Session documents

Most economic value chains originate in commodities, such as crude oil, copper, cotton or wheat. Developing countries that depend on exporting these primary products are often very vulnerable to macroeconomic instability, delayed industrialization or deindustrialization, and volatility of export revenue caused by commodity price fluctuations. Many commodity dependent developing countries (CDDCs) are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and droughts. The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have further exposed CDDCs’ vulnerabilities and highlighted the urgent need for these countries to become more resilient by moving up value chains and diversifying their economies.

However, CDDCs now have to diversify in ways never done before: through low carbon paths in the context of climate change and energy transition.

Additionally, these countries need to carefully make growth less carbon-intensive without compromising their economic development. Inclusive and green diversification is possible if the right to development of CDDCs, the need to address climate change, and existing inequalities are addressed in a common and balanced way. CDDCs should leverage untapped potential in renewable energy sources to explore new energy markets and green products that can help create new jobs, boost incomes, and reduce inequalities. For example, linking mining of clean energy minerals such as cobalt and lithium with local value addition. Green industrial policy can help to achieve just diversification pathways in CDDCs. This short course will discuss ways in which CDDCs can become more resilient by diversifying production and moving up value chains to produce and export a wider variety of products – and do so in ways that are inclusive and protect the global climate.

Therefore, the course will achieve the following objectives:

• Raise awareness of delegates from Member Countries on the prospects and challenges for inclusive diversification and energy transition in commodity dependent developing countries.
• Gain an understanding of the enablers of export diversification, the factors that affect inequality in this process, the historical relationship between diversification and carbon emissions, and the policy tools to foster inclusive and greener economic diversification.

•  Programme
•  Session I - Commodity dependence and economic diversification
•  Session I - Ensuring an inclusive diversification and energy transition
•  Session I - Diversification and energy transition
•  Session I - Access to energy: Opportunities, challenges and policy actions
•  Session II - Overview of critical energy transition minerals
•  Session II - Trade dynamics and value chains of CETM
•  Session II - Diversification opportunities for CETMs, the case of lithium
•  Session II - Green industrial policies
•  Multimedia Presentation