Workshop on Coping with Climate Change
Paris, France
By invitation
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in collaboration with OCP Policy Center, IMF and other organizations will hold a workshop on October 1, 2018 at the OCP offices in Paris. Staff from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—which has scaled up its research and policy advice on climate change issues—and the World Bank will participate, along with experts from the climate change community, academics and think tanks.
Over the past four decades, the global average surface temperature has increased at a pace unprecedented in the past 20,000 years, affecting the future of countries and communities across the globe. Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, and floods, are likely to become more frequent. A lot depends on restraining greenhouse gas emissions, the key human driver of global warming.
This inaugural workshop aims to forge links among economists in different fields who share an interest in enhancing their understanding climate change issues. With that overall aim in mind, the workshop will bring together climate change experts and established scholars from other fields of economics who have done some work on climate change issues but are not experts.
Specifically, the workshop will:
• solicit expert feedback on recent work on (i) econometric evidence on decoupling of emissions and growth; (ii) general equilibrium modeling of policy choices for countries, particularly low-income countries, to cope with effects of climate change;
• showcase recent efforts by central banks and the financial sector to assist the global effort to combat climate change (experts from the Banque de France at the forefront of this effort will be invited);
A draft agenda is provided below. Potential participants for the workshop—and for future workshops that are planned to maintain and expand this community of scholars—are listed as well.
Agenda
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08:30 – 08:45 |
Opening Remarks: |
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08:45 – 10:15 |
Session 1: Decoupling of Emissions and Economic Activity Roundtable discussion drawing on IMF-NASEM work on extent of decoupling for a large group of countries and sub-national entities within the United States and China (Cohen et al, Energy Economics 2018, Energy Policy 2018). What factors explain cross-country differences in decoupling? What can emerging economies learn from the experience and policy efforts of advanced economies? Chair: Gail Cohen (NASEM) Discussants: Duc Khuong Nguyen (IPAG), Renee Fry-McKibbin (ANU), Xinye Zheng (Renmin University) |
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10:15 – 10:30 |
Coffee Break |
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10:30– 11:00 |
Talk by Stefan Dercon (Oxford) |
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11:00 – 12:30 |
Session 2: Helping Countries Cope with Climate Shocks Roundtable discussion on how countries, particularly low-income countries, can shield their growth and fiscal positions from climate shocks. Builds on work by Papageorgiou et al on a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model calibrated to features of low-income countries, in which the effects of alternate policy choices and the impact of aid can be simulated. Chair: Chris Adam (Oxford) |
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13:30 – 14:30 |
Session 3: Climate Change: The IMF and World Bank in Action Chair: Prakash Loungani (IMF) Presentations: Johannes Wiegand (IMF): The IMF and Climate Change Presentations: Dirk Heine (World Bank): Fiscal Policies for Development & Climate Action
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14:30 – 16:15 |
Session 4: Climate Change, Central Banks and Financial Sectors Roundtable discussion chaired by Nathalie Aufauvre (Banque de France) on how the central banks and financial authorities can contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy. What regulatory measures can help mitigate risks posed by climate change to financial stability? Can sustainable investing—for instance through mutual funds that respect environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards—make a difference? Chair: Nathalie Aufauvre (Banque de France) |
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