Path Dependence, Innovation and the Economics of Climate Change

Governments and international institutions must help companies and cities accelerate this green transition, writes Naina Lal Kidwai.

The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate will be launched on September 24th 2013 in New York. Former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón, Chair of the Commission, will speak at the launch meeting, which will take place just before the opening of the UN General Assembly and during ‘Climate Week’ in New York City. Other speakers include:

President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Norway
Lena Ek, Minister for the Environment, Sweden
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Minister and head of the President’s Delivery Unit, Indonesia
Rt. Hon. Gregory Barker, Minister for Energy and Climate Change, UK
Boonam Shin, Ambassador for Climate Change, Republic of Korea
Jeremy Oppenheim, Director of the New Climate Economy project

In April and May, individuals involved with the New Climate Economy project appeared in multiple news sources.

Before the 2014 UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, Felipe Calderon issued a statement saying that "Leaders gathering in Lima have as an opportunity to build stronger economies and to send a clear signal to businesses and investors.”

20 May 2015: “When the future of the planet is at stake, there are no political frontiers, barriers or walls behind which we can hide to protect ourselves from the effects of environmental and social degradation. There is no room for the globalisation of indifference, the economy of exclusion or the throwaway culture so often denounced by Pope Francis. Of course, the path is not easy, since this ethical and moral responsibility calls into question the resetting of the development model, requiring a major political and economic commitment. However, as I said to the UN Climate Summit on 23 September 2014, 'the technological and operational bases needed to facilitate this mutual responsibility are already available or within our reach. We have the capacity to start and strengthen a true and beneficial process which will irrigate, as it were, through adaptation and mitigation activities, the field of economic and technological innovation where it is possible to cultivate two interconnected objectives: combating poverty and easing the effects of climate change'."

Fossil fuel subsidies take up a huge chunk of countries’ budgets and the world’s GDP.

In light of the news that the Paris Agreement has achieved enough ratifications to trigger entry into force in 30 days, Felipe Calderón, former Pr

It is all our responsibility to ensure that a sustainable future holds a place for everyone, writes Sharan Burrow.

And by putting COP24 in coal-rich Katowice, the Polish COP presidency has pulled this essential but unglamorous pursuit to the top of the policy agenda, where it belongs, writes Sharan Burrow.

By Jamshyd N. Godrej and Ulka Kelkar Mr. Jamshyd N.

Felipe Calderón and Nicolas Stern argue the case for a new approach to the economics of climate change.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/addressing-climate-change-w…

Mr. Trevor Manuel, the former Honourable Minister in the South African Presidency, was a panelist at a high-level session at the African Development Bank Group Annual Meeting.

In a speech at the 2014 UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, Felipe Calderon explained the main findings of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. The report's practical recommendations will boost growth, generate savings and reduce climate risk.

The U.S. shale gas revolution has dramatically increased supplies of low-cost natural gas, upended U.S. coal markets, and led many electric utilities to switch from coal to natural gas, reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. While there remain concerns about some of the impacts of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), the trend toward increasing use of natural gas is widely expected to continue.

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris is a vital chance to advance a new era of better growth. 24 members of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate call for stronger climate action ahead of COP 21.

Washington, D.C., October 6, 2016: A major new report from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate calls on governments