People living in countries rich in the minerals needed for the transition to a net-zero carbon global economy could find themselves victims of a new “resource curse”, remaining in poverty despite the new-found wealth of their leaders. 

This is one of the findings of economists at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in their latest prediction of the state of the world economy in the coming months ( the World Economic Situations and Prospects mid-year update), which was released on 16 May.

Hamid Rashid, an economist at DESA and the lead author of the report, explained to Conor Lennon from UN News how nations can prosper from the cleaner energy future, and why the economy is still all suffering from a COVID-19 hangover.