The LIDN Weekly Roundup #66
A roundup full of contrasts and contradictions for you this week.
We start with Nobel prizes, with the news that the prize for economics celebrates auction theory. Recent changes to public auctions (eg telecoms licences) have helped us all by increasing the revenues the Government has taken from private operators. Still, it seems the topic was as much of a surprise to the winner as it was to the rest of us.
Development should have the sole objective of helping the poorest, right? Not according to the UK Government, and few policies capture this sentiment as well as the integrated review into Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. Hear more about it in this discussion hosted by the LSE International Relations department.
But it wasn’t always this way. There was a time when the UK placed outcomes on the poorest at the heart of it’s development work. We would do well to heed these words from Sir Suma (former head of DfID) who passionately argues for Western Donors to maintain empathy for those they seek to work with, and reminds us that development is never just about money.
Sir Suma also highlights the growing body of literature to show that women do better at empathy than men. There are some positive take-aways from this survey from CGD around Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) efforts towards gender equality (with the UK doing particularly well). But it also highlights the need for action to support words, noting that half the institutions surveyed do not measure the implementation of their external gender strategies.
We close this week by looking at the World Energy Outlook, published on Tuesday. The good news was confirmation that global energy usage shifted in favour of renewables during the pandemic (demand for oil, gas and coal were all down, in comparison to renewables which grew). There is also reason for optimism; 80% of new electricity demand in next 10 years is predicted to be met by renewables, with solar offering some of the cheapest electricity ever known.
The bad news is the stark reminder of just how far away the world is from achieving net-zero; Compared to 2019, the year 2030 would need to see a 20-fold increase in the number of new electric passenger cars sold, and a four-fold increase of investment into clean electricity (to $1.6 trillion). For those who want to dig deeper, you could listen to this excellent discussion hosted by the ODI or read up on the sustainable recovery plan put forward by the IEA.
