Stability and cross-border impacts of a rapid low-carbon transition: lessons for climate policy-making | Jean-Francois Mercure

Dr Jean-Francois Mercure is Associate Professor in Climate Policy at the University of Exeter Business School (Finance & Accounting) and assistant director of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute. During 2022-2024, he was Senior Climate Economist at the World Bank. He is also Principal Economist at Cambridge Econometrics and Chief Economist at the startup TREX, and remains part-time consultant for the World Bank. His work focuses on research, application and communication on the economics of low-carbon transitions. Prior to 2022, he was faculty member of Exeter’s Geography department. 

Dr Mercure will be discussing the paper ‘Stability and cross-border impacts of a rapid low-carbon transition: lessons for climate policy-making’.

Abstract 

‘A low-carbon transition is unfolding. Many zero-carbon technologies are on the verge of, or have already, crossed cost competitiveness with brown technologies, and are becoming disruptive for the brown economy globally. Their diffusion may follow tipping points and become self-propelling. The ‘mid-transition’ period, when economic transformation unfolds the fastest, could become a disorderly period of economic, financial and social volatility and instability. In this seminar, I will develop an assessment of cross-border and stability risks that emanate from a rapid low-carbon transition, looking at economic, financial and social phenomena. This contributes to an evidence base to help policy-makers move beyond pricing only approaches towards better regulatory approaches to ensure an orderly transition for climate governance.’

Further Reading

‘Cross-Border Risks of a Global Economy in Mid-Transition’ By Etienne Espagne, William Oman, Jean-François Mercure, Romain Svartzman, Ulrich Volz, Hector Pollitt, Gregor Semieniu and Emanuele Campiglio.

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