We have entered a new era of increasing ecological scarcity and rising environmental risks – global warming, land use change and biodiversity loss, freshwater scarcity, and deteriorating oceans and coasts. How economies choose to respond to this scarcity challenge is critical to both their sustainability and prosperity.

In this talk, Professor Barbier will explain why we are at a defining turning point for all economies, but especially those that are vying to win the “green race” for emerging global sectors and markets. This race is ushering in a new era of competition over, first, fostering a low-carbon transition that will affect not just a few sectors but the product mix and production processes of the whole economy, and second, creating environmental markets, investing in nature-based assets and mitigating environmental risks. The outcome of this green race will define how innovation and productivity unfold over the coming decades, global decision-making over environmental public goods, and whether economies will become more environmentally sustainable.