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Fairtrade – the gold standard?
… market and pricing dynamics ready for new challenges in new markets? If so, what will those challenges look like? But how does … ASM. CASM (the Communities and Small-Scale Mining body) has played a key role in the development of the Fairtrade standard and published a … in 2008 on certification in ASM as “ an emerging opportunity for sustainable development ”. This paper clearly outlines who can …
Insight, 11 August 2010
A woman makes clothes for SOKO, a Kenyan textiles supplier that combines fashion manufacturing with bettering local livelihoods.
SOKO: Learning lessons on how to add value to the East African apparel sector
… in Tanzania which produces 600,000 units a year for international markets, guarantees the organic status of its textiles from the … leaders and university networks. The research also found another key feature for success: the ‘ethical agent’. Ei8ht, an intermediary and … looks at innovations in business models for delivering affordable and sustainable modern energy services to the poor. Anoushka Boodhna is a …
Insight, 11 February 2013
Cover for 17033IIED.pdf
A cut above: building the market for fair trade timber
… as large-scale industrial logging is now largely discredited in the sustainable development context. The fair trade emphasis on just pricing … poorer producers is exactly what CFEs need as incentive to invest in sustainable forest management — and secure environmental and poverty … needed. Consumers must be made aware of why paying higher prices is key to creating CFE incentives for sustainable forest management~and …
Publication, 01 February 2008
A vendor in India uses energy produced by a micro-grid funded by SunFunder (Photo: Sameer Halai/SunFunder)
Off-grid energy powered by the crowd
Insight, 09 April 2015
Plan Vivo partners at a conference in Sweden commit to actively engage in the implementation and accountability of the SDGs (Photo: Plan Vivo Foundation)
The SDGs speak and we like what we hear
… comes when you feel they make sense. This is the case with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , the 17 massive goals signed by … just some of these goals… And they speak sense , bringing home the key message that "sustainability" means many things at the same time. … offsets are sold over the counter in international voluntary carbon markets. Not business as usual The private sector plays a pivotal role …
Insight, 15 October 2015
Man walks in a field, with mountains behind
Farmers in China spending $280 billion adapting to climate change and nature loss
… Foodthink, a non-profit organisation that spreads knowledge about sustainable food systems in China, conducted field visits, interviews … like encouraging more natural vegetation, were among farmers’ key strategies to adapt to these challenges.   Diversifying the crops …
News, 07 December 2022
South Africa: Anna with friends and family in front of her new solar water heating system. It is often more cost-effective to provide energy services to poor communities via off-grid sources (Photo: Abri le Roux, Creative Commons via Flickr)
Public and private sectors: delivering energy access for people living in poverty
News, 04 June 2015
Low-cost solar lanterns enable a boy to study at home in the small village of Shidhulai in the Natore District of northwestern Bangladesh (Photo: G.M.B. Akash/PANOS)
Universal energy access: combining public and private sector efforts
… viability and returns are assured. Decentralised and low-income markets tend to be neglected because investments here are long term, … Climate Fund to public pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. A key challenge is in-country distribution – how will these instruments … Wilson ( [email protected] ) is a principal researcher in IIED's Sustainable Markets Group  and the leader of IIED's energy and …
Insight, 30 September 2014
Key words related to mining and sustainable development (Image: IIED)
Mining's search for sustainability: how far have we come?
… decade , is intended to kick-start reflections and conversations with key stakeholders. The paper raises many questions about how well the mining industry has put sustainable development theory into practice.  The research is based on … we might go next. A decade of change Both the mining industry and the sustainable development agenda look somewhat different today — as does …
Insight, 07 June 2012
Sustainable development co-operation with BP-Azerbaijan
… foreign investor. In 2006 and 2007, IIED worked in an innovative sustainable development co-operation agreement with the communications … the company's investment in the country be a positive contribution to sustainable development, and give IIED new opportunities to work towards … members visited IIED for a workshop in May 2006 to explore a range of key issues in sustainable development. IIED staff facilitated meetings …
Project, 25 June 2008