountability, monitoring, and transparency.

The paper also examines the limitations of legislation and identifies additional priorities for federal just transition policy, including:

• Mainstreaming just transition principles across departments, including establishing and entrenching social dialogue processes with workers and communities at the table
• Improving corporate accountability to avoid unfairly shifting burdens to government and taxpayers
• Providing proactive, scaled-up funding for just transition that supports local decision making
• Pursuing measures such as green industrial policy, labour market planning and adjustment, and improving social protection

In summer 2021, Climate Action Network Canada – Réseau action climat (CAN-Rac) held a series of workshops to open dialogues and spark conversations among civil society groups (CAN-Rac members and allies) on the implications of net-zero in Canada. IISD was invited to report on the outcomes from the workshops on behalf of CAN-Rac.

Overall, five major discussion topics emerged from the workshops:

1. Energy transition, energy mix, and fossil fuel phase-out
2. Establishing boundaries for the “net” in “net zero”
3. Decision making for pathway choices and priorities
4. Climate and environmental justice
5. Incremental change versus systems change.

A primary objective of these workshops was to identify areas of clear agreement to inform approaches to net-zero that CAN-Rac (and its members and allies) can uphold and advocate for in the coming months and years. The workshops helped identify potential new shared principles to respond to rapidly evolving conversations on net-zero domestically and internationally. Participants discussed what policy asks could support these principles, and what future activities and research might be needed to support them.

By capturing these workshop discussions, this report aims to help set the groundwork for future net-zero conversations among CAN-Rac members and allies in Canada in the months and years ahead.

This policy guide provides meaningful, succinct, and targeted information to enable health experts to engage in and follow global environmental processes at an elevated level, focusing on intersections where policy approaches could incorporate health and well-being issues. The report's goal is to create a bridge so experts on environmental agreements contribute to robust health policy, while health professionals strengthen environmental agreements—all while inviting a broad landscape view of Planetary Health and sustainable development.