STEPS Centre seminar with Channing Arndt, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

Institute of Development Studies, Room 221, 15 December 2017

An energy revolution is underway. Driven by an enormous and unexpected downward shift in the full cost of renewable generation technologies, global investment in renewable electricity generation has exceeded investment in conventional technologies by a factor of two for the past two years. The large majority of new installed generation capacity is renewable, notably solar and wind. This ongoing energy revolution has potentially profound implications. An incomplete list includes rural electrification, solar pumping, stranded fossil fuel assets, the future of biofuels, the composition of electricity build plans, the value of regional power pools, and the pace and magnitude of global temperature rise. This talk will review salient features of the energy revolution, consider some broad implications for developing countries, and present preliminary modeling results for energy use and electricity generation build plans for South Africa.

Channing Arndt has more than 25 years of experience in development economics with seven years combined resident experience in Morocco and Mozambique. He has published more than 70 articles in leading academic journals. His recent books include Growth and Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa; Measuring Poverty and Wellbeing in Developing Countries; and The Political Economy of Clean Energy Transitions. He has taken leadership roles in major policy documents such as the design of a carbon tax for the National Treasury of South Africa, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change for the World Bank, and the Second, Third and Fourth National Poverty Assessments for the Government of Mozambique.

Everyone welcome!