The Role of Human Development in the Green Transition | (News and Research 336)

Current climate projections predict a 2.7-degree Celsius increase in global temperature by the end of the century, which is well above the 1.5-degree cap agreed to at the Paris climate accord of 2015. The EU launched the European Green Deal (EGD) to set a strategy and course for member state to address the climate challenge. The EGD places emphasis on human responses. While people will suffer the consequences of climate change, they are not merely passengers. People can adapt to climate change and mitigate negative outcomes. That’s where the World Bank’s new report on the European Green Deal comes in. It was launched yesterday at the EU and the authors made a presentation about it:

Making the European Green Deal Work for People: The Role of Human Development in the Green Transition | Javier Sanchez-Reaza, Diego Ambasz, Predrag Djukic | Climate change is the single most important existential threat of our times. Mounting average global temperature contributes to rising sea levels, more frequent extreme weather events, deteriorating biodiversity, and shifts in the sustainability of agriculture and aquaculture. The European Green Deal (EGD) is the response of the European Union (EU) to the climate challenge. It will establish regulations and incentives to nudge European society toward a more sustainable economy. To achieve these ambitious goals the EGD combines a wide range of regulations, policies, and intervention. But a green transition is only possible with an enabling human transition, and only with the proper human development (social) policies to support this transition. This report identifies the human development (HD) policies needed to enable the green transition in Europe.

The first strategic re-skilling item: foundational skills. Then research and innovation through universities and private sector. We also need to address the reskilling issues by improving the skills of people to shorten the transition. Countries need to address inequality and job losses, which depends on social protection systems. Behavioral change needed to change consumers’ choices. Policy alignment across government levels is needed. The report was launched yesterday at the EU:

See also:

Rethinking Development in an Age of Crisis | Anna Bjerde | Nowhere is the impact of recent crises – the lingering economic consequences of COVID-19 and the global spillover effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine – being felt more acutely than in the developing world.  People in poor countries are struggling to cope with higher food and fuel prices and unsustainable debt, while schoolchildren are still suffering from learning loss caused by the pandemic. In many places, economic growth has stalled.

And:

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ECA Talk Returns to Education Turns 50 on March 29, 2023, Event Replay. Watch the discussion from earlier this week reassessing progress made on measuring the benefits of education 50 years after the publication of George Psacharopoulos’ pivotal study Returns to Education. Timestamps for remarks and panel discussions during the event replay are marked under the Agenda tab.

Submit a Manuscript to the Journal Education Economics for a Special Issue on the 50th Anniversary of the Returns to Education: An International Comparison | Manuscript deadline: 31 October 2023 | Special Issue Editor: Harry Patrinos, World Bank | Submit An Article | This year is the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book, Returns to Education: An International Comparison, by George Psacharopoulos (assisted by Keith Hinchliffe). Education Economics is publishing a special issue to mark this occasion and the contributions of Professor Psacharopoulos. The focus of this special issue is research on the returns to education. Research on international comparisons and /or returns to education in less developed economies are especially welcome.