Is development possible without fossil fuels?

Co-organised with UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources 

The COP 29 conference once again highlighted divergences between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries with regards to states’ responsibility to limit their carbon emissions and transition away from fossil fuels. According to many poorer countries, restrictions on fossil fuel production and consumption would constrain economic and social development, a burden which they feel is unfair given that rich countries largely caused climate change. But are fossil fuels really necessary for development? Could the transition away from fossil fuels create opportunities for economic diversification, jobs, innovation, and improvements in public health and energy access? What can and should rich countries do to ensure that poorer countries can develop without reliance on fossil fuels?

Meet the speakers

Rose Mutiso is the Research Director for the Energy for Growth Hub. The Hub’s research and policy network focuses on issues such as improving how we define and measure energy poverty, pragmatic solutions for clean energy technology finance and deployment, and just energy transitions in energy-poor countries. Rose is also the Co-Founder and ex-CEO of the Mawazo Institute—a non-profit research institute based in Kenya which aims to support the next generation of female scholars and thought leaders in East Africa. She was previously a Senior Fellow in the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she co-led DOE’s engagement on technology and policy dimensions of energy access in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 

Dr Amir Lebdioui is Associate Professor in the Political Economy of Development and the Director of the Technology and Industrialisation for Development (TIDE) Centre at the University of Oxford’s Department for International Development. His research has focused on the economic diversification of resource-dependent nations, green industrial policy and low-carbon innovation. He is the author of Survival of the Greenest: Economic Transformation in a Climate-conscious World, published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. 

Alache Fisho is Policy Lead, Transition Pathways at the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) Secretariat. She has over 20 years’ experience in energy and extractives, advising governments across Africa, the Pacific, and the Caribbean and as in-house counsel in a large integrated state-owned enterprise. Alache leads BOGA’s engagement with producer countries, particularly in EMDEs geared towards supporting the design and implementation of an evidenced-backed vision of a ‘beyond oil and gas’ economy. She also supports dialogue and peer learning through BOGA’s thematic working groups and wider community of practice. 

Chair: Julia Tomei is the Deputy Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources and an Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy & Resources.  

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