2006/2007 Annual Report - International Institute for Sustainable ...

[IISD PROGRAM REPORT]
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Launched at the end of 2005, IISD’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) is already influencing the debate on subsidy reform by providing policymakers
with the tools to effect real, tangible change. Through research that quantifies the extent and scale of subsidies, the GSI highlights the
magnitude and the cost-effectiveness of public subsidies, and the corrosive effects certain subsidies have on sustainable development. The GSI’s
targeted communications and political outreach program is raising awareness among the public and key decision-makers. We are currently
finalizing a series of studies on subsidies to the domestic production of liquid fuels, following publication of the U.S. study in October 2006.
That study has been widely cited as the principal reference point in the debate on American subsidies to biofuels. New research will examine the
different incentives governments provide to attract investment, especially foreign direct investment. The first of a series of regional media fora
designed to increase the interest in and capacity of journalists to report on subsidies was held in
Mumbai, India, in March 2007; four more fora are planned. See http://www.globalsubsidies.org
Some US$17 trillion in energy investment is needed in the next 25 years, most of it in
developing countries, and most of it with lifespans counted in decades. The Clean Energy
Investment project, run in cooperation with IISD’s Climate Change and Energy program,
focuses on how we can help ensure that energy investments contribute to solving, rather than
compounding, climate change concerns. It will look first at the domestic barriers that exist to
clean energy investment in developing countries, and will ask what sorts of obstacles or
opportunities are presented by existing international investment agreements, making
recommendations for best practice in crafting such agreements in the future.
Director, Mark Halle
TRADE AND INVESTMENT
In 2006–2007, IISD continued to publish and grow its audience for
Investment Treaty News (ITN), an electronic newsletter on investment
agreements and investment disputes aimed at tracking, analyzing and publicizing
the policy implications of these agreements and disputes. (See
http://www.iisd.org/investment/itn/). With a subscriber list approaching 2,000,
ITN has also broadened its scope, now issuing a parallel Spanish language version
with a special focus on Latin America, and a quarterly summary aimed at
parliamentarians and their staffs. The investment team has also just launched work
on the first in a series of Year in Review publications, analyzing trends in
investment agreements, significant disputes with public policy implications, and
signalling interesting trends in the investment world.
IISD is carrying out rapid assessments of the environmental implications
of current and contemplated trade negotiations for Thailand and Laos.
The goal is twofold. First, on a substantive level, the results from this Rapid Trade
and Environment Assessment (RTEA) project will inform trade policy-making in
those countries by highlighting the costs and benefits that are likely to arise from
the flurry of trade and investment liberalization initiatives they are experiencing.
Second, IISD hopes that the RTEA methodology will become a replicable tool, and
that its application in these countries will help sharpen it for use in other contexts.
See http://www.iisd.org/trade/ldc/rapid_trade.asp
International trade has enormous potential to foster or frustrate sustainable development.
iStockphoto
IISD has been planning for October 2007, when we will bring developing
country investment negotiators together in Singapore for the first of what we
hope will become an annual Investment Negotiators’ Forum. In the current
rush to sign regional and bilateral agreements with investment provisions, developing
country negotiators have no forum in which they can discuss common challenges,
assess legal developments and develop strategies to help ensure that they attract
investment that will contribute to sustainable development. Led by a high profile
Steering Group of negotiators, and in partnership with the Centre for Asia and
Globalization (National University of Singapore), IISD will provide such a forum.