India's electricity system is evolving rapidly in response to rising demand, a changing resource mix, and the need for round-the-clock clean power. While coal remains the dominant source of reliable electricity, the declining costs of solar, wind, and battery storage are opening realistic alternatives. FDRE projects deliver clean power in line with specific demand profiles, shifting India from generation-based procurement to demand-based renewable solutions. However, uptake has been slow and questions remain around cost competitiveness, revenue certainty, and investment risk for developers and distribution companies. 

This study evaluates three core questions: whether FDRE can match or undercut new thermal power on cost; what kind of government support (if any) would be required to close any cost gap; and how FDRE deployment affects economic growth, employment, air pollution, and climate outcomes. Using scenario modelling, externality assessments, and stakeholder consultations, we compare FDRE cost trajectories with new pithead coal plants, estimate cost gaps to 2050, and explore the broader economic benefits of scaling FDRE. 

Our findings suggest that FDRE can provide reliable clean power at competitive prices, but that market design and tender structure will determine the pace and scale of deployment. The recommendations focus on practical changes that improve developer certainty, reveal true resource costs, and align energy procurement with long-term national priorities.

This study finds that while standards and initiatives are increasingly used to promote environmental and social performance, their rapid proliferation has created a fragmented and often confusing landscape for governments, companies, and communities. 

To address these challenges, the report identifies 15 hallmarks of effective sustainability standards across governance, scope, performance assurance, review mechanisms, and viability. The report further recommends these serve as a practical reference tool for policy-makers, that independent assessments of impacts be prioritized, and that greater cooperation and interoperability become a primary focus moving forward.

Renewable energy, including solar and wind power, is becoming increasingly accepted by the public—and cost effective. In 2024, renewables accounted for 29.9% of global electricity generation, 46% of total installed power capacity, and over 90% of newly added capacity. Solar power increased by a record 29%, continuing the trend of doubling global solar capacity every 3 years. 

The global clean energy transition is gathering speed, but it carries its own complex environmental footprint. On average, renewable energies require more land than fossil fuels. This higher land footprint has raised concerns a rapid clean energy transition could harm land quality and compete with other land uses, such as food production, biodiversity conservation, and carbon sequestration. Renewable energy technologies also heavily rely on extraction and processing of critical minerals, which further increases their land footprint. 

This report explores challenges and opportunities at the renewable energy–land nexus. The authors scan the recent scientific and grey literature on interactions between renewable energy and land alongside integrated approaches that consider these interactions to create multiple benefits for the climate, land, biodiversity, and people. The report discusses

• the land footprint of different renewable energy sources, while identifying how each source interacts with land and reviewing the potential negative and positive impacts that can arise from these interactions,
• strategies to reduce land demand for renewable energy, and design systems and approaches that minimize land degradation and enhance benefits for land, biodiversity, climate, and people, and
• governance and finance aspects that can provide entry points for decision-makers to support the development of integrated approaches.

Public procurement is a powerful yet underused lever for the EU's climate, circularity, and competitiveness goals. Although public authorities in the European Union spend nearly EUR 2 trillion each year, the current framework keeps GPP voluntary. Implementation remains uneven, rules are fragmented, and buyers face legal uncertainty and limited guidance. As a result, major opportunities to steer markets and cut emissions remain untapped. The missed opportunities are clear: few tenders include environmental criteria, most contracts are still awarded on lowest price, and legal uncertainty discourages ambitious GPP. Yet where sustainability requirements are clear and predictable, countries see rapid uptake, innovation, and emissions reductions. 

As the European Commission prepares to revise the procurement directives, this report sets out a practical roadmap for strengthening GPP. It identifies the structural challenges of GPP and outlines five high-level recommendations supported by detailed reform options. These include making GPP the default through a comply-or-explain approach, tying European preference rules to environmental performance, simplifying and harmonizing requirements, strengthening monitoring and data systems, and investing in professionalization. 

Together, these reforms would simplify procedures, improve accountability, build the skills and capacity of contracting authorities, and better align public spending with the EU's climate, circularity, and competitiveness objectives. They offer a coherent package for turning procurement from a missed opportunity into a strategic lever for Europe’s green transition.

Indonesia’s shift away from coal offers a powerful opportunity to advance its climate commitments under the Paris Agreement while building more resilient, diverse, and inclusive local economies. This report assesses how a well-managed transition can unlock new engines of growth and quality jobs across five major coal-producing provinces: East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, and Jambi.

Combining quantitative modelling with qualitative field research, the study examines how planned coal phase-outs could reshape economic output, employment, and livelihoods—especially for informal workers, women, and youth. It evaluates three policy scenarios that range from business-as-usual contraction to proactive, investment-led strategies that channel resources into high-multiplier industries and emerging green economy sectors.

The findings highlight that, while provinces such as East Kalimantan and South Sumatra face higher exposure to coal decline, targeted investment in food and beverage manufacturing, green industries, and other diversified sectors can drive robust job creation and economic renewal. More diversified regions, like Jambi, are already well-positioned to capture these opportunities. Insights from East Kutai show that communities are eager for alternatives and that inclusive planning, stronger social protection, and workforce reskilling can ensure people benefit directly from the transition.

The report concludes with strategic recommendations for national and local governments to seize this opportunity: strengthen institutional coordination, mainstream gender equality and social inclusion, expand safety nets, and develop locally tailored transition roadmaps. It also underscores the importance of combining macroeconomic analysis with community-level insights to design a just, job-creating, and future-ready energy transition for Indonesia.

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
• Indonesia's Next Cooking Transition: Shifting to non-fossil cooking

This policy primer provides a comprehensive overview of digital technical standards: what they are, how they are developed, and why they are vital for digital trade policy. It explores international governance frameworks, standard-setting approaches, and the influence of trade agreements, while highlighting strategies major economies use to lead in defining these standards. The primer also addresses the unique challenges developing countries face in engaging with these processes and offers practical recommendations for policy-makers and trade officials. 

This report is part of a policy primer series, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), aimed at deepening understanding of the key policy and regulatory foundations that shape today's digital economy.

This is the third report of the Building Blocks of Digital Trade Regulation series. You can continue exploring the series here:

• Report No. 1: Consumer Protection and E-Commerce: Issues for developing country policy-makers
• Report No. 2: Cybersecurity and International Trade: Understanding the policy landscape
• Report No. 4: Data and Digital Trade Law: Balancing rules, policy space, and development

Dire Dawa lies in one of Ethiopia's most flood-prone catchments. Seasonal flash floods from the Dechatu River cause recurring damage to homes, infrastructure, and livelihoods, while deforestation, land degradation, and rapid urban growth have reduced the land's ability to absorb water. At the same time, groundwater depletion and pollution are intensifying water scarcity and health risks. 

To address these challenges, the SUNCASA (Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa) initiative, implemented by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the World Resources Institute, and local partners with support from Global Affairs Canada, promotes gender-responsive NbS interventions in Dire Dawa. These include afforestation and agroforestry to restore degraded land, riparian buffer restoration to reduce runoff and erosion, and urban tree planting to mitigate flooding and heat. 

The Nature-Based Infrastructure Global Resource Centre conducted a SAVi assessment to evaluate the economic, environmental, and social performance of these interventions compared to a business-as-usual scenario. 

The results show that investing in nature provides strong and measurable returns. Every USD 1 invested in NbS generates USD 1.36 in benefits. The greatest impacts come from avoided flood damage to infrastructure, reduced health costs from water pollution and heat, and increased carbon sequestration—storing up to 175,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and creating nearly 7,000 jobs by 2050. 

These findings show that NbS can restore degraded ecosystems, protect communities from climate impacts, and support sustainable livelihoods. Integrating these measures into local planning and investment strategies will help Dire Dawa strengthen climate resilience and promote inclusive development.

As G20 countries seek productive investment in infrastructure, energy, education, health, and climate resilience both individually and as a group, one immediate opportunity remains underutilized yet actionable—fossil fuel subsidy reform. 

In 2023, G20 countries spent USD 794 billion on fossil fuel subsidies. These subsidies undermine climate goals, strain public budgets, distort markets, and weaken energy security by locking countries into volatile fossil fuel supply chains.

While emergency measures during the energy crisis explain the fossil fuel subsidy spike in recent years, the failure to implement the G20's commitment "to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies," dating back to 2009, underscores that the G20 has fallen short of finding a constructive way to fossil fuel subsidy reform beyond blanket statements. 

This is exactly what the policy report acts on: our proposed framework categorizes fossil fuel subsidies in three tiers—quick phase-out, phase-out with a robust strategy, and time-limited exemptions—and offers a practical roadmap to deliver national reforms.

Analyzing fossil fuel subsidies from Brazil, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and South Africa shows that many subsidies can be removed quickly, while most fiscal value lies in measures requiring well-planned, medium-term reforms.

G20 economies can pursue these efforts individually and do not need to wait for every member to move at the same pace. Three G20 countries—Canada, France, and the United Kingdom—have already joined the Coalition on Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Incentives including Subsidies (COFFIS) to continue combining collective and national efforts and make reforming fossil fuel subsidies both actionable and achievable.

South Africa's energy transition presents opportunities for low-carbon growth but also deep social risks in coal-dependent provinces like Mpumalanga. This report investigates how ethnographic methods can strengthen procedural justice and local participation in just transition policy-making. 

Using immersive fieldwork and a pilot co-production study in communities, such as Komati, Phola, and Emalahleni, the research identifies information gaps, exclusion of women and informal workers, and declining community services following coal plant closures. It demonstrates that ethnographic approaches—rooted in trust, lived experience, and long-term presence—yield deeper insights than one-off consultations. 

The report recommends embedding ethnography and co-production into just transition frameworks, establishing dedicated funding for inclusive engagement, and training government officials and community leaders in participatory research methods. Doing so can help ensure that vulnerable groups, particularly women and youth, are not left behind as South Africa advances its just energy transition.

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
• Coal Transition Impacts and the Approach to Inclusive Just Transition Policies in Indonesia
• Indonesia's Next Cooking Transition: Shifting to non-fossil cooking

Non-metallic materials—that is, minerals that are neither metals nor fuels—are present in every country and are essential for people’s daily lives. We estimate that over USD 217 billion of such minerals are produced annually in 66 countries around the world; the global total is likely to be much higher. 

In this context, how can governments design tax and royalty policies for non-metallic mining that achieve the right balance of mobilizing tax revenues from non-metallic mining; facilitating production, which may boost competitiveness and create jobs in downstream industries; and other objectives? This is the focus of the present study. Much of the existing analysis of mining tax and royalties is focused on higher-value, metallic minerals and may not be appropriate for non-metallic minerals. 

This report, therefore, proposes a framework for governments to design tax and royalty policies for non-metallic minerals. It focuses on the issues of royalties, export taxes, corporate income tax (especially transfer pricing challenges), tax incentives, artisanal mining taxation, and environmental taxation.