POLICY SESSION ON GREEN TRANSITION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND AFRICA:
What opportunities and challenges post Glasgow Climate Pact?

10th December 2021 5:00 pm (CET)

2021 has been a decisive year in the definition of post-Covid economic recovery policies with a strong emphasis on the transition towards a decarbonised, inclusive economy, but above all one that is resilient to climate change. The first release of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, presented in public last August 2021, once again placed the progressive advance of climate change and the advances developed by the scientific community at the forefront of the agenda. The findings highlighted in the report are not encouraging and highlight the need for effective and efficient action. However, unplanned, non-consensual haste could have even more disastrous consequences. One example is the transition from a fossil energy model to a model based on clean and renewable energy sources. The transition requires a series of mechanisms and standards that make it possible to move from one stage to the other, so that the losses are minimal, and the change is effective. However, the economic model is often governed by rules that are not based on exact sciences but on socio-political circumstances. This factor makes the transition to a greener economic model more complex, but not impossible.

EMNES policy session is dedicated to the debate on the policies that will have to support and be consistent with the EU green deal, but also with the externality that it entails in the Mediterranean region and Africa for trade, cooperation alliances and local planning. The panel will include experts in different areas of knowledge and experience in the region. The session will discuss the climate pact achieved in the COP26 in Glasgow and its impacts on the Mediterranean and Africa, the role of the nature-based solution to accelerate the green transition, how to finance the green transition, etc…

EMNES Annual Conference 2021 Policy Session Report

SPEAKERS

WHO THEY ARE

Rym Ayadi

President Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), Director, Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES)

Professor Rym Ayadi is the Founder and President of the Euro – Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA). She is Founder and Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Network for Economic Studies (EMNES).

She is Senior Advisor at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS); Professor at the Business School, City University of London; and Member of the Centre for Banking Research (CBR); Chair of the European Banking Authority – Banking Stakeholders Group (EBA- BSG).

She is also Associated Scholar at the Centre for Relationship Banking and Economics (CERBE) at LUMSA University in Rome.

Cinzia Alcidi

Director of Research, Head of the Economic Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels

Dr. Cinzia Alcidi is Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Economic Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels and LUISS- School of European Political Economy- research fellow.

Prior to joining CEPS, she worked at International Labour Office in Geneva and she taught International Economics at University of Perugia (Italy). Her research activity includes international economics, macroeconomics, central banking and EU governance.Since 2015 she is the coordinator of CEPS Academy Activities. She has experience in coordinating research projects and networks. She has published extensively on the economics and governance of the Euro area crisis and participates regularly in international conferences.

She holds a Ph.D. degree in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva (Switzerland).

Connel Fullenkamp

Director of Undergraduate Studies and Professor of the Practice in economics at Duke University

Connel Fullenkamp is an economist and the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Professor of the Practice in economics at Duke University, where he teaches core economics and financial economics courses. In addition to his work at Duke University, he consults for the IMF Institute for Capacity Development at the International Monetary Fund. As a member of the IMF’s finance team, he trains government officials and central bankers in financial market regulation, with a focus on derivatives and emerging financial instruments. He has also collaborated with The Great Courses to produce several lecture series on economics and investing and consults for The New York Times as a faculty contributor to the NYT in Education courses in microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Cynthia Echave

Project Coordinator – Senior Researcher Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association

Cynthia Echave is an architect & urban planner specialized in urban ecology. She possesses a Doctor degree in Energy and Environment by Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Its professional career is characterized by an active participation in strategic projects under an ecosystemic criterion. Her professional profile could be defined close to R&D, working on the development of creative and innovative tools, methodologies and strategies for urban sustainability. Knowledge transfer comes through its application at integral projects in coordination with local authorities, mainly related to sustainable urban mobility, public space and urban livability, green infrastructure, energy and urban metabolism.

She is Senior Researcher at EMEA in charge of capitalisation projects involving research around sustainability, energy transition and environmental challenges in the Mediterranean and Africa.

Dr Nathalie Hilmi

Head Environmental Economics at Centre Scientifique de Monaco

Dr Nathalie Hilmi is an expert in Macroeconomics and International Finance. In 2010, she joined the Centre Scientifique de Monaco as head of the section « environmental economics » and collaborated with IAEA’s Environment Laboratories to initiate correlation studies between environmental sciences and economics to better evaluate the socioeconomic extent of impacts and costs of action versus inaction with regard to carbon emissions.

She works on Sustainable development in a multidisciplinary spirit. She is lead author for IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) and next IPCC main report AR6 WGII.

Fatuma Hussein

Programme Manager at Power Shift Africa

Fatuma Hussein is the Programme Manager at Power Shift Africa (PSA). She has over 16 years work experience in the field of environment and Climate change in the public sector. Prior to joining PSA, she worked at UNDP-Kenya as Programme manager for Green Climate Fund readiness and NDC Support programmes. She has served as the director, Climate Change Directorate in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Kenya and she led the team in developing key national climate change and green economy policies, strategies and plans. She has also served lead negotiator for the Kenya and Africa in the UNFCCC negotiations including Paris Agreement processes. She has Masters of Science degree in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management from University of York, UK and bachelor’s degree in Environmental Planning and Management (First Class Honours) from Kenyatta University, Kenya.