The accelerating climate and energy crises make it urgent to expand renewable energy and boost energy efficiency. For many developing countries, the challenge is twofold: moving away from fossil fuels while also ensuring affordable, reliable energy reaches populations. Achieving the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target means tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency gains by 2030. Yet, investment in green energy remains uneven. Most private capital flows to low-risk, mature markets, leaving many emerging and developing economies grappling with limited fiscal space, high debt, and policy uncertainty. 

The use of tax incentives to attract green investment 

To attract investment, governments have increasingly turned to green tax incentives, ranging from tax rate reductions and accelerated depreciation to customs duty exemptions. These tools can redirect capital toward climate-aligned projects. But poorly designed or isolated measures can erode public revenue and fail to generate meaningful investment, raising both efficiency and equity concerns. 

This report examines how 35 emerging and developing economies design and implement green tax incentives. It explores the trends shaping their use and identifies opportunities to make them more effective.

This report offers the most recent and comprehensive estimates of the extensive financial support for LNG exports provided by the Government of BC and the Government of Canada. It quantifies existing and forthcoming public financial support of LNG facilities and the pipelines directly feeding them. Because several annual subsidies apply only once projects are operational, the report includes a projection of cumulative financial support to the end of 2030. LNG sector support from the federal government includes CAD 1.62 billion in public finance and CAD 151.95 million in infrastructure funding. By 2031, the BC government will have provided around CAD 2.16 billion in support to the LNG sector through foregone revenue, reduced electricity rates, and enabling infrastructure. 

Government support for LNG has been provided via public financing, direct transfers, favourable tax rules, preferential electricity rates, infrastructure development, carbon tax exemptions, and a project-specific waiver on anti-dumping steel tariffs meant to protect Canadian manufacturing. If current policies remain unchanged, by 2031, total federal and provincial support for the sector will amount to CAD 3.93 billion. 

LNG development in BC was first proposed as a gateway to Asian energy markets to provide relief from declining U.S. demand and low North American prices. Current trade tensions have given new life to these arguments, but the actual public benefit of expanding LNG production demands greater scrutiny. A projected glut of LNG supply over the coming decade is expected to drive down global prices. Comparatively expensive Canadian LNG may struggle to compete, raising the risk of projects becoming unviable stranded assets. A closer look is vital due to the scale of government financial support, the uncertainty of LNG markets, and the questionable long-term economic viability of Canadian LNG in a world transitioning away from fossil fuels. 

Key recommendations

• Implement the federal government's 2022 commitment to eliminate all domestic finance for fossil fuels and update the Inefficient Fossil Fuel Subsidies Framework to exclude funding for LNG infrastructure.
• Enforce the BC government's requirement for LNG facilities to be fully net-zero by 2030.
• Exclude LNG facilities from receiving funding under the Clean BC Industry Fund.
• Strengthen the provincial output-based pricing system, removing exemptions for new entrants and fugitive emissions.
• Charge LNG projects the full cost of grid electricity.
• All projects under consideration should undergo a robust economic analysis ensuring economic viability under provincial and federal climate policy-compliant scenarios.
• Phase out tax subsidies, including provincial sales tax deferrals on construction costs and the Natural Gas Tax Credit.
• Increase transparency of reporting on government funding to enable full accounting of the economic costs of LNG development.

This report measures government support by quantifying energy subsidies, public sector undertakings for fossil fuels, electricity transmission and distribution, renewable energy, biofuels, and electric vehicles between FY 2020 and FY 2024. The report also quantifies the government's energy revenues in Chhattisgarh from different types of energy. This is the first time a report has quantified the combined value of Union and state government support in Chhattisgarh's energy sector. 

We identified four times more subsidies for coal, oil, and gas than for clean energy. Overall, fossil fuel subsidies have doubled since FY 2020. 

Key recommendations include the following:

• The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office has prepared a vision document that sets a target of 66% of renewable energy in the state's energy mix by 2047. The state's vision document outlines a renewable-led generation plan but can do more by establishing clear state-level net-zero targets that help transition government support from fossil to clean energy.
• Better targeting of electricity subsidies to low-income households can help control growing fiscal expenditure. The savings can be redirected into rooftop solar, solar pumps, small-scale wind, and repurposed thermal assets. 
• Diversify revenue beyond coal, oil, and gas by enhancing production of minerals like iron ore, bauxite, and limestone, and align industrial development with the state’s long-term decarbonization goals. 
• Establish a state-led coordination committee with key departments and stakeholders to design social support mechanisms for coal-dependent workers and communities. Collaborating with the Ministry of Coal and coal firm Southeastern Coalfields Limited to diversify operations and create alternative employment can drive just transition planning in the state. 

Critical minerals and metals are central in the global energy transition, advanced manufacturing, and digital transformation. The increasing demand for minerals such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, and platinum group metals highlights their strategic significance. However, the definition of criticality is not uniform across countries; it is somewhat shaped by national economic and strategic priorities, supply chain vulnerabilities, and policy objectives.

The report provides an overview of the diverse approaches to defining what criticality is in light of global trends. While critical minerals strategies are often associated with industrialized economies seeking to secure supply chains, resource-rich countries—including many in Africa—increasingly adopt critical minerals policies to maximize value creation, economic diversification, and industrial development. 

Given the global nature of critical mineral supply chains, the report calls for greater international cooperation, particularly through platforms such as the G20. It emphasizes the need for fair and inclusive governance frameworks that balance security of supply concerns with Sustainable Development Goals. Strengthened partnerships between African and global actors can promote responsible sourcing, industrial growth, and technological innovation to ensure the transition to a mineral-intensive future is equitable for all economies. 

The report is a co-publication of the African Development Bank and the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF).

This publication analyzes how technology transfer for climate change adaptation is addressed at the intersection of climate policy and trade policy frameworks, with a particular focus on the Global South. It reviews the roles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the World Trade Organization, highlighting barriers, country experiences, and negotiations around trade as a driver for adaptation technology transfer. The report critically explores definitions of adaptation technology as well as challenges and examples of adaptation technology transfer. It further assesses trade policy mechanisms and documents how countries identify technology needs and barriers through national adaptation plans and technology needs assessments. The report concludes with lessons and actionable recommendations for trade and climate policy-makers and development partners to better link climate and trade policies, advancing technology transfer to enhance climate resilience in the Global South.

Somalia is a relatively new country with a small mining sector comprising artisanal and small-scale mining operations. The government is seeking to take its first steps toward coherent mining governance while planning for the future. 

This report presents an assessment of Somalia's readiness and capacity to implement the Mining Policy Framework (MPF) of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF). It presents the context for MPF implementation in Somalia and focuses on key policy and legislative strengths and weaknesses.

This report examines the economic and wider risks of continued oil and gas expansion in the Colombian Amazon, a region of immense ecological and cultural significance. Colombia has positioned itself as an international leader in climate and environmental policy and in late 2022, the government announced its intention to end new oil and gas exploration and called for a transition away from fossil fuels. Nonetheless, ongoing and potential new fossil fuel activities in the region, encouraged by narratives around economic profitability and energy security, continue to threaten the livelihoods and human rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the region's rich biodiversity, and its carbon sinks. 

The economic and security case for fossil fuel expansion in the Amazon is, however, poorly substantiated, as shown by this report. Instead, permanently removing the unassigned oil and gas blocks, managing declining oil production, investing in the region's rich natural and human capital, and safeguarding its communities would promote sustainable development and deliver Colombia's environmental and climate commitments. This would consolidate its international leadership and attract further investments into green growth sectors like renewables, eco-tourism, and sustainable agriculture, supporting its USD 40 billion climate and nature investment plan.

Common policies include data-related requirements, technical standards, and controls on the import and export of digital goods and services. The growing proliferation of such measures is impacting trade, including digital trade. Developing countries, in particular, are paying increasing attention to cybersecurity issues and considering how these measures affect digital trade opportunities as well as broader social and development priorities. 

This policy primer provides an overview of the main types of cybersecurity measures being implemented at the national level, their underlying policy objectives, and their trade implications. It examines how different types of cybersecurity measures interact with international trade rules and explores how cybersecurity is addressed in trade agreements, including World Trade Organization (WTO) law and newer trade agreements. The paper highlights critical gaps in current trade frameworks, especially concerning capacity building and international cooperation, and concludes with policy considerations for strengthening cybersecurity governance to support inclusive digital trade and development. 

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 second 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. 3: Setting International Technical Standards to Shape Digital Trade Policy: Approaches, challenges, and opportunities for developing countries
• Report No. 4: Data and Digital Trade Law: Balancing rules, policy space, and development

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin team has been a decades-long witness and record of this advocacy. In consultation with Indigenous experts and drawing from more than 30 years covering the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, this report explores where Indigenous Peoples' negotiators made progress in 2024, which lessons could apply across silos to other environmental negotiations, and what obstacles still remain as the world struggles to respond to the triple planetary crisis. 

With special thanks to Jennifer Corpuz, Preston Hardison, Donna Mitzi Lagdameo, JulietGrace Luwedde, Marco Montoiro, Graeme Reed, and Camila Zepeda.

In 2023, the first global stocktake concluded at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai, giving a clearer picture of the state of global climate action. It highlighted that despite near-universal actions to implement the Paris Agreement, countries are still not on track to meet the long-term temperature and adaptation goals. At the same time, it underscored the critical role of the NAP process in helping developing countries systematically identify and address their medium- and long-term priorities for adapting to climate change. 

This report summarizes the key messages on adaptation from the outcomes of the first global stocktake for developing countries' NAP teams, adaptation policy-makers and practitioners, and UNFCCC negotiators. It also provides recommendations and actionable steps on how countries can implement the decisions as part of their NAP processes.