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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

IPCC Research Shows Need for Ramping Up Mitigation Ambition, Tackling Adaptation Gaps

The IPCC Synthesis Report of its sixth assessment cycle confirms that the world is dangerously close to the 1.5°C limit under the Paris Agreement—but also affirms there are proven options to avert catastrophic warming and act on adaptation.

Insight

March 22, 2023

Paris-aligned or Paris-misaligned? Fossil fuel financing under the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Paris alignment methodology

With the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development revising its Energy Sector Strategy this year, the EBRD faces a key opportunity to tighten its restrictions on fossil fuel financing to align with international best practice.

Policy Analysis

March 21, 2023

Just Energy Transition Partnerships: An opportunity to leapfrog from coal to clean energy

One year on from the announcement of the first "Just Energy Transition Partnership" (JETP) at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26) in Glasgow, what have we learned and where are these innovative funding models headed?

Insight

December 7, 2022

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

Director, Sustainable Energy

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Philip Gass

Lead, Transitions

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Christopher Beaton

Lead, Sustainable Energy Consumption

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Richard Bridle

Senior Policy Advisor

Vanessa Corkal, IISD, Policy Advisor, Canada Energy Transitions

Vanessa Corkal

Senior Policy Advisor, Canada Energy Transitions

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

Specialist, Energy Transitions

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Laura Cameron

Policy Analyst

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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

IPCC Research Shows Need for Ramping Up Mitigation Ambition, Tackling Adaptation Gaps

The IPCC Synthesis Report of its sixth assessment cycle confirms that the world is dangerously close to the 1.5°C limit under the Paris Agreement—but also affirms there are proven options to avert catastrophic warming and act on adaptation.

Insight

March 22, 2023

Paris-aligned or Paris-misaligned? Fossil fuel financing under the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Paris alignment methodology

With the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development revising its Energy Sector Strategy this year, the EBRD faces a key opportunity to tighten its restrictions on fossil fuel financing to align with international best practice.

Policy Analysis

March 21, 2023

Key differences persist as IPCC meet stretches on

Government representatives from 195 countries strived to make progress in approving the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Synthesis report scheduled for release on Monday, with negotiations stretching into the weekend as nations remained divided on several key issues. According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) of the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD), "significant work was still to be done" before the meeting ended at 2am on Friday.

IISD in the news

The Hindustan Times

March 18, 2023

Canada is sitting on 12 'carbon bombs.' Here's where they are

Just under the surface of B.C. and Alberta, in a rock formation known as the Montney Play, lies enough potential greenhouse gases to blow past Canada's 2030 emissions targets 30 times over. It's one of 12 fossil fuel reserves researchers in the journal Energy Policy have identified in Canada — called "carbon bombs" — that would each release a billion tonnes or more of carbon into the atmosphere if their resources were extracted and burned. This would be catastrophic for the world's efforts to slow rising global temperatures, the authors argue.

IISD in the news

CBC News

March 16, 2023

Shifting Public Financial Flows From Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy Under the Paris Agreement

This report assesses global progress made on aligning public financial flows —such as subsidies and other forms of government support —with the need to reduce emissions within a pathway for a safe climate.

Report

March 15, 2023

Lithium reserves: could new discoveries reverse global shortage?

Lithium is a key component of EV batteries. A global supply shortage may be reversed into a surplus for 2023, Bank of America predicts, as two major reserves of the metal were recently discovered. The first one, possibly the world's second largest, was found in Iran, creating a set of geopolitical implications. The second one was found in India, but mining the resource comes at a major environmental cost. Meanwhile, South America also plans to expand its lithium mining and EV batteries manufacturing capabilities.

IISD in the news

CMC Markets

March 14, 2023

India's newly-found lithium reserves carry an environmental cost

The discovery of vast lithium deposits in the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, hailed as a win for the country’s clean energy transition, comes at a price for communities in the Himalayan region, say villagers and environmental scientists.

IISD in the news

Quartz

March 10, 2023

In the middle of war, Ukraine is building a wind farm

Towering wind turbines don't immediately stand out as unusual on a continent where such machines are becoming part of the landscape. But these were built on sites peppered with bomb shelters, and under the wail of air raid sirens.

IISD in the news

The Washington Post

March 10, 2023