By Zheng Zhai and Kevin P. Gallagher Countries across the Global South need a stepwise increase in investment to improve the well-being of their population and foster low-carbon, equitable and resilient growth. Countries must promote growth while simultaneously avoiding the significant social and economic losses that could arise from climate change and social instability. Lower […]
By Molly Breen-Aronson On Thursday, October 23, Michael Greenstone, Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and Director of the Energy Policy Institute and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth at the University of Chicago, presented the 2025 Paul Streeten Distinguished Lecture in Global Development Policy. Professor Greenstone’s lecture shared a methodology for estimating […]
To achieve the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate inaction, emerging market and developing countries (excluding China) need to mobilize a massive volume of investments, with estimates ranging between $3-4 trillion annually by 2030. However, not only is developing countries’ fiscal space constrained by the features of […]
Most of the world’s countries have renewed their interest in leveraging industrial policies to address concerns about global competitiveness, economic security and much needed investment in low-carbon technologies. Indeed, to combat climate change, the world needs rapid, diverse and experimental action by all nations, regardless of development or income level. To enable such action, the […]
In the 2024 United Nations Pact for the Future, global leaders committed to scaling up and reforming international financial institutions to make them fit to meet the global challenges of the 21st century. Moving forward, there are two vital opportunities for the global community to revive global efforts to address these urgent challenges: the Fourth […]
The most notable milestone of 2024 was the 80th anniversary of the Bretton Woods institutions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization. This anniversary came as calls for ambitious global economic governance reforms gain momentum in key fora, and developing country frustrations with the existing system continue to grow. 2024 […]
The global community is running out of time and falling behind on financing shared climate and development goals, with the United Nations warning that 85 percent of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are either off track, stagnant or regressing. The economic and social costs of inaction will be catastrophic. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) […]
By Bahar C. Erbas, Niccolò Manych, Kevin P. Gallagher and Rishikesh Ram Bhandary Retiring coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) is an effective solution for adhering to the temperature limits of the Paris Agreement. Development finance institutions (DFIs) can play pivotal roles in supporting governments in early phase-down initiatives. These approaches must consider social and environmental aspects […]
For fulfilling climate commitments and attaining net-zero emission goals, there is a global effort to retire coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) early. Given their unique business model and public welfare missions, development finance institutions (DFIs) have a crucial role to play in facilitating early retirement of CFPPs. What are the costs associated against three scenarios of […]
“Dear International Monetary Fund Board of Directors, This Friday October 11, 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to announce reforms to its policy on charges and especially surcharges, which levies extra fees on countries whose debts have surpassed certain size and time thresholds. We the undersigned urge the IMF to meaningfully reform its policies, […]