Key Messages

• The report examines the impacts of India’s subsidies to cooking gas—and their reform—from a gender perspective.
• On average, when cooking with liquified petroleum gas (LPG) rather than biomass, women saved about one hour per day due to reduced cooking and cleaning times.
• The report recommends reviewing subsidy targeting policies so that more poor households benefit from ongoing LPG subsidies because its findings show current LPG subsidies to be inefficient and untargeted.

The report examines the impacts of India’s subsidies to cooking gas—and their reform—from a gender perspective. The research explores how liquified petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy policies and their reform affect women and girls in low-income households. These questions were answered via a survey of over 800 households, examining of secondary data, and focus group discussions.

This research found that India’s schemes to promote clean cooking are improving energy access for poor women. However, around half of the women surveyed are being left behind because they are not using LPG and continue to cook with biomass. Women saved on average about one hour per day due to reduced cooking and cleaning times when cooking with LPG rather than biomass. These women also benefited from a reduction in exposure to harmful indoor air pollution and drudgery.

According to the research, current LPG subsidies are inefficient and untargeted. India has two broad LPG subsidy types: connection subsidies called PMUY that are directed to women’s bank accounts, and consumption subsidies called PAHAL. Among surveyed households, only 48 per cent of PMUY beneficiaries were among the poorest 40 per cent of households. Similarly, under surveyed PAHAL beneficiaries, 48 per cent did not hold below the poverty line (BPL) cards.

India is reviewing its energy subsidies and aims to increase energy access and women’s empowerment. These reforms present an opportunity for policy-makers to deliver and target policies that cluster gender and energy access benefits toward the poor. The report recommends reviewing subsidy targeting policies, so more poor households benefit from ongoing LPG subsidies. It also suggests undertaking subsidy reform cautiously to avoid negative energy access impacts. The report recommends a more holistic strategy for clean cooking in India that promotes the development of non-fossil fuel-cooking technologies, including cooking on electricity.

Key Messages

• At a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 35 per cent from 2008 to 2016, volumes of tea produced in compliance with voluntary sustainability standards (VSSs) have reached at least 19 per cent of overall production.
• The greatest potential for expanding VSS-compliant tea production lies in the main growing countries, such as China, India and Sri Lanka.
• Some Low Human Development Countries (LHDCs) where VSS-compliant tea is produced show promising signs of growth, which could be leveraged if the expected demand growth of more sustainable tea balances the existing oversupply.

The tea report is the third in the Sustainable Commodities Marketplace Series from IISD, which presents sustainable production and consumption market information on agricultural commodities to foster transparency, knowledge and strategic decision making for sustainable development. The first report, on coffee, and the second on cocoa were launched in 2019. Future reports will focus on the production of bananas, cotton, palm oil, soybeans and sugar. 

This meeting report is the result of a one-day workshop held in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 13, 2019, on the subjects of global economic governance, income inequality and sustainable development.

The meeting focused specifically on global trade and investment regimes, looking at the issues of market access, electronic commerce, competition policy and industrial policy. The report summarizes the main points raised and outlines potential future work in this area that could help address some of the governance and research gaps identified. The workshop participants were from academia, think tanks, civil society and international agencies, who took part in their personal capacities.

The impacts of climate change are not gender-neutral. Consequently, responses to these impacts, whether at the policy level or on the ground in vulnerable communities, must be gender-responsive.

The NAP process is a key mechanism for defining adaptation priorities, channelling resources and implementing adaptation actions. It therefore presents a key opportunity to address the gender dimensions of climate change if it is undertaken in a gender-responsive manner.

This toolkit is designed to support country efforts to pursue a gender-responsive NAP process. It will be useful for government actors coordinating the NAP process, as well as for stakeholders and development partners supporting adaptation planning and implementation. The toolkit offers a flexible approach, recognizing that there are opportunities to integrate gender considerations regardless of where you are in the NAP process.

It is organized around the key entry points in the NAP process, based on the elements outlined in the UNFCCC Technical Guidelines for the NAP Process produced by the Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG). It also provides guidance on addressing gender in the enabling activities that facilitate progress and increase effectiveness in the NAP process, including the establishment of institutional arrangements, capacity development, stakeholder engagement, information sharing and securing finance.

Éléments principaux

(English below)

• La pêcherie de sardinelles dans les eaux de la Gambie, de la Guinée-Bissau, de la Mauritanie et du Sénégal fait face à une situation de surcapacité et les stocks de sardinelles sont surexploités. Ces défis ont un effet négatif sur les communautés ouest-africaines pour qui ces ressources halieutiques constituent un important moyen de subsistance et contribuent à la sécurité alimentaire.
• Les subventions à la pêche sont l’un des facteurs qui ont contribué à cette situation et lui permettent de perdurer. Cette étude suggère que les flottes artisanales et industrielles actives dans la pêcherie de sardinelles bénéficient pour la plupart de subventions qui ont pour effet d’augmenter leur capacité de pêche, en particulier en diminuant les coûts du carburant et de l’accès aux eaux d’autres pays. Ces subventions semblent jouer un rôle important du point de vue de leur rentabilité.
• De nouvelles règles de l'OMC sur les subventions à la pêche, associées à une meilleure gestion de la pêche, pourraient contribuer à améliorer la situation environnementale et économique dans cette pêcherie et d’autres pêcheries ouest-africaines. Elles devraient néanmoins s’accompagner d’une période de transition convenable pour la pêche artisanale, afin de se prémunir des impacts sociaux potentiellement négatifs qu’une réforme des subventions pourrait avoir à court terme.
• Une telle amélioration de la durabilité des activités de pêche revêt une importance fondamentale dans l’optique de la réalisation des Objectifs de développement durable en Afrique de l’Ouest, en particulier dans certaines régions côtières.

Le programme de développement durable à l’horizon 2030 des Nations Unies inclut une cible spécifique concernant la conclusion, d’ici 2020, des négociations de l’OMC en vue de discipliner les subventions à la pêche qui ont des impacts néfastes sur l’environnement. Dans le cadre de ces négociations, de nouvelles règles sont actuellement envisagées dans trois domaines particuliers : (1) les subventions qui contribuent à la pêche illicite, non déclarée et non réglementée, (2) les subventions pour la pêche de stocks de poissons surexploités et (3) les subventions qui contribuent à la surpêche et la surcapacité de manière plus large. Afin de faciliter une meilleure compréhension de la manière dont de nouvelles règles de l’OMC s’appliqueraient en pratique, l’Institut international du développement durable a produit trois études de cas qui explorent les impacts potentiels de telles disciplines dans trois pêcheries se situant dans trois régions différentes.

Cette étude de cas se penche sur la pêcherie de sardinelles dans les eaux de quatre pays ouest-africains (Gambie, Guinée-Bissau, Mauritanie, Sénégal). Elle offre un aperçu de la pêcherie et de sa gestion, examine les subventions dont bénéficient les flottes qui ciblent les sardinelles et évalue de manière qualitative les impacts que différentes règles de l’OMC pourraient avoir sur cette pêcherie. Elle évoque également certaines pistes pour la réforme des subventions à la pêche.

Exploring the Potential Impacts of WTO Fisheries Subsidies Rules: The case of Sardinella in West Africa

Key Messages

• The sardinella fishery in the waters of the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal suffers from a situation of excessive fishing capacity, and sardinella stocks are considered to be overfished. These challenges have adverse consequences for West African communities, whose livelihoods and food security rely on this resource.
• Fisheries subsidies are one of the key factors that have allowed this situation to develop and still allow it to persist. This study suggests that most of the artisanal and industrial fleets active in the sardinella fishery benefit from capacity-enhancing fisheries subsidies, in particular to cover the costs of fuel and access to other countries’ waters. These subsidies appear to play an important role in their profitability.
• Meaningful World Trade Organization subsidy prohibitions, alongside better fisheries management, could help to improve the overall environmental and economic situation of the sardinella fishery and other West African fisheries. They should, however, be accompanied by an appropriate transition period for small-scale fishers, in order to mitigate the negative social impacts subsidy reform could have in the short term.
• Such enhanced sustainability of fishing activities is of fundamental importance for the realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in West Africa, especially in certain coastal regions.

The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes a specific target (Sustainable Development Goal 14.6) of completing, by 2020, negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to discipline harmful fisheries subsidies. In the context of these negotiations, new rules are discussed in three specific areas: (1) subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, (2) subsidies to the fishing of stocks that are already overfished and (3) subsidies that more broadly contribute to overfishing and overcapacity. To help build understanding of how possible subsidy rules might apply in practice, the International Institute for Sustainable Development has produced three case studies to explore the possible impact of such WTO subsidy disciplines in three fisheries in distinct geographical areas.

This case study looks at the sardinella fishery in the waters of four West African countries (The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Senegal). It provides an overview of the fishery and its governance, examines the subsidy patterns of fleets targeting sardinella and gives a qualitative assessment of the impact that different possible WTO rules on fisheries subsidies could have in this fishery. It also provides insights about potential pathways for the reform of harmful fisheries subsidies.

2019 was a year of profile and political support for adaptation. The UN reports that 120 developing countries have launched NAP processes.

The Global Commission on Adaptation launched its flagship report, marking the beginning of a “Year of Action” that aims to accelerate ambitious adaptation action around the world. The UN Secretary General prioritized resilience and adaptation as one of the action areas for the 2019 Climate Summit. Meanwhile, the IPCC’s special reports on Climate Change and Land and on the Ocean and Cryosphere reinforced both the need for and promise of adaptation.

This progress report on the NAP Global Network’s activities from December 2018 to November 2019 highlights how we have contributed to global efforts for adaptation to succeed at scale and over the longer term by supporting developing countries to advance national adaptation planning and action.

Key Messages

• The volume of sustainably produced cocoa is growing faster than conventionally produced one, in addition to signs of growth in VSS-compliant production among Low Human Development Countries (LHDCs).
• Market price volatility, income disparity across the value chain, and the effects of rising temperatures are among the challenges that the supply is facing.
• Voluntary sustainability standards can be an important catalyst to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers and contribute to poverty alleviation in cocoa-producing countries.

The cocoa report is the second in the Sustainable Commodities Marketplace Series from IISD, which presents sustainable production and consumption market information on agricultural commodities to foster transparency, knowledge and strategic decision-making for sustainable development. Future reports will focus on banana, cotton, palm oil, soybean, sugar and tea.  

Key Messages

• Governments are planning to produce about 50% more fossil fuels by 2030 than would be consistent with a 2°C pathway and 120% more than would be consistent with a 1.5°C pathway.
• These planned levels of fossil fuel production are also inconsistent with the collective climate pledges under the Paris Agreement. As a consequence, the global production gap is even larger than the already-significant global emissions gap.
• The continued expansion of fossil fuel production—and the widening of the global production gap—is underpinned by a combination of ambitious national plans, government subsidies to producers, and other forms of public finance.
• Several governments have already adopted policies to restrict fossil fuel production, providing momentum and important lessons for broader adoption.
• International cooperation plays a central role in winding down fossil fuel production.

This report addresses the necessary winding down of the world’s production of fossil fuels in order to meet climate goals. Though coal, oil, and gas are the central drivers of climate change, they are rarely the subject of international climate policy and negotiations. This report aims to expand that discourse and provide a metric for assessing how far the world is from production levels that are consistent with global climate goals.

Specifically, this first Production Gap Report assesses the discrepancy between government plans for fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with 1.5°C and 2°C pathways. This production gap tells us the magnitude of the challenge.

The report reviews, across 10 fossil-fuel-producing countries, the policies and actions that expand fossil fuel production and, in turn, widen the gap. It also provides policy options that can help countries better align production with climate goals. This is especially relevant over the next year, as countries prepare new or updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs), which set out their new emission reduction plans and climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.

This report is a product of collaboration among SEI, IISD, ODI, Climate Analytics, CICERO and UNEP. 

Key Messages

• BC’s fossil fuel subsidies reached CAD 830 million in 2017–2018. New subsidies continue to be created, including significant support for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.
• Provincial fossil fuel subsidies undermine the CleanBC plan introduced by the government in 2018 and hold the province back from meeting its targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
• This IISD report calls on British Columbia to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and ensure policy coherence to maximize climate action.

British Columbia (BC), which has a reputation as the most environmentally friendly Canadian province, is in fact one of the nation’s biggest supporters of the fossil fuel industry. Each year, the province provides hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies for fossil fuels.

The majority of BC's fossil fuel subsidies go to fossil fuel producers, with hundreds of millions provided each year in royalty credits. Since not all royalty credits are used in the year they are granted, the province has amassed at least CAD 2.6 billion to CAD 3.1 billion in outstanding royalty credits from fossil fuel producers.

BC is also providing significant support for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. The new BC-LNG Canada Agreement is just one example of support that serves to lock in high-carbon investments at the expense of sustainable energy alternatives.

BC is on the front lines of climate change. The past few years have been record years for wildfires, and the province is already seeing the impacts of coastal erosion and sea level rise. Though the province has introduced policies such as the CleanBC plan and carbon pricing regime, fossil fuel subsidy reform must be part and parcel of BC's efforts to address climate change.

Key Messages

• IISD is proud to have pioneered the practice of harvesting cattails and other plants from water retention areas and drainage ditches to remove phosphorus from watersheds, improve wetland habitat, and produce an innovative and sustainable source of biomass for energy, compost and bioproducts.
• Using this type of ‘unconventional’ waste biomass for energy or bioproducts has many added environmental benefits.
• We can then apply those materials to the land to recycle nutrients (such as phosphorus and nitrogen) and to add organic material and carbon back to the soil—a key component of the circular economy.