A new narrative needs to capture the interwoven nature of the world’s climate and economic development challenges, anchored in the evolving and diverse perspectives of developing countries themselves. It is a framing that underscores the need for urgent investments in adaptation, resilience, and nature to avoid development setbacks while paying heed to the world’s narrow window for climate action. It requires empathy for many developing countries’ profound energy conundrum: a tension between the need to expand access for people who need it most while facing pressures to pursue low-carbon opportunities, often in the face of local political and financing headwinds. It implies practical urgency in tackling the broken threads of the international financing system for climate and development.

On Thursday, February 16, the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) at Brookings Global Economy and Development Program will launch “Keys to Climate Action: How developing countries could drive global success and local prosperity,” a new volume edited by CSD scholars Amar Bhattacharya, Homi Kharas, and John W McArthur.  The book project brings together a cross section of distinguished academics and leading policy voices from a variety of developing country geographies and contexts.

CSD Director John W. McArthur will open the event, followed by initial remarks from Zia Khan, senior vice president for innovation at The Rockefeller Foundation, and Homi Kharas. Amar Bhattacharya will then moderate a distinguished panel featuring four chapter authors, Sara Jane Ahmed, Richard Calland, Mahmoud Mohieldin, and Vera Songwe.

This event is available to watch online. Viewers can submit questions for the panel by emailing events@brookings.edu or via Twitter @BrookingsGlobal by using #KeystoClimateAction.