Documents International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winnipeg 9 results

"The global community has been for some time debating the linkages between trade and environment. It has come to the conclusion that integrating environmental considerations into the trading system is a prerequisite for sustainable development. Decision-makers at all levels need to fully understand how to do this if they are to develop balanced policies that promote development, allivate poverty and help achieve sustainable use of natural resources. This handbook meets this need. It takes complex subjects and presents them in clear and simple language. This approach enhances its usefulness as both a practical resource and a reference guide."

"The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) invite a range of public and private sector actors to support its agenda of ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. They offer a solid framework for investors and corporations to follow and align their activities and investments accordingly. This has spurred a growth in impact investing, which is an investment approach seeking to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impacts alongside a financial return. However, according to a 2018 survey done by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the following barriers are still preventing impact investing from scaling up to better address the financing needs of the SDGs:

Appropriate capital across the risk/return spectrum
A common understanding of the definition and segmentation of the impact investing market
Suitable exit options
Sophistication of impact measurement practice
High-quality investment opportunities.
Blockchain technology offers new investment and economic opportunities by enabling the transfer of value in a frictionless manner, providing trust as an immutable ledger and converting assets into digital tokens that can be programmed through smart contracts. Blockchain offers solutions that are particularly promising to address the underlying challenges of the impact investing industry. “Impact tokens” describe a group of tokens with the specific goal of unlocking investments for projects with positive social and environmental impacts. A review of over 200 projects that are either active or in development gleaned four key benefits of impact tokens:

Increasing trust between parties
Promoting financial and social inclusion
Improving data collection and accelerating monitoring, reporting and verification processes
Incentivizing behaviours that promote sustainability.
Most of the reviewed cases focus on digitizing existing marketplaces, reducing transaction costs and creating new platforms for exchanging non-financial value such as impact, natural capital and data. This paper looks at some of the key characteristics of these tokens; how they can be applied in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, education or energy; how they can provide verified proof of impact for investors; and, ultimately, how they can address each of the five barriers to upscaling impact investing."

"The Production Gap Report — first launched in 2019 — tracks the discrepancy between governments' planned fossil fuel production and global production levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C. The report represents a collaboration of several researchers and academic institutions, including input from more than 40 experts. UNEP staff provided guidance and insights from their experience leading other gap reports.
This year's report presents the first comprehensive update of the production gap analysis since our 2019 assessment. The report also tracks how governments worldwide are supporting fossil fuel production through their policies, investments, and other measures, as well as how some are beginning to discuss and enact policies towards a managed and equitable transition away from fossil fuel production. This year's report features individual country profiles for 15 major fossil fuel-producing countries and a special chapter on the role of transparency in helping to address the production gap.

Assessment of the production gap is based on recent and publicly accessible plans and projections for fossil fuel production published by governments and affiliated institutions. For other elements of the report, such as the magnitude of producer subsidies or the status of policies to limit production, the report draws from a mix of publicly available government, intergovernmental, and research sources as cited and listed in the references. "

"This report highlights the implications of 1.5°C scenarios for the phase-out of fossil fuels and the scale-up to renewables, barriers to transitions and solutions to such challenges, and tools for governments and financial institutions to navigate the current energy crisis while maintaining climate ambition. It also looks at the implications of the war in Ukraine for energy systems and explores whether Europe can meet its gas demand without the Russian supply."