COP26: Are We Ready?

The 26^th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) will kick off at the end of October in Glasgow, UK. Accelerating climate action implies a fundamental shift away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy and transport. But how ready is the world for the Net Zero transition?

On 28 October 2021 at 16:00 (UTC+3), UNU-WIDER organizes an online panel discussion titled COP26: Are We Ready? An international panel of experts specialising in mining, oil and gas will discuss issues including:

• What does climate policy imply for the global gas market, and gas producers among the developing countries?
• What does the shift to renewable energy, battery storage, and electric vehicles imply for the producers of metals such as Zambia?
• Can we avoid doing further environmental damage in the effort to increase the mining of minerals and metals critical to the technologies underpinning the Net Zero transition?

Alan Roe provides short introduction to the topic, and the event is chaired by Tony Addison. The panel discussion is followed by a Q&A, where the audience has a chance to ask questions from the experts. 

Programme

Speakers

Alan Roe is a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER and a Professorial Fellow in Economics at the University of Warwick. His career as an academic economist and as a policy adviser spans over 50 years, during which he has held positions such as Principal Economist at the World Bank and Principal Economist and a Board Director at the OPM. He has undertaken a number of case studies on the impacts of mining and oil and gas, and is a co-author of a UNU-WIDER publication Extractive Industries - The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development.

Andrew Mwaba is an international development specialist. He worked at the African Development Bank for over 30 years, where he held various senior positions including Country Manager in Malawi. He has authored, supervised and published several journal articles and research papers, including a forthcoming WIDER Working Paper on Zambia’s mining revenues policy.

Etienne Romsom is the President of EnergyCC. He is a former Global Executive Vice President for DNV GL and Managing Director of Shell Exploration & Production in Kuwait, where he developed and led complex projects in oil and gas. He has recently co-authored two WIDER Working Papers on hydrocarbon gas flaring and venting (see here and here)

Kathryn McPhail is the CEO of EnergyCC and a member of the Advisory Group at the Natural Resources Governance Institute, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Singapore Institute of Directors as well as the National University of Singapore Medicine International Council. She is a former World Bank/IFC, oil & gas and mining industry executive with FTSE 100 companies. She has recently co-authored two WIDER Working Papers on hydrocarbon gas flaring and venting (see here and here)

Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and an independent consultant, who most recently worked as an Economic Governance Advisor in the Prime Ministers Office in Eswatini. He is a former Acting Chief Economist and Vice-President at the African Development Bank. He has recently authored a WIDER Working paper titled Uganda’s nascent oil sector.

Tony Addison is a Non-Resident Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER and Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen in the Development Economics Research Group. He is a former Chief Economist and Deputy Director of UNU-WIDER. He is a co-author of a UNU-WIDER publication Extractive Industries - The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development, and leads the UNU-WIDER project Extractives for Development (E4D) – risks and opportunities.