This report reviews the decline of coal mining in South Wales in the United Kingdom.

It is part of a broader project examining the economic and social effects that arise when mining communities transition away from coal, and the policies that could be implemented to address these effects.  While the context of transition varies, the experience of South Wales offers some useful lessons for policy-makers and civil society elsewhere that face a similar shift away from coal. This report aims to highlight these lessons while describing the conditions in South Wales, in hopes of informing future policy development elsewhere.

The report reviews the economic and political context of coal mining in South Wales, describing the origins of coal mining, its growth through the industrial revolution and into the inter-war period, its gradual but irreversible decline after the Second World War, and its eventual disappearance in the 1990s. It then examines the pronounced social and community consequences of mining and the closure of coalmines, drawing attention to the role of unionized labour and the role it played throughout the rise and fall of mining in Wales.

The government introduced a number of policies in an attempt to mitigate the effects of the transition away from coal mining. In particular, this case study examines the role of agencies established to attract inward investment into the region, notably the Welsh Development Agency (WDA), and the contribution of European Union funds for this purpose. It concludes that on a macroeconomic level, and in the short and medium terms, available evidence suggests that WDA was an extremely successful intervention but at the level of individual mining communities and over the longer term, the success of the WDA was more muted.

More broadly, the overarching lesson from the Welsh experience is the powerful influence of global economic factors and the need to establish a critical mass of local skills and resilience to respond to both the closure of collieries and subsequent economic changes.

This report estimates fossil fuel subsidies to be around USD 425 billion. Such subsidies represent large lost opportunities for governments to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable development.

Removal of consumer subsidies can lead to carbon emission reductions (6 to 8 per cent by 2050 globally), Reductions that can be improved further with a switch or a "SWAP" towards sustainable energy. This report describes the scale and impact of fossil fuel subsidies on sustainable development. It describes the SWAP concept to switch savings made from fossil fuel subsidy reform, towards sustainable energy, energy efficiency and safety nets. The report provides potential SWAP outlines for Bangladesh, Indonesia, Morocco and Zambia. "Making the Switch" was written for the Nordic Council Ministers by the Global Subsidies Initiative of IISD and Gaia Consulting.

Subsidies to offset the astronomical price of fossil-fuel-based energy cost the government of Nunavut more than $60 million annually,

$36.5 million of which goes toward diesel-based electricity generation, according to a new report that shows the extent to which diesel subsidies mask how economically beneficial renewable energy can be.

The report, entitled Costing Energy and Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Nunavut, was commissioned by World Wildlife Fund Canada and undertaken by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

An earlier report on barriers to successful renewable-energy deployment in remote northern communities brought to light the need to accurately account for subsidies provided by various levels of government for diesel-fuel purchase, delivery, storage and power-generation infrastructure in the Canadian Arctic. That report — prepared by the Pembina Institute for WWF-Canada — noted that the true price of diesel is masked by multiple layers of subsidies that reduce the price to an artificial level, creating a barrier to adoption of renewable energy.

Across Canada, utility companies are tasked with keeping the lights on in their communities. Renewable energy is proven to be reliable, even in extreme climates, and research shows it can save some Arctic communities millions in ongoing costs, even with existing diesel subsidies. The savings would be even more significant if diesel subsidies were shifted to renewable-energy sources instead.

Megan Leslie, president and CEO of WWF-Canada, says:

“For the sake of our climate globally, and marine environments locally, we need to transition away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, and we have the ideal opportunity to do so while building a more sustainable local economy. There is no reason for the government of Canada to continue funding the use of a fossil fuel that is not only damaging the environment and human health, but is also more expensive than a clean form of energy. Instead, federal funds should support communities as they develop reliable, sustainable energy sources.”

 Paul Crowley, vice-president of Arctic conservation for WWF-Canada, says:

“Over the past two years we have seen increasing interest from Nunavummiut who want a safe, reliable, cost-effective energy system that lets them keep the lights on without putting the environment they depend on at risk. A hybrid renewable-energy system is possible. And even better, avoiding costly diesel will result in financial savings that could be used to fund other worthwhile programs in Nunavut. The government of Canada could kick-start this transition today using existing funding programs – such as the recently announced Arctic Energy Fund. We look forward to working with them and communities to bring these possibilities to life.”

This report is the latest in WWF-Canada's ongoing work to support remote northern communities as they explore the transition to habitat-friendly renewable power. Previous reports, in partnership with Pembina Institute and Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, have respectively found that government fossil-fuel subsidies are a barrier to renewable energy investment and that investment in a mix of renewable energy in northern communities can lead to significant reductions in operations and maintenance costs and carbon dioxide emissions. 

Switching to renewable energies improves northern communities by:

• Providing a cost-effective way to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
• Ensuring the Arctic environment isn’t harmed by fuel spills from resupply ships and on land.
• Increasing independence for remote communities in the North.

Description provided by WWF Canada.

This working paper explains how different production subsidies currently unlock “zombie energy” from fossil fuel deposits that would not be commercially viable to produce without government support.

It also presents new modelling of the global removal of certain subsidies to fossil fuel production. In doing so, the report builds on the dataset from the previous Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Oil Change International (OCI) report “Empty Promises: G20 Subsidies to Oil, Gas and Coal Production” (Bast, Doukas, Pickard, van der Burg, L., & Whitley, 2015) as well as research by the Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) on both the scale and impacts of various fossil fuel subsidies.

The report is structured as follows:

• Chapter 1 explains why fossil fuel production subsidies matter for climate change. The chapter also defines and categorizes fossil fuel production subsidies.
• Chapter 2 outlines how different subsidies influence investment decisions related to fossil fuel production.
• Chapter 3 discusses modelling of a removal of fossil fuel production subsidies and inputs of the GSI-IF (p) global model.
• Chapter 4 presents results of new modelling that shows how much coal, oil and gas could become uneconomical to produce—and the GHG emission reductions that would result—if certain fossil fuel production subsidies are removed globally.

The report concludes with a summary of the findings as well as opportunities for further research on the climate benefits of fossil fuel subsidy removal.

At a United Nations summit in September 2015, countries adopted a new development agenda, of which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a core part.

There are 17 SDGs with over 160 accompanying targets that aim to holistically address sustainable development over the 2016–2030 period. Discover how IISD research products relate to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals in different regions of the world.

This guidance document presents a step-by-step process for governments to develop, implement and monitor an effective artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) management strategy.

The guidance includes steps on how to ensure effective, inclusive strategy development and implementation, as well as effective governance of the process overall. It encourages the user to focus on the local context, and to continually think about the most practical and feasible ways for a government to achieve its ASM-related sustainable development objectives.

A supplement document for this report is available for download here (16 MB file)

This report analyzes the gender-related content of five major global agricultural sustainability standards and five principles for responsible investment in agriculture.

The report answers the question: Do the global principles and standards improve gender equality? It also examines how to build on the successes and failures of these initiatives to improve gender equality in agricultural investments. The experiences of the sustainability standards are used to provide guidance for responsible investment.

This World Bank book, edited by by Gabriela Inchauste and David G. Victor, brings together detailed chapters on the political economy of subsidy reform in four countries—the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Indonesia and Jordan —and draws overall lessons from their experiences.

IISD's Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) contributed Chapter 4, "Indonesia: Pricing Reforms, Social Assistance and the Importance of Perceptions," on Indonesia's experiences with overcoming political obstacles to gasoline and diesel subsidy reforms. The chapter begins by reviewing the economic, fiscal and political context surrounding these subsidies. It then places them in their historical context, outlining the history surrounding their creation as well as the six major reform attempts since the 1997—98 Asian Financial Crisis. 

Several themes arise in the course of the discussion. One is the importance between analyzing the political economy of, on the one hand, a subsidy policy and, on the other, a specific reform of that policy. Several types of reforms, each facing different sorts of challenges, are identified, which may be introduced independently or in unison: ad hoc price adjustments, introductions of new pricing systems; alternative policies to transfer benefits to citizens; and changing the state of perceptions and understanding about subsidy policy. Another theme is the importance of social assistance in mitigating the impact of reforms over time and the virtuous circle that can take place between subsidy reforms and investments in social assistance capacity. Lastly, the chapter examines the importance of understanding perceptions in order to understand the political challenges of reforming broad-based subsidies: the actual beneficiaries of reform may be very different from the people who think they are the beneficiaries. As such, "informational reforms"—interventions intended to improve the state of information about subsidies, designed with knowledge about popular perception in mind—can serve to increase a government's political operating space over time.

In January 2017, IISD and the University of Ottawa convened a small group of experts to discuss fresh water in Canada, particularly as it relates to the federal regulatory regime.

Discussions included the need for a pan-Canadian freshwater strategy, improved regulatory implementation and enforcement and coherent risk-based approaches to water management. This paper written by M.P. Trudeau served as the background document for this event.

Since the end of 2015, the Buhari government has introduced major reforms to gasoline and kerosene subsidies, with a new “price modulation” policy that has seen upward adjustments in the price of both fuels—at the same time that major problems with supply continue, driving domestic prices above official levels in many areas.

This study conducts a detailed analysis of the compensation mechanisms that could be used to mitigate the impact of fuel subsidy removal on weak and vulnerable segments of Nigerian society. The study suggests actionable proposals that the government could pursue if it decides that it must mitigate the social impact of ongoing future price increases as well as pro-poor policies in which the government could invest as part of its general budgeting, given the fiscal space created by subsidy reforms.