The pandemic has brutally reminded even the rich world that humanity has not conquered nature. By upending markets, work arrangements, supply chains, and public perceptions of risk, it has permanently changed the world in countless ways. To focus on what comes next, Project Syndicate is convening a wide range of experts for a series of in-depth discussions on the path to a green recovery, with an emphasis on biodiversity, energy, public investments, and financial and corporate governance.
The recovery will bring far-reaching opportunities to accelerate the transition to renewable energies, reorient business and finance toward sustainable development, and reconsider our relationship with nature. But it will also open a window for populists, nationalists, and others to exploit public anxieties and pursue zero-sum politics. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that averting the worst-case climate scenario will depend entirely on the actions taken (or not taken) in the 2020s. The stakes could not be higher. How do we proceed from here?
The Green Recovery is a live virtual event that is taking place September 16-17, 2020.
Day 1:
- Moderators: Ben Chu and Lizzy Burden
- Session One – Green Dealing
While the original New Deal was famously experimental in nature – with the Roosevelt administration trying everything, keeping what worked, and abandoning what didn’t – today’s proposed Green Deals have already been fully mapped out.
- 9:00AM – Opening Remarks: Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank
- 9:05AM – Panel Discussion and Q&A with international media
- Carlos Lopes, former Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa
- Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, Chair of The Elders
- Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate economist
- 10:10AM – Break
- Session Two – The Return(s) of Nature
While the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted one of the major threats posed by nature, achieving widespread buy-in for biodiversity efforts demands that policymakers also recognize the far-reaching benefits natural systems offer.
- 10:30AM – Opening Remarks: Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia (2010-18), Nobel Peace laureate
- 10:35AM – Panel Discussion and Q&A with international media
- Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, co-founder of Global Optimism Ltd
- Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
- Jennifer Morris, CEO of the Nature Conservancy
- Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact
Day 2:
- Moderator: Jo Coburn
- Session One – Can Green Business Be Good Business?
Although few major corporations would dare to withhold public support for the broader climate agenda, there is still an open question as to how much Big Business’s words are translating into actions.
- 9:00AM – Opening Remarks: Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the UK
- 9:05AM – Panel Discussion and Q&A with international media
- Eila Kreivi, Head of Capital Markets at the European Investment Bank
- Rebecca Henderson, University Professor at Harvard Business School
- Jim O’Neill, Chair of Chatham House
- Mariana Mazzucato, Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
- 10:10AM – Break
- Session Two – Closing the Circuit
With the costs of solar, wind, and battery storage having plummeted over the past decade, the biggest hurdle to decarbonization is no longer technological but political.
- 10:30AM – Opening Remarks: Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia
- 10:35AM – Panel Discussion and Q&A with international media
- Omran Al-Kuwari, CEO of the Qatar Foundation International
- Jose Antonio Gonzalez Anaya, former CEO of PEMEX
- Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute
- Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation
- 11:40AM – In Conversation: Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and Bertrand Badré, CEO of Blue Like an Orange Capital