1st C3A Annual Symposium - Navigating the mid-transition period: What role for Ministries of Finance? 

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS 

The Coalition for Capacity on Climate Action (C3A) invites you to contribute to its 1st Annual C3A Symposium, taking place in person at the Conference Center of the World Bank Office in Paris. 

Context 

The objective of a low-carbon and ecological transition is a complex and multidimensional transformation process that involves opportunities and risks. This transition takes place in an uncertain and challenging international macroeconomic context, which constrains the policy options available to countries as they also pursue energy security strategies, energy supply affordability and prudential management of their fiscal space. 

Intensifying climate impacts tighten the transition trilemma between sustainability, affordability and security. However, rapid innovation and exponential growth in the deployment of green technology have significantly reduced costs in low-carbon sectors and increased their productivity and contribution to economic growth. Some technologies have reached, or may soon reach, tipping points where costs break parity with fossil sectors, although profit rates associated with green technologies remain lower. Additional trends may also help accelerate the transition, such as growing environmental demands from civil society organizations and other constituencies, and decarbonization as a potential source of geopolitical leverage. 

We are thus entering a “mid-transition” period — a situation of rapid economic transformation in which both fossil and low-carbon systems coexist leading to economic, financial, political and geopolitical turmoil in combination with ongoing environmental crises. A systemic approach is key to designing policies that can help societies navigate through the mid-transition period. These include closing financing gaps without jeopardizing financial stability, advancing climate mitigation options while minimizing transition risks, adapting to physical risks and responding to climate damages and losses, and managing trade-offs within adaptation and transition efforts while maintaining fiscal and debt sustainability. a program supported by The World Bank and CSF 2 

Public authorities in general and Ministries of Finance in particular have a key role to play in shaping and coordinating appropriate policy options to build economic resilience and manage the transition. Enhanced coordination at regional and global levels is also needed to ensure cross-border cooperation within supply-chains and diversification opportunities. 

This first edition of C3A’s annual symposium will bring together leading voices in global climate policy and climate research to discuss the most pressing issues facing Ministries of Finance in navigating the mid-transition period. 

Call for papers 

For the 2024 C3A Annual Symposium, we would welcome submissions of both research papers and policy briefs on topics related to the role of Finance Ministries in navigating the mid-transition period. 

This includes but is not limited to the following topics: 

Characterizing the mid-transition period and potential risks and vulnerabilities:

• Jobs, fiscal and debt sustainability issues in the mid-transition period 
• Financing the transition while mitigating stranded-asset risks 
• Dynamics of rapid structural change, technological innovation, behavioral change and institutional capacity, climate Minsky moments 
• Climate and nature tipping points, their effects on transition dynamics, and emerging financial risks 
• Cross-border risks in the mid-transition period 
• Political economy of the mid-transition period:
• Effects of the mid-transition on geoeconomic fragmentation and global imbalances 
• Trade, finance and exchange rate risks in the mid-transition period 
• The evolution of cross-border financial flows and global imbalances in the transition 
• Supply-chain bottlenecks and inflationary challenges of the mid-transition period 
• Consumption patterns and mid-transition-related inequalities 
• Climate justice and just transitions in the mid-transition period 

Policy mixes for the mid-transition period

• The role of fiscal, monetary and financial policies, policy coordination and related trade-offs 
• The role and risks of carbon prices, carbon markets and price control mechanisms in the mid-transition 
• The role of national industrial policy, competitiveness, green innovation policies and supply-chain resilience policies, low-carbon technology market creation policies and regulations 
• Debt sustainability analysis and fiscal rules in the mid-transition process 
• The role of different financing instruments in the transition dynamics 
• Social protection systems for the mid-transition period 

International cooperation and governance systems in the mid-transition

• Institutional landscape and governance system of climate policy and the role of different institutions and actors in complementary climate actions (e.g. UNFCCC, climate funds, central banks/NGFS, MoFs/coalition, TCFD/TNF, MDBs, ...) 
• Mechanisms for international financial cooperation and opportunities to accelerate the transition (articulation of national and regional development banks, ...) 

a program supported by The World Bank and CSF 3 

Application process and support 

Please email your full research paper and/or policy brief draft to c3a@worldbank.org, including your full name, professional title, and academic affiliation if relevant, by October 20, 2024. Accepted research papers and policy briefs will be announced on October 30, 2024. 

Application of researchers from Global South countries are strongly encouraged. Travel support for PhD students and post-doctoral researchers from Global South countries will notably be available. 

Guidelines on research papers and policy briefs 

Research papers: expected research papers encourage the exchange of policy relevant empirical, theoretical or modeling analysis on the above themes. They are designed to produce 

with wide applicability across countries or sectors, either in terms of methodological approach, empirical validity or policy implications. Research papers are expected to provide reproducible results and thus detail all related technical aspects (30 to 50 pages). 

Policy briefs: expected policy briefs should inform readers of a particular policy experience, suggest possible policy options, and make recommendations. Policy briefs are expected to be concise (5 to 10 pages) and not discuss tangential information. A convincing policy brief should build on sound analytics and empirics, communicate the urgency of the issue and focus on the benefits and advantages of following a certain policy option. Co-authoring between policymakers and academics is strongly recommended. 

Proceedings 

Key contributions of the C3A Symposium will be edited in a Symposium Proceedings to be published in the first semester 2025. Special issues may also be proposed ahead of the Symposium. In addition, a synthesizing policy brief will summarize the policy challenges and options discussed during the Symposium. 

Organizing Committee 

Jeffrey Althouse, Francisco Amsler, Bastien Bedossa, Alexandra Campmas, Kevin Carey, Nepomuk Dunz, Etienne Espagne, Morgane Gonon, William Hynes, Katie Kedwards, Santiago Lorenzo, Jean-Francois Mercure, Anna Louise Murphy, Daniel Navia, Richard Nikiema, William Oman, Hector Pollitt, Pablo Salas Bravo, Wellington Santos De Amorin, Christian Schoder, Gregor Semieniuk, Ornella Torres, Frank Van Lerven, Tatiana Vasconcelos Fleming Machado. 

Scientific Committee 

Nadia Ameli (UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources), Amar Bhattacharya (Brookings Institution), Andrew Burns (World Bank, MTI), Emmanuele Campiglio (University of Bologna), Leon Clarke (Bezos Earth Fund), Heleen De Coninck (Eindhoven University), Carolyn Fischer (World Bank, DEC), Charlotte Garde-Landolfini (IMF), Antoine Godin (AFD), Stéphane Hallegatte (World Bank, CCG), Martin Kessler (FinDevLab), Penelope Mealy (World Bank, Oxford), Asjad Naqvi (WU Vienna), Marcelo Pereira (UniCamp), Simon Sharpe (Climate Champions), Youba Sokona (IPCC), Stephane Straub (World Bank, INF), Romain Svartzman (Bocconi University), Sebastian Valdecantos (Aalborg University), Ulrich Volz (SOAS) a program supported by The World Bank and CSF 4 

References 

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Ameli, N., Dessens, O., Winning, M., Cronin, J., Chenet, H., Drummond, P., ... & Grubb, M. (2021). Higher cost of finance exacerbates a climate investment trap in developing economies. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-12. 

Andres, Pia, et al. "Stranded nations? Transition risks and opportunities towards a clean economy." Environmental Research Letters 18.4 (2023): 045004. 

Barbosa-Filho, N. H. (2015). Elasticity of substitution and social conflict: a structuralist note on Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 40(4), 1167-1183. 

Dunz, N., Naqvi, A., & Monasterolo, I. (2021). Climate sentiments, transition risk, and financial stability in a stock-flow consistent model. Journal of Financial Stability, 54, 100872. 

Espagne, E., Oman, W., Mercure, J. F., Svartzman, R., Volz, U., Pollitt, H., ... & Campiglio, E. (2023). Cross-border risks of a global economy in mid-transition. IMF working paper 2023. 

Gardes-Landolfini, C., Grippa, P., Oman, W., & Yu, S. (2023). Energy transition and geoeconomic fragmentation: implications for climate scenario design. International Monetary Fund. 

Ghosh, J., Chakraborty, S., Ceballos, A., & Adiaba, A. (2022). A just transition: How can we fairly assign climate responsibility. Earth for All. 

Grubert, E., Hastings-Simon, S. (2022). Designing the mid-transition: A review of medium-term challenges for coordinated decarbonization in the United States. WIREs Climate Change, Vol. 13, Issue 3. 

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Hourcade, J. C., Glemarec, Y., de Coninck, H., Bayat-Renoux, F., Ramakrishna, K., & Revi, A. (2021). Scaling up climate finance in the context of Covid-19: A science-based call for financial decision-makers. 

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