This collection of contributions by gender and sustainable development experts explores the interconnections between gender equality and sustainable development across a range of sectors and issues such as energy, health, education, food security, climate change, human rights, consumption and production patterns, and urbanisation. The articles provide evidence on how women’s equal access and control over resources not only improves livelihoods, but also helps ensure the sustainability of the environment. Recommendations for policy makers and practitioners include: develop a participatory and gender-responsive consultation process to inform and ensure equitable decision-making; commit to building a green economy based on gender equality, poverty eradication, and technological and social systems that reduce the environmental impact of production and consumption; decrease women’s growing burden of unpaid labour by increasing their access to appropriate technologies and natural resources.
The publication contains several case studies, including from Ghana.
This summary was prepared by Eldis.
The report, a result of the collaboration between Sustainlabour and the Green Jobs Programme of the ILO, compiles and analyses data on the creation of green jobs in Spain. It includes both current employment data and studies of employment trends.
What kind of clean-energy support measures can be maintained under international trade rules and what cannot? Policy certainty reflected within a clear and coherent trade and energy governance regime is critical for boosting investor confidence and fostering clean energy investments. Ambiguity on clean energy support measures within WTO rules could cast a chilling effect on domestic efforts to scale up sustainable energy. One way of dispelling such ambiguity is through a possible sustainable energy trade agreement (SETA). This paper emphasises the importance of understanding what are the types of clean energy subsidies countries usually provide, why countries provide them, and how they fit into existing legal mechanisms. A SETA, by simultaneously addressing these questions and clarifying existing WTO subsidy rules, would add to the certainty and predictability of a country’s trade and investment climate.
This paper recommends a system of upstream taxes on fossil fuels, combined with refunds for downstream emissions capture, to reduce carbon and local pollution emissions. Motor fuel taxes should also account for congestion and other externalities associated with vehicle use, at least until mileage-based taxes are widely introduced. An examination of existing energy/environmental tax systems in Germany, Sweden, Turkey, and Vietnam suggests that there is substantial scope for policy reform. This includes harmonizing taxes for pollution content across different fuels and end-users, better aligning tax rates with values for externalities, and scaling back taxes on vehicle ownership and electricity use that are redundant (on environmental grounds) in the presence of more targeted taxes.
Using the example of the Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water’s (MEW) support for the residential solar water heating (SWH) market, this report highlights how sound governmental policies can boost a green economy. It evaluates the creation of a national financing mechanism for SWH, including the effects of government subsidies, interest free loans and sales activities in the residential SWH market in 2011. The study finds that installing solar water heaters saved a total of 18,390 tons of carbon dioxide resulting in a yearly saving of US$ 3,754,687. The success of the financing mechanism is attributed to close cooperation among the Central Bank of Lebanon, the MEW and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Recommendations include: increase awareness raising efforts; build capacity for commercial banks that facilitate solar loans to avoid delays and to simplify applications; and provide risk guarantees for low and middle income households.
This summary was prepared by Eldis.