Building Resilience to Global Risks: NAP Global Network Progress Report 2019-2020
This progress report on the NAP Global Network’s activities from December 2019 to November 2020 highlights our work to support developing countries in accelerating adaptation planning and action.
Risk and resilience were dominant themes in 2020. While the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the speed and severity of some of the emerging risks we face, the unrelenting impacts of climate change served as a reminder of the ongoing (and growing) risks we still struggle to manage. In many cases, we saw the pandemic and climate crises converge, whether through amplified impacts or win–win recovery solutions. Either way, the case for building resilience to a range of different but oftentimes mutually reinforcing risks was clear.
Addressing the Digital Divide in the Joint Statement Initiative on E-Commerce
From enabling issues to data and source code provisions
This paper examines the evolution of the "digital divide" concept, especially given the ongoing negotiations among a group of WTO members for new, binding e-commerce rules. This process is known as the Joint Statement Initiative on Electronic Commerce, which began in 2017 in the form of exploratory discussions. The authors also consider how the digital divide has been treated under the World Trade Organization's Work Programme on E-Commerce, launched in 1998.
As an integral part of its analysis, the paper examines textual proposals raised under the current Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) negotiations, especially those submissions on data flows, data localization, and source code. The authors also consider how the digital divide is treated under meeting agendas and other key documents.
This material has been produced with funding by UK aid from the United Kingdom government. The Umbrella Grant is a project of the Trade and Investment Advocacy Fund (TAF2+) and is implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, in consortium with CUTS International, Geneva; BKP Economic Advisors; and InterAnalysis. This paper benefited from peer review, contributions, and editorial support from Yasmin Ismail (who also contributed substantive inputs), Soledad Leal Campos, Sofía Baliño, Susan Joekes, Rashmi Jose, Rashid S. Kaukab, and Julien Grollier, among others.
Views expressed in the publication are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect HM Government’s official positions or those of TAF2+.
AquaHacking is a start-up competition designed to support technology and business development addressing environmental problems related to fresh water. Launched by the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, the AquaHacking Challenge has been running in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region since 2015 resulting in 18 new start-ups.
In 2020, we were thrilled to host one of three regional AquaHacking initiatives which will focus on Lake Winnipeg and its watershed. We challenged students and young professionals to team up and develop innovative solutions to problems plaguing the Lake Winnipeg watershed, such as algal blooms, pharmaceuticals and microplastics.
On October 20th, we held our virtual awards ceremony to announce where each team placed and celebrate their success. Particuleye Technologies won first place, earning $20,000 in seed funding for their smart camera device capable of quantifying and classifying microplastic particles in real-time in running water using machine learning.
This report takes you through the whole year, from the kick-off in January to the final in October, introducing to all the faces of the competition, the prizes, and, of course, the innovative and exciting solutions to the issues that plague Lake Winnipeg.
The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) received a request from the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UEMOA, in French) for capacity-building support for members of Women in Mining of West Africa (WIMOWA). Specifically, the IGF was called on to promote a better understanding of the important issues related to gender and mining governance and to highlight relevant examples of good practices for members.
The IGF responded first with a training needs assessment survey to map WIMOWA members’ existing capacities, learning needs, and expectations. In turn, the IGF used the survey results to develop a tailored half-day training program that was delivered to mining-sector stakeholders in 13 West African nations on November 26, 2020.
This assessment report examines Panama's mining policy framework specifically concerning six important focus areas and makes recommendations for policy reform and improvement.
Panama's mining sector is small but holds significant potential for growth. With a world-class copper mine beginning operation in 2019, the sector is expected to soon account for 6% of the county's GDP. Mining has the potential to become the country’s second largest economic sector, after the Panama Canal, and fund sustainable development initiatives throughout the country.
The government requested a Mining Policy Framework assessment from Intergovernmental Forum in Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) to help authorities manage potential mining developments in accordance with international best practices and with a focus on achieving Panama’s sustainable development objectives.
To inform this report, the assessment team carried out extensive desk-based research and an in-country mission to visit large- and small-scale mines and meet with numerous stakeholders from government, civil society, aboriginal communities, international organizations, and the private sector.
This report presents Panama's economic, legal, and mining contexts and highlights strengths and gaps in the country's mining laws, policies, and regulations across six thematic areas: legal and policy environment, financial benefit optimization, socioeconomic benefit optimization, environmental management, post-mining transition, and artisanal and small-scale mining. Finally, the report includes specific recommendations for policy reform.
Modelling employment impacts resulting from circular economy interventions
The Circular Economy (CE) assessment explores the outcomes of implementing CE interventions for selected products and sectors in Finland. The areas analyzed include consumer electronics and appliances, textiles, food, mining and scrap metals, forestry and paper production, and buildings. A dynamic simulation model was developed and calibrated to the Finnish context for each of these areas.
Overall, positive employment impacts are forecast for the consumer electronics and forestry sectors, mainly emerging from the high labour intensity of collection, recycling and refurbishing activities. Buildings show net employment creation in the short term, and declines in the medium and longer terms. Negative employment impacts are forecast for all other sectors, largely due to the high contribution of upstream activities to total employment, in the form of primary production of materials (e.g., food, metal ores, textiles), and a reduction of retail jobs resulting from a higher lifetime of products.
Related models are available for download, which can be viewed using software available through Vensim:
Filling the Gap: A review of Multilateral Development Banks' efforts to scale up financing for climate adaptation
This report highlights the challenges of and opportunities for scaling up Multilateral Development Banks' (MDBs) financing for adaptation and aligning these efforts with the Paris Agreement.
As MDBs work toward alignment with the Paris Agreement in their developing country portfolios, they must transition from a focus on increasing climate finance for stand-alone adaptation projects or added-on adaptation components of development projects to instead ensuring that all investments consider and incorporate the adaptation objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Effective MDB-developing country engagement to generate financing for adaptation requires drawing on developing country adaptation plans and processes when formulating MDB country partnership strategies and identifying new programs and investments.
The main research questions addressed in this paper are:
What constraints and barriers are MDBs encountering as they work to scale-up and mainstream adaptation across their investment portfolios at the developing country level?
How are MDBs working with developing country governments to overcome these challenges and further integrate adaptation into their development finance portfolios?
Finance for adaptation is not flowing at the pace or scale needed to address the needs of developing countries. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are expected to play a critical role in addressing this adaptation gap because they provide and leverage large-volume finance under attractive terms. MDBs have taken significant steps to increase the provision of climate finance and to align their development finance flows with the Paris Agreement, yet MDBs have encountered challenges when attempting to fully mainstream climate resilience across their portfolios.
The report highlights the need for MDBs to transition from a focus on increasing climate finance for stand-alone adaptation projects or added-on adaptation components of development projects to instead ensuring that all investments consider and incorporate the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The report concludes that MDBs’ success in increasing finance for adaptation requires active support of developing country partners, improved tracking of adaptation finance at the country level, alignment of MDB finance with national adaptation priorities, and engagement of the private sector in adaptation actions.
Circular Economy Proxy Measures: Indicators on job effects for a closed loop economy
Indicators on job effects for a closed-loop economy
The six proxy measures to a circular economy examined in this report (material efficiency, waste recycling and reuse, industrial ecology, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and green procurement) present insights into the job trends and job growth potential under a closed-loop approach. All six measures present positive net benefits in job creation (direct and indirect) and induced economic impacts. As a whole, jobs linked to these proxy measures are more labour-intensive than fossil-fuel-related jobs and are able to decouple economic activity from greenhouse emissions.
Six proxy measures were chosen based on their sectoral constitution in material and energy efficiency, recovery, repair, and recycling. Each of these was examined in terms of their potential job impacts based on tracking where they have been implemented as well as research studies on their potential. Findings of the study include:
Material efficiency has a positive job creation capacity due to three main factors: (1) the profitability of more efficient technologies (innovation); (2) changes in labour productivity; and (3) the foreign value added (meaning the value added of imported inputs that are used to produce products or services designed for export).
Waste recycling and reuse are closely related to material efficiency. In Europe alone, direct jobs could increase by up to 322,000 and an additional 115 million tonnes of recycled material could be created if a 70% target for recycling was successfully reached. These benefits would trickle down to 160,900 indirect jobs and 80,400 induced jobs.
Industrial ecology is the concept of creating industrial networks to reduce waste significantly. There is a gap in studies that outline job creation potential within industrial ecology. Nonetheless, due to its micro-level thinking between related industries, it enables positive contributions to economic benefits under a closed-loop approach.
Energy efficiency is not only one of the most cost-effective ways to save energy and reduce emissions; it is also considered labour-intensive and conducive to a high rate of job creation, particularly in manufacturing, engineering, and construction. In Europe, ambitious energy-efficiency programs could see an estimated potential increase of 0.7 million to 4.2 million new jobs by 2030.
Renewable energy is on the rise globally, providing not only access to reliable, localized energy supply, but also employing many people around the world. Regarding direct job creation, renewable energy technologies have higher labour intensity than fossil fuels, particularly during the construction and installation phases. Comparing the different technologies, the average renewable energy potential is 0.65 jobs/GWh, moving upward to 0.80 jobs/GWh when energy efficiency is added to the mix. These two are far above the estimated average of 0.15 jobs/GWh for fossil fuel technologies.
Green procurement enables a circular economy; although the job effects are less easily quantifiable than for other proxy measures, it can support local job creation while providing decent working conditions. Most of the literature reviewed focused on ways governments are able to utilize green procurement to shift goods and service providers’ business models toward a circular economy via government purchasing power.
This literature review seeks to enunciate the different understandings of the term "circular economy" and the baselines that have been used for projections on job impacts and growth. It introduces some of the targets for European countries that are championing the transformation from a linear to a circular economy. The report also outlines the current literature's understanding of job sectors that might change in the future
With growth in GDP and real wages around the world, inequality, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and material extractions have increased at an even higher rate. The resource- and carbon-intensive model of “take, make, waste” is no longer acceptable.
The economic growth in many countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas remains tied to GHG emissions, material extraction, water, and land use. Pioneers have been forging a different path in understanding the economy. Some countries have started to decouple economic growth from GHG emissions by increasing the use of renewable energy, carbon pricing, green product subsidies, and policies to promote green jobs. European organizations, corporations, and governments have written reports and done preliminary pilots to advance an understanding of job impacts in the circular economy in which prosperity and growth are decoupled from material use and GHG emissions.
Though early reports and legislation on the circular economy date back over a decade, there is still little cohesion on concrete definitions of what a circular economy looks like in practice, including what kinds of jobs fit the description and which ones are affected by a transition toward a circular economy. This means that analyses of job impacts and trade-related effects still differ widely across current publications and approaches.
International Best Practices: Estimating tax subsidies for fossil fuels in Canada
This report outlines international best practices in defining and estimating tax subsidies and other types of foregone government revenue. It also counters common misconceptions about subsidy definitions and quantification methods.
Canadian governments provide financial support for fossil fuels through a variety of measures, including direct transfers to fossil fuel producers. Much of this support is provided through the tax system. Tax expenditures reduce government revenue and create incentives for the production and consumption of fossil fuels. A clear understanding of the extent of tax subsidies is necessary to assess their impacts on government budgets—particularly important in the context of the COVID-19 economic recovery—as well as on air pollution and climate change. But the transparency of the cost of Canada’s tax subsidies for fossil fuels is poor. We recommend that all tax expenditures and other types of foregone revenue be measured and reported in line with international guidelines and best practices.
