Webinar Link

Meeting No: 2512 192 3205
Password: g20climate

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Abstract

The term ‘climate finance’ is also frequently associated with international diplomacy on climate change. In this context, climate finance implies “new and additional financial resources” provided by developed countries to developing countries so that they can meet the full and incremental costs of climate change and decarbonisation.

Climate finance aims at reducing emissions and enhancing sinks of greenhouse gases and aims at reducing vulnerability of, and maintaining and increasing the resilience of, human and ecological systems to negative climate change impacts. The flow of funds to all activities, programmes or projects intended to help address climate change: for both mitigation and adaptation, in all economic sectors, anywhere in the world.The definition includes finance flowing directly to assets and activities and leaves out financial market activity, such as bank loans to companies or investments in private and public equity. This is to adhere to the core principle of avoiding ‘double counting’. However, climate financing has serious fiscal and monetary implications. The webinar will involve deliberation amongst the panelist on the above issues.

About the Speakers

Dr. Arvind Virmani

Arvind Virmani is member of NIti Aayog. He was Chairman of the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW) and President of the Forum For Strategic Initiatives (FSI, Delhi). He has been a Mentor (economic policy) to FICCI & a member of RBI Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary policy He was earlier Executive Director, IMF and Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance and Principal Advisor, Planning Commission. During his tenure he advised on a host of economic policy reforms, through 100s of policy papers, notes and committees. He has served as Member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and as Director & Chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He has published 35 journal articles and 20 book chapters and written over 50 other working papers in the areas of Macroeconomics, growth and finance, tax reform, International trade & Tariffs, International relations, and national security strategy.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, an economist, and civil servant, was former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Government of India. He joined the Government in 1979 as Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, after which he held a series of positions including Special Secretary to the Prime Minister; Commerce Secretary; Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs; Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance; Member of the Planning Commission and Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. In 2001, he was appointed as the first Director of the newly created Independent Evaluation Office of the International Monetary Fund. He resigned from that position in 2004 to take up the position of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission which he held from 2004 to 2014.

Mr. Ahluwalia has been a key figure in Indian economic policy. He writes on various aspects of development economics and has been published in prominent Indian and international journals and books. He co-authored Re-distribution with Growth: An Approach to Policy, which, published in 1975, was a path-breaking book on income distribution. In February 2020, he published his book, Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years, an insider’s account of policymaking from 1985 to 2014.

For his outstanding contribution to economic policy and public service, he was conferred the prestigious ‘Padma Vibhushan’ in 2011, India’s 2nd highest civilian award for exceptional and distinguished service.

Mr. Ahluwalia graduated from Delhi University and holds an MA and an MPhil in Economics from Oxford University.He is an Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford.

Dr. Frannie Léautier

Dr. Frannie Léautier is a finance and development expert, with long-standing global experience leading and transforming organisations in the private, public and not-for-profit spheres. Prior to joining TDB, she served as Senior Vice President at the African Development Bank, Vice President at the World Bank Group, and Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation. In addition to having founded two companies and being the CEO of SouthBridge Investments, Dr. Léautier is a Board Member, Trustee, Special Advisor, Founder and Member of a number of prestigious international organisations, including the World Economic Forum (WEF), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), OCP Group, African Risk Capacity Ltd (ARC Ltd), African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Institute for Security Studies (IIS), King Baudouin Foundation USA (KBFUS), Nelson Mandela Institute for Science and Technology (NM-AIST), and others. She is a well-recognised author and academic, having published numerous books, articles and papers in international development and having taught Masters-level courses at Sciences Po, MIT, Harvard, Duke, and the University of Tokyo. In addition to her Civil Engineering Degree from Dar es Salaam University and a Transportation Masters from MIT, Dr. Léautier holds a PhD in Infrastructure Systems from MIT, and honorary degrees from North Central College and Lancaster University.

Architesh Panda

Architesh is a senior research associate with the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) at the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn. He works at the interface of research and policy on climate and disaster risk insurance and finance, agriculture and climate change, and human mobility. Before joining UNU, he has worked with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on climate change impact assessment, climate change adaptation, climate finance and climate-smart agriculture.

Neha Kumar

Neha Kumar is the Head, South Asia Programme, Climate Bonds Initiative and is based in Delhi. She drives policy, strategy and partner programmes to scale up the green bonds market and sustainable financial ecosystem. She has also served on the MoF Working Group on Sustainable Finance Taxonomy development. Her efforts are targeted at building mechanisms for credible transition finance mobilisation and allocation, diversifying thematic bond market across multiple sectors and actors including sovereign and sub sovereign entities, and just and inclusive transition. She has nineteen years of experience working on public policy, regulation and industry action in India on sustainability, responsible financing and environmental and political risks to national and international investments. She is also a Senior Research Associate with the ODI.