World energy: Looking ahead to COP27

Think WIDER Webinar Series - New perspectives on domestic revenue mobilization

World energy: Looking ahead to COP27


Our Think WIDER Webinar Series - New perspectives on domestic revenue mobilization continues on 18 October 2022 at 16:00 (UTC+3) with a presentation and a panel discussion on World energy: Looking ahead to COP27.

In November 2022, Egypt will host the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh. COP27 meets amid considerable global energy uncertainty, with world oil and gas markets experiencing high prices and unprecedented shortages. The world economy is slowing down, and major economies are on the edge of recession. These developments have critical implications for the energy transition which must underpin the shift to a net zero world, for the achievement of the Paris Agreement on climate change adopted at COP21, and for the economic prospects and public revenues of low- and middle- income countries.  

This one-hour webinar will look ahead to COP27, with a focus on energy. The event is chaired by Tony Addison, who leads the Extractives for Development (E4D) project, part of UNU-WIDER’s Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) programme. The speakers include Mahmoud Mohieldin, a UN Climate Change High Level Champion for COP27, Kathryn McPhail, and Etienne Romsom, both of EnergyCC, who have authored two WIDER Working Papers on hydrocarbon gas flaring and venting, a major source of methane emissions. The event concludes with a Q&A session where the audience is invited to ask questions.

About the speakers

Mahmoud Mohieldin is a UN Climate Change High Level Champion for COP27. He has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020. He was Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations, and Partnerships, and previously served as corporate secretary, president's special envoy, and managing director for the World Bank Group. He has been a Professor of Economics at Cairo University and a visiting professor at several renowned universities.

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 co-authored two WIDER Working Papers on hydrocarbon gas flaring and venting (see here and here).

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 co-authored two WIDER Working Papers on hydrocarbon gas flaring and venting (see here and here). He has also recently authored two WIDER Working Papers on global oil theft (see here and here).

Tony Addison is a Professor of Economics, Development Economics Research Group, University of Copenhagen, and a Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow, UNU-WIDER. He was previously UNU-WIDER’s Chief Economist and Deputy Director. He leads the Extractives for Development (E4D) project at UNU-WIDER, and is a co-editor of Extractive Industries - The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development.