Integrated Carbon Policy Design for Achieving Net-Zero Targets

Several countries have set net-zero targets, and many more will announce in the next few years. Countries have used carbon pricing as an instrument to cut Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and provide a price signal to attract private investments to achieve net-zero targets. However, current carbon policy in countries with net-zero targets remains inadequate and asymmetrical to overcome net-zero challenges; there are visible gaps in the carbon price level, sectoral coverage, and mechanism to reward carbon-neutral initiatives. This paper proposed an integrated carbon policy design covering economic, technical, and social dimensions and discussed how an integrated policy design approach could be effective in helping countries achieve net-zero objectives. The paper makes recommendations for net-zero policymakers. First, a stable and appropriate carbon price must be in place to attract private investments in carbon offset measures and commercialize clean technologies. Second, governments should use an effective revenue recycling mechanism to engage firms and citizens in mitigating the side effects of the carbon price regime and win their trust. Third, countries should promote behavioral changes and carbon footprint reduction measures through citizen participation. 

The impact of the reconstruction of megablocks (1990-2020) on the quality of common open public spaces: Blocks 21 and 28 in New Belgrade

The quality of common open public spaces is conditioned, among other things, by the layout and characteristics of the facilities located in their immediate vicinity, but also by the functions and contents, equipment and materialization of the ground floor of those facilities. For this reason, interventions on existing facilities and the construction of new ones around common open public spaces can positivelyor negatively affect the quality of these areas. The construction of New Belgrade began in 1948 and continues today. In the area of New Belgrade, the network of common open public spaces covers more than 50% of the total area of the municipality. Initially, the blocks in New Belgrade were built on the basis of a unique planning solution. The transformation of the blocks began in the 1990s in the post-socialist period, when it became possible to change the legal regulations and enable a greater participation of private investments in the processes of reconstruction and new construction. In order to determine the real impact of the reconstruction of mega blocks on the quality of common open public spaces, this paper will present the criteria for determining the quality of these spaces. The criteria will help to examine the differences between the quality of common open public spaces within a block that has had frequent interventions and one where there have been no significant interventions over the last few decades. The conclusions should provide an answer as to whether and to what extent spatial interventions affect the quality of common open public spaces.

Use of the public-and-private partnership agreements in the conditions of imperfection of legal regulations in the Russian Federation

The objective of this research is to consider some controversial issues of the development of public-and-private partnership (and concession agreements as its most common form) in Russia. Some complaints made by Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation to some infrastructure projects are reviewed. The author studied dynamics of private investments into infrastructure projects in the conditions of imperfect legal regulation. The assessment of the validity of the position of Federal Antimonopoly Service is given. It is predicted whether the legislative collisions will prevent the growth of private investments into infrastructure. Recommendations on the development of the mechanism of public-and-private partnership with the observance of antimonopoly regulation, as well as recommendation on the improvement of the legislation in this area are developed. The results of the research can be used by both private participants of public-and-private partnership and the federal, regional and municipal authorities, and also by legislators working on the improvement of the legislative regulation in this area.

Transforming Everything?

Broadband, or high-speed internet, has been called the most important infrastructure challenge of the century by the National Broadband Plan. It has the potential to connect remote communities, help coordinate and streamline healthcare services, enable our children with unparalleled access to learning opportunities, promote government transparency and civic participation, and spark and support innovation in the economy and across numerous fields. But businesses and government agencies must be prepared to take advantage of new technologies, and individuals must have the connections and skills to use them. This volume argues that there is a critical need to understand whether or how public and private investments in broadband make a difference, and the best way to do that is to invest in high-quality program evaluation to assess the full range of critical outcomes and impacts. It addresses challenges for evaluating broadband initiatives to promote learning across studies and diverse contexts and offers guidance and methods of evaluation for policymakers as well as researchers. Such evaluation can provide evidence for programs and policy and show whether the transformative promise of broadband is being fulfilled, under what conditions, and for whom it has the greatest impact.

PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT NEXUS IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA: CROWDING-IN OR OUT EFFECT?

In the last two decades the economic growth of North Macedonia can be qualified as sluggish and volatile. In this period, the government has been proclaiming a narrative of fiscal and economic policies focused on public investment driven development and growth, yet the capital budget bias, has been significant with regularly overestimated plans vs. the outturn. The public investment-to-GDP ratio, has been an average 5.47%, ranging from minimum 4.0% (Y2007) to maximum 6.7% (Y2010). Simultaneously, the private investment-to-GDP ratio has been an average 17.1%, with minimum of 15% (in Y2005) and a maximum value of 20.6% (in Y2008). The FDI inflows, have been ranging from minimal below 1% in 2014 to maximum 12.7% in 2001, with average of 4.6% per annum. The trends of the variables straightforwardly do not suggest a nexus between public and private investments i.e. causing crowding-in or crowding out effect. In this paper it is investigated whether public investment and foreign direct investments crowd-out or crowd-in the private investment in North Macedonia. To test this hypothesis, we use the available annual data on private investment, public investment, foreign direct investments and GDP for the period of 2000-2017 (in real terms). A model of autoregressive distributed lag bound testing is used for the variables private investment, public investment, GDP and foreign direct investment. The results indicate a crowding-out effect of public over private investments with significance of the foreign direct investments are expected to show whether there is crowding-in or -out effect of the public over private investment and crowding-in effect of the foreign direct investments. The crowding-out effect is immediate and short run.

HURRY UP OR WAIT: ARE PRIVATE INVESTMENTS IN CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION DELAYED?

Adaptation gaps arise when observed adaptation to climate change is slower than perceived adaptation potential. Two common explanations for adaptation gaps are (1) private parties failing to recognize that the climate is changing and (2) the cost of adaptation is higher than commonly believed. This paper shows how these two explanations are linked and that the likelihood and duration of adaptation gaps depend on whether climate change is characterized by stationary or non-stationary dynamics. Using an investment in water-saving irrigation in California’s Central Valley as an illustrative example, we find little evidence that failing to account for climate change would explain adaptation gaps. A more likely explanation for adaptation gaps is a failure to account for the adaptation option value that arises due to the possibility of maladaptation.

Rethinking a new transition finance paradigm for addressing the climate crisis in Africa

This policy brief uncovers the investment-ready instruments and policy packages that can unlock the energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa. These are summarised around three key messages. First, transition finance vehicles in Africa should aim to transform ‘brown’ (polluting) into ‘green’ (renewable) industries. Second, key instruments include green bonds for specific environmental projects, grants/guaranties to support private investments that target access to energy for the poor, and patient capital investments into growth sectors focused on environmental, social, and governance targets. Third, national energy policy should connect innovative market-based solutions (e.g., mini grids) to centralized (e.g., national grid) systems to strengthen governance.

Financing for Sustainable Structural Transformation

Official development assistance (ODA) and domestic expenditures of developing countries on food and agriculture are often too small, relative to needs or for stimulating private investment. ODA and expenditures are suboptimally allocated mostly to subsidies, with little to public goods, such as agricultural education, research, and extension. Learning and evaluation of impacts need to improve and expand to meet complex challenges facing farmers. The multisectoral nature of agriculture means that agricultural financing must consist of multiple components, with resources that are public, private (household), and private (external to household), coming from six categories: public—domestic and international; private—domestic and international; and household—savings and remittances. Information on “traditional” ODA for agriculture is more available than for “nontraditional” ODA: for example, from emerging countries, including China’s growing involvement in Southern countries, private investments in value chains, land purchases, and private philanthropy. Aside from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), few philanthropists report aid to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development–Development Assistance Committee (OECD–DAC). BMGF’s Aid Transparency Index (ATI) rating improved only from “very poor” (18.1 percent) in 2013 to “fair” (47.3 percent) in 2018. The 2020 ATI reported significant improvement in aid donors’ overall transparency, but less in impact of aid projects. New themes, including nutrition and the environment, pose challenges to estimating sources of resource flows in support of adaptation of agriculture. We show that, even though available aid has increased since 2020, resources are very small relative to needs and the extent of advocacy.