Paying the Climate Bill: The Future of Norwegian Development Policy

Welcome to the CMI Annual Lecture Wednesday 15 March 2023 at 3 pm in the University Aula, Muséplass 1, Bergen. The event is free and open to all.

Please register your attendance here.

Paying the Climate Bill: The Future of Norwegian Development Policy

What obligations do wealthy countries have towards poor countries when it comes to combatting the negative effects of climate change? 

Keynote:
Bård Vegar Solhjell, Director General of NORAD

Last year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference COP27 built upon the successes of previous negotiations and closed with a breakthrough agreement to provide “loss and damage” funding for vulnerable countries hit hard by climate disasters. The fund is designed to help poor, vulnerable countries cope with climate disasters made worse by the emissions from wealthy nations, with the details to be worked out beginning this year. 

While there is general agreement that wealthy countries owe financial support to poorer countries, the method and form for this are being debated. 
What does this recognition of obligation mean for Norwegian development policy? Does a focus on climate in Norwegian development policies, interventions, and funding mean that other developmental aims of democratization, poverty alleviation, and gender equality – among others – will become sidelined? If not, then how will climate-specific development actions, such as funding for resilience and adaptation, relate to these other developmental aims? 

Snapshots from the field
The keynote will be followed by a panel conversation with researchers providing responses from specific countries about climate-development efforts in the Global South. The panel will share their reflections on what those development experiences mean for Norway’s responsibility to continue development aid while also pursuing climate-specific actions and try to answer the overall question:

What can we learn about effective development policy from climate-development interventions? 

Panel:
Rondrotiana Barimalala, Senior Researcher (NORCE)
Aled Williams, Principal Adviser (U4) and Senior Researcher (CMI)
Paul Hofman, Postdoctoral Researcher (CMI) 

Moderator:
Edyta Roszko, Research Professor (CMI) 

Following the panel conversation, we will show clips from the film ‘The Resilient’, that shows how climate change affects all of us. The film is directed and produced by Julie Lunde Lillesæter and Julia Dahr.

Senior Researcher Jon Einar Flåtnes (CMI) will conclude this session with a comment on climate adaptation interventions among smallholder farmers in the global south.