Webinar | Designing Fair and Equitable Climate and Energy Policies

Designing Fair and Equitable Climate and Energy Policies

Closing the gap between the emission reductions required to limit global warming to 1.5°C and actual government commitments requires climate and energy policies to significantly ramp up by 2030. Yet more research is needed to understand the economic and social impacts, including which population groups may be positively or negatively affected, and how the social outcomes of such policies can be maximized or mitigated.

Environmental budget tagging tools can contribute to address this problem, by providing a starting point for an exhaustive identification of budgetary measures with both climate and social impacts.

This event, jointly organized by the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE), ODI, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and supported by the European Climate Foundation (ECF), examined the complex social impacts of climate and energy policies. In doing so, it will highlight the importance of integrating climate and social perspectives to increase the sustainability and viability of these policies.

Building on its experience with climate budget tagging practices, I4CE has been developing since 2021 a methodology to integrate social considerations into green budget tagging exercises. Both the methodology and first results for France were presented at this event. We will also:

• Discuss the range of social impacts to be expected from climate and energy policies.
• Share recommendations on how to design climate and energy policies to alleviate potential detrimental social impacts.
• Present figures and an assessment outlining the likely social impacts of climate and energy policies from both the Energy Policy Tracker and the French green budget.
• Highlight current challenges in the evaluation of social impacts of climate and energy policies, as well as the type of frameworks that can be used by governments to better assess these impacts.