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Background: Participation in organised sport and physical activity contributes to health-enhancing levels of leisure time physical activity. In Australia, 58% of children aged 0-14 years participated at least once a week in October 2015-December 2017. To overcome the frequently cited cost barrier, sports voucher incentives have been widely implemented across Australia. Method: The financial value of jurisdictional vouchers and the National median financial value were used to calculate the proportion of total annual expenditure on children's participation in sport supported by sports vouchers. Participation rates using AusPlay data were estimated by age, sex and socioeconomic index (SEIFA) at state and national level for children aged 0-14 years. Results: Five States and Territories implemented sports vouchers from 2011 to 2018, with a median value of AU$150. Nationally, median annual expenditure for children's sport participation was AU$447 (IQR $194.2-936), with 27% reported expenditure supported by a sports voucher. The proportion of financial support from sports vouchers increased considerably with social disadvantage, rising to over 60% of total expenditure in the most disadvantaged populations. Conclusions: Socioeconomic status was associated with sports-related expenditure and sports participation amongst children. Sport vouchers should target children in the most disadvantaged areas to promote participation in organised sport and physical activity.

Despite the emergence of the green bond market, the Energy Service Company (ESCO) model and green investment banks, the opportunities which the world's capital markets present to increase the pool of potential investors and reduce project financing costs for renewable, energy efficient and low carbon assets remain under-exploited. This has been a persistent concern for policy-makers. We review the appeal of this sector to different classes of investor and assess the successes and failures of several innovative products including securitisations, yieldcos, green bonds, green investment banks and crowdfunding. We analyse the experiences with these products and suggest that policy needs to recognise how fiscal initiatives can leverage their inherent appeal.

Mobilising citizens as investors in local solar photovoltaic and onshore wind energy projects can help meet climate objectives, generate local development opportunities, and build social support for low carbon transition. This can be achieved through the introduction of financial incentives attractive to local actors. To investigate what types of financial incentives are effective at the feasibility, development, construction, and operation stages of project development, we undertake a comparative case study of their use in Denmark; Germany; the UK; and Ontario, Canada. We find that a requirement for incentives such as grants and soft loans at the feasibility and development stages is a distinguishing feature of projects with citizen involvement, reflecting their greater risk aversion, lack of technical experience and financial capacity, and their inability to balance risk across a portfolio of projects. At later project stages, market-independent supports (feed in tariffs, grants, and tax incentives) have been effective in mobilising investment, but market-based supports (feed in premiums and quota schemes) can also be tailored to the specific needs of local community actors. These findings add a new dimension to the growing academic and policy debate about how Governments can effectively mobilise investment from local communities and citizens in distributed renewable technologies.

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