Key Messages

• As the clean energy transition advances, the BRICS governments need to start preparing their budgets for a fiscal transition out of revenues from fossil fuel production and consumption. The clean energy transition offers alternatives to fossil fuels and thus can lead to the decrease in revenues for the BRICS governments in two ways: through a drop in fossil fuel prices and, over the longer term, through the shrinkage of absolute amounts of fossil fuel production and consumption.
• In 2017, taxes and other revenues from fossil fuel production and consumption amounted to 23.6 per cent of general government revenue in Russia, 17.8 per cent in India, 6.8 per cent in both Brazil and South Africa, and 4.2 per cent in China. These revenues should be used strategically to help diversify BRICS economies away from fossil fuels and cover the social costs of transition, including for vulnerable groups of consumers, workers and communities currently depending on fossil fuels.
• The BRICS governments’ budgets are also being eroded by subsidies to fossil fuel production and consumption. Phasing out these subsidies will both increase government revenues and promote transition beyond fossil fuels.

For the first time, this report brings together official data on governments’ revenues and subsidies associated with fossil fuels in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (referred to collectively as BRICS). It offers initial recommendations on aligning BRICS's fiscal policies with a clean energy transition. 

First, the cross-country analysis discusses external and domestic drivers of the clean energy transition and what they mean for BRICS as exporters and importers of different fuels. After an overview of the BRICS  countries’ revenues and subsidies associated with fossil fuels, the report discusses avenues for fiscal transition beyond fossil fuels. The conclusion presents policy recommendations. The cross-country analysis also includes an Annex with data tables and a methodology and scope description.

In addition to the cross-country analysis, the report includes country briefs on Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that highlight the role of fossil fuels in respective economies. These briefs present the aggregated data on both revenues and subsidies related to fossil fuels in each country. The country briefs can be downloaded separately.  

This analysis has been prepared in partnership with the Leave it in the Ground Initiative.

Key Messages

• This study examines the use of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) as an innovative bioremediation option for smaller bodies of water that suffer from algal blooms.
• FTWs are a proven concept and have been successfully deployed around the world for the treatment of surface water and stormwater runoff, municipal wastewater effluent, landfill leachate and mine site tailings ponds.
• Our research at IISD Experimental Lakes Area showed that a relatively small increase in phosphorus resulted in a rapid increase in plant productivity on floating platforms, suggesting that FTWs can be an effective bioremediation option for Manitoba.

Wetlands and their aquatic plant communities play an important role in improving water quality. The use of wetlands, both natural or constructed, is widely practiced around the world for bioremediation treatment of stormwater runoff, municipal wastewater effluent, landfill leachate and mine tailings.

FTWs allow water treatment in water bodies that are too deep for plants to grow and under fluctuating water levels. Plants take up nutrients and contaminants themselves, but research suggests the majority of nutrient uptake and degradation is by the biofilm—the algae, bacteria and other microbes that coat the extensive surface area of plant roots and island surface.

Floating wetland platforms were deployed in two lakes of different phosphorus concentrations at IISD Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA).This study demonstrated that FTWs are an effective passive biological bioremediation option to help remediate eutrophication in surface waters. FTWs offer an innovative “natural infrastructure” alternative to conventional in-lake remediation strategies.

Ultimately, FTWs deployed in combination with other in-lake remediation treatments and watershed nutrient reduction strategies, targeting both internal and external nutrient loading sources, would be most effective and provide additional positive contributions to the health of the aquatic environment.

The rapid advance of new technologies in the mining industry is completely reshaping the way mines operate across the globe. And, while technological progress is a constant feature of human evolution, current industrial innovations, including in the mining sector, are particularly disruptive.

Moreover, the capabilities created by technical innovations are being significantly enhanced by the synergy of many different technological advances working together. As a result of those changes, we expect mining processes to be smarter, leaner, more efficient and more flexible in terms of employment—and arguably more sustainable.

These case studies highlight the key emerging technologies that are being rolled out in the mining sector and their potential impacts on mining-rich countries. Case studies based on innovations in Australia, Mali and South Africa, focusing on two different types of technologies (namely automation and water-saving technologies) illustrate what the possible impacts could be and how governments are responding to those challenges.

Women play a crucial role in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). While their challenges in the sector have been studied extensively, increased effort is needed to create a more widespread understanding of their importance to ASM.

This case study focuses on women and ASM, drawn from examples from Mongolia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting how to empower women’s meaningful participation in the sector through the building of skills and institutional capacities.

The piece is part of our series on women in ASM, including our report entitled Women in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining: Challenges and Opportunities for Greater Participation and our case study Women in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining: Interventions for Greater Participation.

Key Messages

IISD makes the following policy recommendations for a sustainable transport fuel policy in Indonesia:

• Implement a pricing model such as smoothing, ratcheting or a cap and floor that would reduce price fluctuations while reducing subsidies.
• Phase out or impose higher prices on the most polluting fuels to discourage use. If subsidies must be provided, switch these to cleaner fuels.
• Promote reform with the public by emphasizing that the funds previously directed to fuel subsidies will be used to fund:
  1. Infrastructure for low-emission transport solutions, such as public transport, charging stations for electric vehicles, and adapting roads for bicycles and pedestrians.
  2. Enforcing higher fuel and vehicle emission standards.
  3. Transitioning from coal to renewables as a means to reduce air pollution.
  4. Reducing health and environmental impacts of air pollution.
• Improve biofuel governance to ensure that contributions to the energy sector do not create additional emissions.

This joint publication from the International Trade Centre (ITC), International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) provides comprehensive data and analysis involving the sustainability standards being used across several commodities.

More specifically, the standards considered here are used in the banana, cocoa, coffee, cotton, oil palm, soybean, sugarcane, tea and forestry sectors. The report consolidates data provided by 14 standards organizations, which are also accessible in an interactive format on the ITC website. This is the fourth year of the State of Sustainable Markets report, with this edition also providing statistics on indicators such as land area used to grow standard-compliant crops, production volume and much more. 

Key Messages

•  A suite of new technologies in the mining sector is dramatically changing the way mining is done.
• While this will have many positive impacts, it will also mean far fewer locals employed in mining operations, and job descriptions that have a much heavier emphasis on complex skills.
• The speed of change is such that policy-makers need to think today about how to handle the emerging challenges.

This review surveys the landscape of new technologies sweeping through the mining sector that are disrupting traditional mining practice. It catalogues those technologies and assesses their likely impacts, both positive and negative. It then focuses on automation and other technologies that will reduce the overall labour force replacing low-skilled jobs with those that demand more technical skills. It concludes with some thoughts about what this might mean for the relationship between mining companies and their host communities and host countries, while offering preliminary observations about the policy options available to governments, mining companies and local communities to address the challenges ahead.

Key Messages

• Indonesia has a goal to increase the share of renewables to 23 per cent of the national energy mix but is currently off pace to meet this target.
• There are a number of strategies for increasing the share of renewables. This report outlines several possible solutions, including strategies to increase solar and biomass power, reduce reliance on coal, and reforming energy pricing.

As part of the Paris Agreement, Indonesia committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 29 per cent below its baseline emissions by 2030 (and by 41 per cent conditional on international support). In addition to the 23 per cent renewable energy goal, Indonesia also has a target of reaching 100 per cent electrification ratio by 2020. These targets reflect the stated desire of the Indonesian government to meet its climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement, as well as its political commitment to the Indonesian people to supply all Indonesians with electricity.

However, Indonesia is currently off target. Contrary to the government’s predictions, installed capacity additions of renewable energy power plants have been slow over the past three years. The total renewable installed capacity stood at 9.4 GW as of the end of 2018, well under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources’ target of 15.5 GW by the second quarter of 2018. In 2018, the International Institute for Sustainable Development published a report identifying a series of “roadblocks” for renewable energy development in Indonesia. Moreover, the report argued that the low prices and constantly fluctuating policies were the result of a fundamental political challenge, or trilemma, facing the sector.

Despite the challenging policy environment, there are also opportunities for real progress in several areas between now and 2025. This report addresses seven concrete ways in which the Indonesian government can overcome the existing obstacles and make significant progress to grow renewable energy before 2025. In particular, to make progress it will be necessary to change the way in which key institutions operate and the incentives that they face. But if these changes are made, it is possible for Indonesia to have an energy policy that fulfills energy sovereignty, moves toward energy self-sufficiency and achieves energy justice for all.

Key Messages

The report looks at different measures that have been used to address tobacco use, fossil fuel combustion and climate change, and concludes with a series of recommendations to support action against air pollution and climate change, including:

• Naming and addressing fossil fuels as the root cause of the problem, as was done with tobacco. This also involves raising awareness of the negative health effects (beyond the environmental ones), both locally and globally, of the burning of fossil fuels.
• Implementing government measures to regulate and curb the production and use of fossil fuels through the many instruments available, such as getting market prices right through subsidy reform, taxation measures and the introduction of measures banning the specific production and consumption of certain products.
• Defining adequate, fair and just transition plans away from unhealthy commodities, recognizing the needs of those groups dependent on oil, gas and coal, whether they be consumers or employees.

Fossil fuel combustion is a major source of toxic air pollution that kills 7 million people every year, almost the same number of deaths caused by tobacco smoking. Burning fossil fuels releases a series of gases and tiny particles that have noxious effects for human health, leading to several respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

This report searches to drive action on air pollution and climate change through the regulation of fossil fuels, considering the experience with tobacco control.

The report has been prepared for health care and environmental audiences, including policy-makers, NGOs and academics. It discusses local, national and international measures that can be employed to restrict the production and use of tobacco, on the one hand, and fossil fuels, on the other. Its objective is to facilitate a common language and vision by sharing similarities between tobacco control, air quality improvement and climate change mitigation. 

The Consolidated Financial Statements of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, reflecting the year ending March 31, 2019.