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Climate Change Mitigation

By implementing progressive low-emission development strategies that promote integrated clean energy solutions and broader sustainable development objectives, we can move towards climate change mitigation—which requires a shift to low-carbon development. 

Our experts help policy-makers identify and prioritize options for reducing emissions, such as by developing clean and renewable energy systems. We also support developing countries in identifying and accessing financing for low-carbon development. We do this by developing road maps for reform, engaging proactively with policy-makers and the stakeholders they engage with, providing quantitative and qualitative analysis of policy options for energy and carbon mitigation, and identifying means of implementation.

Articles

The Final Countdown: How Canada can end fossil fuel subsidies this year

The conversation on ending fossil fuel subsidies in Canada has been hanging like a dark cloud over the country, with years of pledges failing to lead to concrete action. But the skies may finally clear in the coming months with the release of Canada's long-awaited subsidies framework and policy.

Insight

May 29, 2023

A focus on water can lessen climate change’s burn

Canadians need water infrastructure to protect us in the face of mounting risks of flooding, drought, extreme heat, and wildfires.

Insight

May 18, 2023

"Green Lemons" Need to be Squeezed out From the ESG Market

Weak ESG governance and reporting standards are putting a brake on sustainability investments beyond climate mitigation, but several new regulatory initiatives could herald the start of a more positive trend.

Insight

April 18, 2023

Our work in the news

Green or Brown? As lockdowns lift, governments face a recovery climate choice

Despite mounting pressure for economic rescue packages to be used to tackle climate change, most of the money spent so far on overcoming the coronavirus pandemic has gone towards propping up business as usual, according to three studies.

Governments put 'green recovery' on the backburner

G20 countries aim their pandemic bailout spending at fossil fuel industries, leaving Paris climate change targets in doubt

Canadian Climate Groups Urge ‘Green Strings’ On COVID Recovery Funding

As Finance Minister Bill Morneau prepares to release a fiscal update today, Canada’s leading environmental organizations are calling for “green strings” on Ottawa’s COVID-19 recovery funding package.

Experts

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Ivetta Gerasimchuk

Interim Co-Director, Energy & Director, Sustainable Energy

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Philip Gass

Interim Co-Director, Energy & Lead, Energy Transitions

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Christopher Beaton

Lead, Sustainable Energy Consumption

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Richard Bridle

Senior Policy Advisor

Shruti Sharma IISD Senior Policy Advisor, Energy Program

Shruti Sharma

Senior Policy Advisor

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Aaron Cosbey

Senior Associate

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Anissa Suharsono

Associate

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Anna Geddes

Associate

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Angela Carter

Senior Associate

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Laura Cameron

Policy Advisor

Andrea Bassi

Andrea Bassi

Senior Associate

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Avet Khachatryan

Associate

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Deborah Murphy

Senior Associate

Olivier Bois von Kursk, IISD Policy Analyst

Olivier Bois von Kursk

Policy Analyst

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Bernard Soubry

Policy Advisor

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Latest

How the G20 Declaration Sets the Pace for Enhanced Climate Action at COP28 in December

The G20 summit in New Delhi has set the pace for enhanced climate action at COP28, as it refreshed its resolve to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius as per the Paris Agreement. The high-profile event ended with a soft commitment from the world's largest emitters to triple their renewable energy capacity by 2030.

IISD in the news

News18

September 13, 2023

New Report Finds Carbon Capture And Storage Far Too Expensive

A new report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development found carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies to be very expensive in Canada. According to the report, which focuses on carbon capture in the context of Canada's oil and gas industry, the climate solution’s persistently high costs are rooted in the "high design complexity and the need for customization."

IISD in the news

Carbon Herald

September 11, 2023

G20 Summit Agreement Fails To Strengthen Coal Phase-Down Even As Data Show High Per Capita Coal Emissions

As world leaders gather in New Delhi for the Group of 20 (G20) Summit–with 19 member countries and the European Union–data show that a majority of the group still has very high per capita coal power emissions. At the summit, countries agreed to "pursue further efforts" to limit the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius, agreeing to "encourage efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally" but the G20 New Delhi Leaders Declaration included no new commitment on phasedown of coal power or on phasing down all fossil fuels.

IISD in the news

IndiaSpend

September 10, 2023

G20 aims to triple renewable energy capacity; no mention of fossil-fuel phase-out

G20 countries on Saturday said they will aim to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 and expedite efforts to phase down coal power in line with national circumstances but did not commit to a phase-out of all polluting fossil fuels, including oil and gas.

IISD in the news

Deccan Herald

September 9, 2023

CCS Can't Compete with Renewables, Won't Deliver by 2030, Report Finds

Carbon capture and storage may have an important role to play in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like iron and steel, but won't pay off for oil and gas companies without continuing government subsidies, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) concludes in an analysis released this week.

IISD in the news

The Energy Mix

September 8, 2023

Report finds carbon capture's 'stubbornly high' prices are likely here to stay

Canada's oil and gas industry says costly technology it plans to use to reduce its climate footprint requires more investments from the federal government. If governments lend a hand now, the industry maintains the technology will become more affordable over time as more projects proceed, but a new analysis casts doubt on that claim. "Carbon capture and storage is expensive, and the costs are not likely to come down in the timeframe needed to meet our climate targets," said Laura Cameron, one of the report's three authors and a policy adviser for the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

IISD in the news

Canada's National Observer

September 7, 2023

Carbon capture projects are too costly, have ‘questionable’ benefits, report finds

Technology the oil industry is counting on to reduce emissions–carbon capture and storage–is too expensive and difficult to deploy quickly enough to help Canada meet its climate commitments, a global environmental think tank says. Relying on carbon capture and storage to cut greenhouse gases from oil and gas production will mean large public subsidies for projects that are unable to compete on costs against expanding renewable energy sources, rendering the benefits "questionable," the International Institute for Sustainable Development said in a report released Thursday.

IISD in the news

The Globe and Mail

September 7, 2023

The world is waiting for the G20 to firm up its stance on climate change

Up until recently, it was hyperbolic to say that climate change would burn up the world, but it’s actually happening today. The string of wildfires in Hawaii, Spain, Canada and Greece this year has destroyed entire settlements, but climate change is not merely about wildfires. It is also the primary reason behind the torrential rainfall and landslides in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Beijing’s worst flooding in 140 years and strangely enough, August 2023 was India’s driest August for 122 years despite the monsoons. The pattern is clear: Under the business-as-usual attitude, we have the makings of a serious challenge to organized life under runaway climate change. It will disturb sowing patterns, diminish crop yields, upend livelihoods and destabilize human development indicators. Excessive human-induced CO2 emissions are squarely responsible.

IISD in the news

The Hindustan Times

September 7, 2023