The latest edition of the annual State of Global Environmental Governance report reviews outcomes from climate change negotiations in Belém for the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30); the stymied plastic pollution treaty negotiations; the establishment of a new dedicated science body to inform policy-making on chemicals, waste, and pollution; and other key efforts to address the shared environmental crises of our times. 

Join the Earth Negotiations Bulletin team as they reflect on the progress and regress of 2025's environmental negotiating rooms, consider what takeaways should guide our efforts in 2026, and preview the negotiations to watch in the coming year. 

Foreword by Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. 

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LPG and PNG have played a significant role in improving clean cooking energy access in India. At the same time, reliance on LPG/PNG also creates clear constraints: affordability remains a barrier for low-income households, last-mile delivery and servicing are uneven in several geographies, and import dependence and global price volatility translate into recurring fiscal pressures. Many households also continue to "stack" fuels, using solid fuels alongside LPG/PNG, which reduces the health and welfare gains of clean cooking access. 

This report argues that addressing these constraints requires gradually diversifying India's clean cooking pathway beyond reliance on any single solution. It sets out a practical, context-specific approach that expands options while recognizing the central role LPG/PNG have played in India's clean cooking progress. The report's core proposition is a "twin-track" diversification strategy: scale e-cooking in urban and peri-urban areas where electricity access is stronger, and scale biogas in rural areas where households have adequate feedstock and where local delivery and maintenance ecosystems can be built and sustained. 

The analysis draws on fieldwork with households and users across multiple locations and compares technologies on performance, user experience, and costs. It also uses cost and scenario analysis to assess how diversified pathways can affect household affordability and broader system outcomes (including LPG demand and subsidy pressures). 

For rural biogas, the report shows that sustained use depends on strong on-the-ground delivery systems: timely installation, reliable after-sales service, routine maintenance, and local capacity to troubleshoot plant performance. Where these systems are in place and feedstock access is reliable, biogas reduces dependence on firewood and improves cooking convenience. Scaling requires addressing high upfront costs, seasonal productivity drops in colder regions, land constraints, and shortages of trained installers and technicians. 

For urban and peri-urban e-cooking, the report finds that recurring cooking costs are competitive for many households under prevailing electricity tariffs, and e-cooking adoption would increase if households can access better appliances aligned with Indian cooking practices, consumer financing to manage upfront costs, and strong repair and after-sales ecosystems. The report also emphasizes that e-cooking scale-up must be paired with improvements in electricity reliability and distribution performance and with targeted support mechanisms that effectively reach low-income households. 

Overall, the report's message is that India can strengthen clean cooking outcomes by gradually diversifying clean cooking solutions—expanding biogas in suitable rural contexts and e-cooking in urban/peri-urban contexts—to address the constraints associated with high dependence on LPG/PNG, while improving affordability, reliability, and household health outcomes through better program design and service delivery.

Read more publications from this project:

• Beyond Irrigation: Turning sunlight into supper for Kenya's women and farmers | A pilot of secondary use of solar irrigation power for clean cooking
• Beyond Irrigation: Harnessing the untapped potential of solar pumps | Lessons from a solar-powered milling pilot in Uttar Pradesh
• Ethnographic Research as a Tool for More Inclusive Just Transition Policies: Lessons from Mpumalanga, South Africa
• Coal Transition Impacts and the Approach to Inclusive Just Transition Policies in Indonesia
• Indonesia's Next Cooking Transition: Shifting to non-fossil cooking

Energy from solar irrigation systems can be harnessed to expand access to clean energy, promote gender equality and social inclusion, and maximize public investments. A randomized controlled trial in Kenya found that solar irrigation systems with batteries could power EPCs. When offered for free, the EPCs were enthusiastically accepted and actively used, especially among educated households. Tentative reductions in solid fuel use and increased solar electricity consumption hint at positive synergies between clean cooking and solar irrigation systems. However, battery constraints, competing energy demands from lighting/TV, and gendered control of batter use (men) versus cooking choices (women) limited the realized impact. For businesses and policy-makers, these results underscore that the availability of technically compatible cooking devices needs to be supported with adequate power and behavioural interventions. Solar irrigation systems could support e-cooking more effectively if battery capacities align with multi-use demands or if cooking is scheduled during solar hours when generation is abundant.

Read more publications from this project: 

• Beyond Irrigation: Harnessing the untapped potential of solar pumps | Lessons from a solar-powered milling pilot in Uttar Pradesh
• Ethnographic Research as a Tool for More Inclusive Just Transition Policies: Lessons from Mpumalanga, South Africa
• Coal Transition Impacts and the Approach to Inclusive Just Transition Policies in Indonesia
• Indonesia's Next Cooking Transition: Shifting to non-fossil cooking

India has around 1 million standalone solar irrigation pumps, much of whose capacity sits idle outside irrigation seasons. This power can be harnessed for other productive secondary uses to extend benefits to smallholders, women, and rural entrepreneurs. 

Our study conducts an experimental field study in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, to evaluate channelling that spare power into village grain mills in Uttar Pradesh. Community mills powered by solar pumps lowered milling costs, shortened travel, and enabled smaller, fresher, more diverse milling. Women, girls, and elders could mill independently, though deeper norms around household decision making reduced these impacts. Constraints were operational: operator availability, service quality, queues, and peripheral siting. Scaling secondary-use models with clear siting and service standards, female attendants, and simple retrofits can turn underused solar potential into engines of rural prosperity.

Read more publications from this project:

• Beyond Irrigation: Turning sunlight into supper for Kenya's women and farmers | A pilot of secondary use of solar irrigation power for clean cooking
• Ethnographic Research as a Tool for More Inclusive Just Transition Policies: Lessons from Mpumalanga, South Africa
• Coal Transition Impacts and the Approach to Inclusive Just Transition Policies in Indonesia
• Indonesia's Next Cooking Transition: Shifting to non-fossil cooking

In response to rising interest in local content policies, the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development conducted a survey among its member countries to discuss their experiences with such policies and take stock of lessons learned from implementing local content policies. This report identifies insights from the survey and sets out several measures governments can consider to strengthen their local content policies.

Kigali faces mounting climate and development pressures. Rapid population growth and urban expansion have increased surface runoff and soil erosion, while climate change is intensifying extreme rainfall and heat. Floods and landslides regularly damage homes, roads, and public infrastructure, as well as degrade water quality and pose serious health risks, particularly in informal and low-income settlements. 

To address these challenges, the Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA) project supports gender-responsive NbS across Kigali. Implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the World Resources Institute, the project promotes afforestation and reforestation, agroforestry, riparian buffer restoration, and urban tree planting to restore ecosystems and reduce climate risks. The interventions target 2,500 hectares across six critical micro-catchments, including the planting of 85,000 urban trees. 

The Nature-Based Infrastructure Global Resource Centre conducted a SAVi assessment to evaluate the full life-cycle costs and benefits of these NbS interventions compared to a business-as-usual scenario. 

The results show that investing in nature delivers strong and resilient returns. Over a 25-year period, NbS in Kigali generate benefits more than twice their costs, with a payback period of just 7 years. The largest gains come from avoided flood damage to urban infrastructure, protecting hundreds of buildings and critical road networks, alongside major reductions in health costs linked to water pollution, floods, and heat.

This report provides a state-of-play update of the two main e-commerce tracks at the WTO: the multilateral Work Programme on Electronic Commerce—including debates on the future of the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions—and the plurilateral Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on electronic commerce, where a coalition of members has been negotiating new disciplines aimed at fostering an open, predictable, and trusted digital trade environment. Focusing on developments in 2024 and 2025, the report identifies key issues, areas of convergence and divergence, and the milestones ahead of the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14). It also outlines the expected elements of the potential Agreement on Electronic Commerce. This publication forms part of a broader series tracking the evolution of e-commerce discussions at the WTO to support policy-makers and negotiators navigating this rapidly evolving field. 

This report was prepared with financial support from the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida).

Indonesia currently spends trillions subsidizing the 3-kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder each year for households—much of it flowing to households that do not need financial support. LPG subsidy stood at IDR 80.2 trillion/USD 5.14 billion in 2024, resulting in substantial financial strains on the government’s budget, along with energy security concerns, as most of the domestically consumed LPG was imported. 

This report compares three alternatives to LPG for cooking—induction stoves, DME, and city gas—and finds that induction stoves are the most practical and viable option to support Indonesia’s shift to cleaner, non-fossil fuel cooking. The report's findings are based on focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and a survey of 100 households that had previously received an induction stove as part of a government pilot. 

This report finds that induction is cheaper for both households and the government when LPG is not subsidized. Encouraging households to switch from LPG to induction can result in household savings. Induction cookstoves also encourage public spending on upgrading the electricity supply, which can support broader electrification goals, such as those for cooling, electric vehicles, rooftop solar, and home batteries. 

LPG subsidies remain the single largest barrier to induction adoption. As LPG subsidies are universally available, households have limited incentive to shift to alternatives. The need to protect people on low income from higher energy prices necessitates a scenario where LPG subsidies are maintained for low-income households; for well-off households, LPG subsidies can be swapped for induction subsidies. This report finds that this scenario can generate annual savings for the government ranging from IDR 7.61 trillion (approximately USD 459 million) to IDR 11.87 trillion (approximately USD 717 million). These savings can be used for the capital investment required for the adoption of induction cookstoves among households. 

This report recommends the following: 

1. Make electricity consumption and upgrades more affordable for scaling up adoption of induction cookstoves: Reform regulations to lower voltage upgrade costs, establish block tariffs for low-income households while ensuring cost recovery, and prioritize grid modernization.
2. Implement subsidies for induction stoves: To reduce LPG dependence, implement one-off connection subsidies for induction stoves and induction compliant cookware.
3. Reform LPG subsidies: The single largest barrier to induction adoption is the current approach to LPG subsidies. Reforming LPG subsidies with clear milestones and public awareness, while testing approaches like cash transfers to better target women from low-income households, could save IDR 7–12 trillion per year in public spending.

Project partner:

Read more publications from this project: 

• Beyond Irrigation: Turning sunlight into supper for Kenya's women and farmers | A pilot of secondary use of solar irrigation power for clean cooking
• Beyond Irrigation: Harnessing the untapped potential of solar pumps | Lessons from a solar-powered milling pilot in Uttar Pradesh
• Ethnographic Research as a Tool for More Inclusive Just Transition Policies: Lessons from Mpumalanga, South Africa
• Coal Transition Impacts and the Approach to Inclusive Just Transition Policies in Indonesia 

Driven by the triple imperatives of energy security, affordability, and sustainability, the Government of India is gradually bringing structural policy reforms to align public financial flows with its clean energy goals. Results are beginning to show: clean energy subsidies provided over the last decade have contributed to a fivefold growth in renewable capacity since 2014 and have raised the non-fossil share of India’s electricity capacity to cross 50% in 2025. This energy capacity shift places India among a select group of countries that have achieved one of their nationally determined contributions targets 5 years ahead of time. 

This study finds that government support for fossil fuels in India reduced to five times the size of clean energy in FY 2024—the lowest in the last 5 years. As an important form of government support, subsidies are seeing an important shift. Clean energy subsidies remain small but grew by 31% year-on-year in FY 2024, reflecting continued government support. Fossil fuel subsidy, in contrast, recorded a 12% decline—the sharpest since COVID-19—but this was due to cyclical price movements, not structural policy shifts. 

However, India's energy state-owned enterprises (SOEs) continue to invest in new fossil fuel assets, led by oil and gas investments in FY 2024. The study finds that some SOEs are beginning to diversify, although the scale remains relatively small. 

In FY 2024, fossil fuels remained a critical source of government revenue, contributing nearly INR 9 lakh crore (USD 108 billion) annually to the exchequer (16% of all government revenue─centre and state combined). Three tax measures—excise and value-added tax on petrol and diesel, and the Goods and Services Tax compensation cess on coal (now abolished) alone—contributed nearly 50% of these revenues in FY 2024. 

The study makes the following recommendations: 

1. Improve targeting of electricity subsidies: As India achieves higher levels of electrification, effective subsidy delivery—through smart metering, direct benefit transfers, and performance-linked grants to states—can help maintain affordability while containing fiscal growth in subsidy outlays. These reforms also strengthen distribution companies' finances and enable renewable energy integration through improved price signals.
2. Guide SOE capital expenditures toward clean-energy priorities: As India expands clean energy programs, SOEs can play a catalytic role by diversifying portfolios, adopting sustainability metrics, and reinvesting in emerging clean-tech supply chains. Shifting a part of SOE capital expenditures from fossil fuel expansion to clean infrastructure can accelerate India's long-term energy independence goals.
3. Build fiscal resilience through revenue diversification: Introducing next-generation measures—such as targeted carbon pricing, green taxes, and broader tax-base adjustments—can help gradually reduce reliance on volatile fossil revenues while supporting social and environmental objectives.

Deforestation is among the most urgent environmental challenges in global value chains. It is driven by a combination of factors, including agricultural expansion, market demand for forest-risk commodities, and land-use dynamics. International trade also plays an important role in shaping incentives and sourcing patterns for forest-risk commodities, such as soy, palm oil, cocoa, timber, and beef. 

This analysis focuses on the roles of VSSs operating in forest-risk commodity sectors—such as the Forest Stewardship Council, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and Rainforest Alliance—and private sector actors in addressing deforestation across value chains. This evaluation utilizes a practical four-step sustainable and resilient value chains framework: Plan/Prepare, Respond, Recover, and Adapt. This approach assesses the effectiveness of standards and corporate practices, from establishing preventative rules to implementing lasting systemic change. 

Key findings indicate that prevention (Plan/Prepare) is the strongest area of progress, with organizations increasingly using advanced monitoring tools and clear rules to stop forest clearing. However, gaps persist in the response stage: monitoring often fails to reach indirect suppliers, especially those beyond tier 1 and 2 in supply chains. And while suspicion of deforestation triggers audits, specific interventions—such as providing necessary support to small farmers or setting clear compliance timelines—are often absent. 

Efforts to recover damaged areas, such as requirements tied to remediation, ecosystem rehabilitation, and grievance processes, have strengthened across VSSs and private sector actors, but implementation remains a challenge. Finally, adaptation actions, including landscape and jurisdictional initiatives and long-term producer support, are emerging but still need to be scaled beyond pilot-level interventions across geographies. 

The report underscores that meaningful progress requires not only strong requirements but also verification, transparency, and equitable support, particularly for smallholders and indirect suppliers. It also highlights the need to continue improving the design and implementation of VSSs and private sector approaches so they are more accessible, consistent, and aligned with emerging policy expectations, like the European Union Deforestation Regulation. 

Without sustained follow-through, early gains may not be durable, and the drivers of deforestation may persist. Ensuring that systems prevent, respond to, and learn from deforestation—while enabling farmers and local communities to thrive—is essential for resilient, deforestation-free value chains.