Event Information
Call for Papers for the Conference
“Green transformation and competitive advantage: Evidence from developing countries”
German Development Institute - Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Bonn,
Germany, 18-19 June 2018
For full information click here.
Important dates
09 April 2018 Extended outline submission (1200-2000 words)
23 April 2018 Decision notification: Conference acceptance
04 June 2018 Zero draft submission (min. 4000 words)
18/19 June 2018 Conference presentation
02 July 2018 Notification of invitation to contribute to Special Issue
Developing country governments are increasingly committing to ‘greening’ their economies, most explicitly under the Paris Agreement, where nearly all governments agreed to establish national
roadmaps for decarbonisation. Many developing country governments have furthermore enacted
comprehensive national green growth strategies aimed at reducing their environmental footprints and
turning this into new competitive advantage. Yet, in general, poorer countries’ governments tend to
be even more reluctant than those of rich countries to pursue ambitious green transformation
pathways, arguing that
a. they do not have the financial and institutional means to internalize environmental costs and
b. their economies are mostly factor-driven, hence internalizing environmental costs may
undermine their competitive advantages in international trade vis-à-vis innovation-driven
economies that may reap the benefits of a technological paradigm change more easily.
For these reasons, many analysts and policymakers favour a ‘grow first and clean up later’ strategy.
Our conference seeks to challenge this strategy through a better understanding of the economic cobenefits and costs of green transformations. Confirmed speakers include Edward Barbier (Colorado State University), Sam Fankhauser (Grantham Research Institute, LSE), Ann Harrison (The Wharton School), and Xue Lan (Tsinghua University).
Contact
In case of content related questions, please contact Anna Pegels (anna.pegels@die-gdi.de) or Tilman Altenburg (tilman.altenburg@die-gdi.de). For logistical information, please contact Ina Klemke
ina.klemke@die-gdi.de).
