2021 Green Economy Workshop

Conference Chair: Jay Mandle, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Colgate University, USA

The many challenges and paradoxes of resource abundance – all implicit in the idea of the resource curse – have been aggravated by the increased magnitude and frequency of climate-related events that have had catastrophic effects on the livelihoods of people in developed and developing countries. It is not unusual to hear of oil-rich countries experiencing economic difficulties and social upheavals because of their dependence on oil; yet those very countries, undiversified and conflict-ridden as some of them are, must now deal with the implications of energy transition. That is both a challenge and a paradox. Or what of developing economies that have contributed little to global warming, or have even been making contributions to the stabilization of climate, now having to adapt to these realities without the promised climate finance and technology transfers, and then being told that a newfound resource such as fossil fuels must not be developed if the world is to achieve the essential net-zero emissions target by 2050? As COP 26 approaches, now is the time to consider the options that resource-abundant and indeed all developing countries must preserve in order to avoid any contradiction between development and net-zero emissions. The GEW will include keynote and invited speakers, roundtables, working groups and discussion papers that will be compiled into an edited volume.

To view the full series of presentations, please visit our YouTube Channel.