The Climate Issue
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: GITA BHATT
- Published: September 2, 2021
Overview
- Title: The Climate Issue
- Publication: F&D Magazine
- Author/Editor: GITA BHATT
- Date: September 2021
- Read indicator: Less than a minute(0 words) Read
- Framing: Special issue on climate, in partnership with COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference)
Urgency and scale of the problem
- Analogy: “Two ways,” he answers. “Gradually, then suddenly.” (from Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises) — used to frame climate risk.
- The climate damage is becoming less gradual and risks reaching an irreversible tipping point.
- Required ambition: “roughly halving carbon emissions each decade through 2050.”
- Necessary shifts identified: rapidly shift to renewables, build new electricity networks, increase energy efficiency, and embrace low-carbon transport.
- Enabler: Cheaper renewable energy and technology advances make the move from carbon affordable and feasible.
Key contributions and policy proposals
- Kristalina Georgieva (IMF): recommends credible carbon pricing policies to encourage the use of green energy.
- James Stock (Harvard): advocates a shift to sector-specific policies, such as low-carbon aviation fuel.
- Mark Carney (UN special envoy for climate action and finance): argues private finance can help turn the billions of public money into trillions of total climate investment; proposes ways to scale clean and green financial flows to emerging and developing countries.
- Amar Bhattacharya and Nicholas Stern: identify concrete solutions that can generate massive opportunities for jobs and growth, driven by stepped-up infrastructure investment and technological innovation and supported by a dynamic private sector.
Perspectives from policymakers and countries
- Isabel Schnabel (European Central Bank): suggests ways for central banks to act as catalysts for a more sustainable financial system.
- Aminath Shauna (Maldives Environment Minister): describes a holistic approach for a low-lying island nation to adapt to climate change, including preserving coral reefs and improving waste management.
- Country case highlights: Dominica (coping with climate mitigation) and Finland (pursuing innovative adaptation approaches).
Implementation challenges and distributional considerations
- Transition costs: No transition is easy; will require compensating workers and businesses that bear the cost of a green transition.
- Political economy: Progress depends on breaking down political economy impediments to rapid action.
- Collective action: Success depends on collaboration by citizens, governments, corporations, financial institutions, philanthropists, and the scientific community.
- Finance gap: World leaders must expand ambition and action, including mobilizing finance to help developing economies adapt to climate shocks.
Outlook and narrative
- Opportunity framing: Transition can become “the inclusive growth story of the 21st century.”
- Conditional optimism: If global actors rally to reverse the climate threat, “then we may suddenly have a net zero world in view.”
- Note on opinions: Opinions expressed in articles and other materials are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect IMF policy.
Source: The Climate Issue, F&D Magazine, GITA BHATT, September 2021.
Content in this bundle
- رسالة من المحرر
- Editor’s Letter: The Climate Issue – IMF F&D
- El problema climático ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Septiembre de 2021
- Editors Letter Climate Issue Bhatt Fr
- От редактора – Финансы и развитие – Нельзя терять время– сентябрь 2021 года