Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
Future generations are (currently) blameless, our actions leave them in peril, but we can do something about it. All of this is utterly true of climate change, and it is why rich countries (that disproportionately pollute) should take the lead in paying for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
We don’t know as much as we should about the real-world costs and effectiveness of climate mitigation projects in low- and middle-income countries. This blog looks at what we do know and finds that real-world cost-effectiveness appears to be orders-of-magnitude different between projects even in the same sector.
This week, development ministers of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) come together for one of their occasional “high-level meetings.” Here's what we think should be on the agenda.
While the world’s decision makers are now rightly focusing on the COVID-19 crisis and its potentially devastating economic aftermath, the climate change agenda has been moved from the center stage. As the world begins to rethink what the post COVID-19 economic order will look like, climate change will again play a key role. And so will the IMF.
These remarks were prepared for the Global Development Network (GDN) 2019 Conference, held in Bonn, Germany on October 23-24, 2019.
The UK Prime Minister announced during his visit to the UN General Assembly that one billion pounds worth of overseas development assistance (ODA) will be used to set up the ‘Ayrton Fund’ to support British scientists “and other scientists from around the world” to “work in partnership with developing countries” on climate and energy.
The UK, alongside France, Germany, and Norway, has doubled its commitment to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to £1.4 billion over the next four years. Given the scale of climate change, it's important that we get the most bang for our buck.
What would it look like today if major multilateral finance institutions like the World Bank had never adopted the climate agenda as a binding constraint on their operations? Unfortunately, we have a real-world approximation of that hypothetical in the form of Chinese development finance. At least, that’s a conclusion I draw from an important new report from World Resources Institute (WRI) and Boston University, Moving the Green Belt and Road Initiative: From Words to Actions.
Just over a year ago, we released our book Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. To ensure the widest possible distribution, we are now delighted to make the full book available online for free.
When it comes to fighting climate change, California is already a world leader on pricing carbon, transitioning to renewable energy, and decarbonizing the world’s eighth largest economy. California has yet another golden opportunity to lead on climate, by green-lighting finance to protect tropical forests.
Commentary Menu