Energy Leapfrogging or Carbon Imperialism?
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Session Description
Wealthy nations have benefitted from access to cheap energy, which fueled the industrial revolution and lifted populations into the middle class and beyond. That development has come at an environmental cost, and now the world’s emerging economies are facing a difficult question: can they lift their own people out of poverty quickly, without relying heavily on fossil fuels? The West must face another question: is it ethical to ask these countries to leapfrog to clean energy, if it means slowing life-saving economic growth? This debate will highlight the trade-offs—or false choices—between fostering economic growth in emerging economies, with the imperative to transition to a cleaner-energy future.
Time & Location
Time:
10:00 AM - 11:15 AM, Thursday, April 6, 2017
BST
Location:
Edmond Safra Lecture Theatre
Speakers
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Speaker
Vice President, Observer Research Foundation
Samir Saran is Vice President of the Observer Research Foundation. Samir spearheads ORF's outreach and business development activities.
He is a frequent commentator on issues of global governance, including climate change and energy policy, global development, architecture, cyber security and internet governance, and India's foreign policy. Apart from his academic publications, Samir features regularly in Indian and international print and broadcast media. His latest published work include, "India’s Contemporary Plurilateralism" in the Oxford University Press Handbook on India’s Foreign Policy; New Room to Manoeuvre: An Indian Approach to Climate Change, a Global Policy–ORF publication; Attitudes to Water in South Asia, a joint ORF–Chatham House Report; A Long Term Vision for BRICS, a comprehensive vision document submitted to the BRICS Think Tanks Council; The ITU and Unbundling Internet Governance: An Indian Perspective, for the Council on Foreign Relations; a joint research project between ORF and the Heritage Foundation, Indo–US Cooperation on Internet Governance and Cyber Security; and a paper on “The Shifting Digital Pivot: Time for Smart Multilateralism” for Digital Debates.
Samir is member at the Inception Group, The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace and Global Future Council on Cybersecurity of the World Economic Forum.
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Speaker
A practitioner from the very beginning, Jagdeesh’s 35 year professional engagement has been on interrelated issues of poverty and environmental degradation and on ‘systems thinking’ at the interface of ecology, society and economy.
Jagdeesh has been the Chief Executive of Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) since its inception in 2001 till July 2020. Subsequently, he was associated with the ecosystem initiative titled - Promise of Commons since its inception in 2020 till September 2021 as its anchor and curator. He was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Omidyar Network India in 2022. Currently, he is leading the designing of the Common Ground initiative and promoting systems leadership for environmental governance and resilient rural livelihoods.
Jagdeesh has been conferred the ‘Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship’ 2015 and he is also a Henry Arnhold (Mulago) Conservation Fellow (2017) and Senior Ashoka Fellow (2022).
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Moderator
Assistant Editor, Guardian, The
I've been a journalist at the Guardian for 16 years, working across news and features.
I'm now assistant editor of the Guardian, responsible for global stories such as the environment, science and health, as well as our philanthropically funded work. Recently I returned from two years running our Australian operation, which is based in Sydney.
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Speaker
Former President, Republic of the Maldives,
Mohamed Nasheed was the Maldives’ first democratically elected president. A former journalist, Nasheed led a campaign of non-violent, civil disobedience to win against Asia’s longest serving dictator in historic democratic polls in 2008. In February 2012, Nasheed was forced to resign as a result of a security forces led coup backed by the former government.
Nasheed missed out on re-election for president in late 2013, in an election marred by repeated interventions by the Supreme Court, which was accused of conspiring with Nasheed’s political rivals. On March 13, 2015, the Criminal Court on charges of ‘terrorism’ sentenced Nasheed to 13 years in jail. The trial, which was blatantly politicised lasted less than 3 weeks and has been widely condemned in the Maldives and abroad.
Arrested, imprisoned and tortured in the Maldives on numerous occasions for his political beliefs, Nasheed was named an Amnesty International “Prisoner of Conscience. During his time in office and thereafter, Nasheed has played a prominent global role advocating for action on climate change. In 2009, to highlight Maldives’ vulnerability to rising sea levels, Nasheed held a meeting of his cabinet underwater. He also implemented policies to turn Maldives into the world’s first carbon neutral country by 2020. Nasheed won the 2009 Anna Lindh Prize, in recognition of his work promoting human rights, democracy and environmental protection. In September 2009, Time Magazine declared Nasheed a ‘Hero of the Environment’. In April 2010, the United Nations presented Nasheed with its ‘Champions of the Earth’ environment award. In August 2010, Newsweek named Nasheed in its list of ‘World’s Ten Best Leaders’. In 2012, The Island President, a documentary feature film about Nasheed was released worldwide. In 2012, Nasheed was presented with the James Lawson Award for the practice of non-violent action. In 2014, Nasheed was presented the Mission Blue Award, by Dr. Sylvia Earle for his climate advocacy.
