Diversification and Cooperation in a Decarbonizing World

This book is the first stocktaking of what the decarbonization ofthe world economy means for fossil fuel-dependent countries.These countries are the most exposed to the impacts of globalclimate policies and, at the same time, are often unprepared tomanage them. They depend on the export of oil, gas, or coal; the useof carbon-intensive infrastructure (for example, refineries, petrochemicals,and coal power plants); or both. Fossil fuel-dependentcountries face financial, fiscal, and macro-structural risks from thetransition of the global economy away from carbon-intensive fuelsand the value chains based on them. This book focuses on managingthese transition risks and harnessing related opportunities.Diversification and Cooperation in a Decarbonizing World identifiesmultiple strategies that fossil fuel-dependent countries canpursue to navigate the turbulent waters of a low-carbon transition.The policy and investment choices to be made in the next decade willdetermine these countries' degree of exposure and overall resilience.Abandoning their comfort zones and developing completely newskills and capabilities in a time frame consistent with the ParisAgreement on climate change is a daunting challenge and requireslong-term revenue visibility and consistent policy leadership. Thisbook proposes a constructive framework for climate strategies forfossil fuel-dependent countries based on new approaches to diversificationand international climate cooperation. Climate policy leadersshare responsibility for creating room for all countries to contributeto the goals of the Paris Agreement, taking into account the specificvulnerabilities and opportunities each country faces.