This report aims to support governments of developed and developing countries in their endeavour to make energy transitions just. It brings together political and communications strategies for a just transition, building on research and case studies of energy transitions that have happened or that are happening in Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, India, Poland and Ukraine.
The report Managing the Water-Energy-Land-Food Nexus in Korea: Policies and governance options assesses the key bottlenecks within the water-energy-land-food nexus in Korea and proposes policy recommendations and governance arrangements to future-proof environmental integrity and enhance sustainable growth.
Across Canada, fact and opinion swirl about which policies are best for both the economy and the environment. Environmental regulations remain deeply contested and cause concern for some that the costs will simply be too high. At the same time, polling data show that Canadians overwhelmingly want both a protected environment and a vibrant economy. In this context, the Smart Prosperity Institute has re-releasing an updated version of a 2016 policy brief on overestimating the cost of compliance with environmental regulations, part of the Green Tape Measures Up series.
Bangladesh has made tremendous progress with development since independence reflected in rising income, sharp reduction in poverty and improvements with human development. Evidence, however, suggests that along with these positive outcomes there has been a substantial deterioration in the natural environment. Fortunately, there is now a growing recognition of the environmental damage of continuing with the business-as-usual development strategy and the risks it poses to the sustainability of development. In response, the government has adopted a large array of strategies, laws, rules and regulations, and adaptation and mitigation programmes and projects. But the results on the ground suggest that the implementation of these policies has been weak. Inadequate strategic thinking along with financial and institutional constraints has limited the implementation effectiveness of the government’s environmental protection strategy.
Bangladesh is a strong actor in the effort to reduce global carbon emission. This is appropriate as it faces a major adverse burden from global climate change. Although per capita carbon emission is low, total carbon emission in Bangladesh is growing. Consequently, as a good global team player, Bangladesh committed to reducing its carbon footprint in its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) submissions in 2015.
The strategy for reducing carbon emission relies almost entirely on regulations, investments and technology. There is hardly any use of incentive policies. A recent paper showed the great potential for using incentives, especially fiscal policy, to improve environmental management in Bangladesh also mobilizing revenues while (Ahmed 2018). The paper notes that a balanced carbon emission reduction strategy will need to combine regulations with fiscal incentives to reduce air pollution and adopt clean energy. In that context, it advocates the use of a carbon tax as a fiscal policy instrument to curb the use of fossil fuel and thereby lower carbon emission.
To inspire companies to ‘shout it out’, the Consumer Information Programme has issues this white paper to identify good practices of product-level social impact communication that can provide inspiration, and be built upon or replicated. It identifies relevant principles, criteria and means to communicate such impacts, including recommendations on integrating social impact communication with more well-established environmental impact communication tools.