Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank, spoke recent at the Development Policy Centre about the risk a 4 degree warmer world poses for development and the impact of sea-level rise, heat waves and extreme weather events globally, and in Australia and Oceania. Everyone will be affected by the changing climate, but the poor and vulnerable will suffer most.

She argued that we must avoid a 4 degree warmer world and prepare for 2 degrees, and highlights action that would make the biggest difference. However, while climate change is a major threat, inclusive green growth is an opportunity. Ms Kyte outlined the World Bank Group’s efforts to catalyze climate-smart development and green growth.

Rachel Kyte became Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank in September, 2011. As such, she has overall responsibilities for the organization’s global work in agriculture, environment, energy, infrastructure, urban, and social development, along with global public goods issues in those areas. Prior to her appointment, she was the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Vice President for Business Advisory Services and a member of IFC’s Management Team.

This seminar was presented by the Development Policy Centre and the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University.

Presentation slides are available from the Devpolicy events page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/devpolicy/events

Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre. 

Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.

Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram for latest updates on our blogs, research and events.

You can send us feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].