Sustainable markets blogs
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Payments for ecosystem services: Costa Rica’s recipe
29 November 2013Costa Rica has adopted a mix of economic and regulatory policies to protect its forests – the eclectic mix of ingredients could be judged a recipe for success.
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How to protect our oceans: use more carrots
1 November 2013Incentives to protect marine and coastal environments could be more effective than a ‘command and control’ approach, but only if reinforced by efficient, transparent and equitable governance.
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CAFOD/IIED show context is key to sustainable energy for all
16 September 2013Universal energy access is a laudable aim, but attempts to achieve it must take on board local contexts and sensitivities, say Sarah Wykes and Ben Garside.
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How crowdfunding offers the fast route to decentralised energy
7 August 2013How do you raise $1 trillion dollars of investment in 17 years? That’s what the International Energy Agency says is needed to achieve the UN’s goal of universal energy access by 2030.
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Green Growth and equity must go hand in hand
13 June 2013The OECD’s latest report begins to bridge the growing divide between international institutions’ focus on green growth, and developing countries’ need for greater equity.
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Future world: addressing the contradictions of planet, people, power and profits
7 June 2013Our new paper on global trends aims to provoke debate as part of the process of developing IIED’s new five-year strategy. Read it and tell us what you think.
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How can business help boost access to energy for those who need it most?
7 June 2013From crowdfunding platforms to development banks, the private sector can have a big impact in low-income energy markets.
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Transparency: can it work for sustainable development?
23 May 2013The world is finally waking up to the need for transparency in business deals. New EU transparency legislation was announced earlier this month and next month transparency will be a major theme at the G8 summit. This week the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has its bi-annual conference, and the UK and France have just announced they will join the initiative. The big question is can greater transparency help sustainable development?
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Four actions to reduce the ‘forest footprint’ of commodities
18 March 2013Consumer demand for palm oil is growing fast. How do we reduce the forest footprint of commodities like palm oil, and increase demand for ‘deforestation-free’ ones?
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Reflections on ten years of rating big brands for sustainability
27 February 2013Scorecards that rate big brands according to their social and environmental policies can help shine a light on hidden corners of global supply chains that customers and investors rarely see. But their proof is in impacts on people and planet.
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Forest businesses 'fit for life'
18 February 2013Those designing forests businesses that are ‘fit for life’ won’t be taking any inspiration from Doha airport, says one weary blogger.
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Share the love this Valentine’s day with fairer flowers and chocolates
13 February 2013Here’s a step by step guide to the issues so you can both impress your lover with lovely blooms or choccies and your new-found knowledge on how to share the love more widely.
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SOKO: Learning lessons on how to add value to the East African apparel sector
11 February 2013With London Fashion week almost here, the fashion industry can learn lessons from SOKO, a Kenyan textiles supplier, on how to produce great fashion that also improves local livelihoods.
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Resilient Dynamism? An informal word with leaders meeting in Davos
22 January 2013Political and business leaders gathering in Davos will discuss ‘resilient dynamism’, but their distrust of informal economies is a missed opportunity.
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New research series kicks off with look at energy delivery models
12 December 2012What are the barriers to engaging small-scale producers and low-income consumers, and how can private sector interventions be improved to reach the poorest?
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How small-scale farmers make markets work for them
28 November 2012Our new book shines light on how small-scale farmers are making their choices — about how to modernise appropriately, and about balancing costs, risks, benefits and uncertainties.
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World Food Day: how do you keep co-operatives competitive?
15 October 2012The Food and Agriculture Organization's 2012 World Food Day focuses on co-operatives.This time around co-operatives need to be what the small-scale farmers actually want. Sometimes that means something quite informal.
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How markets can bloom for Africa's smallholder farmers
6 September 2012New deals between flower-growers in Kenya and big retailers such as Walmart offer African farmers a chance to expand.
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Nature has values, and markets can be governed
10 August 2012The environmental community has been rightly wary of markets. But payments for environmental services can play a role in protecting nature, so long as governments guide, govern and regulate such markets.
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China: can the ‘factory of the world’ clean up its act?
27 June 2012Will China address the consequences of its growing consumption and production, or continue with business as usual?
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Costa Rica: Growing money on trees
26 June 2012Actions urgently needed to protect ecosystems are costly, and money doesn’t rain down from the sky or grow from the trees. Or does it?
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Mining: Implementing sustainability needs new perspective
18 June 2012When stakeholders at IIED's Fair Ideas conference in Rio discussed how the mining industry has fared in meeting the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development initiative (MMSD) agenda set 10 years ago, the challenge of implementation kept cropping up.
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The mining sector searches for sustainability
13 June 2012It is rare for a controversial industry to engage with its critics, seek advice and pledge positive action for sustainable development.
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Locally-controlled sustainable forestry in Brazil faces uphill struggle
13 June 2012History shows the Brazilian state can protect the country's forests. So, can it do more to support locally-managed forestry in the country?
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Mining's search for sustainability: how far have we come?
7 June 2012Ten years ago, the mining industry, in collaboration with the IIED, set out to explore how it could maximise its contribution to sustainable development through the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD) project. So, what has happened since then? Where are we now?