Dirk Pilat — Climate change, productivity and innovation — Treasury webinar🍋

Thursday, 23 November @9am NZDT — free of charge & open to all

»»»»»»»»»»»» Update: watch the video of Dirk’s presentation

The Treasury is pleased to present the next webinar in our Productivity in a Changing World series. Dirk Pilat, Research Fellow, The Productivity Institute, formerly Deputy Director of the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation, will present on Climate Change, Productivity and Innovation on Thursday, 23 November 2023 at 9.00am NZDT. Please register for free here to attend by Microsoft Teams.

Climate change already significantly affects growth and productivity — and will do so even more in the future. In this seminar, Dirk will explore the links between climate change and productivity as regards measurement, analysis and policy.

While much of the debate has focused on economic measures of productivity, like labour productivity, improving productivity in the use of resources and natural capital is crucial to achieving net zero and requires greater emphasis, including in productivity measurement.

There is growing evidence that mainstream economic studies have long underestimated the damaging impacts of climate change on growth and productivity. At the same time, studies today may well overestimate the costs of policies to address climate change, in underestimating the dynamic and social benefits of policy action and in comparing the impacts of policy with an unrealistic counterfactual.

The key question today is not whether we can have productivity growth or not, but what policies can achieve a rapid transition to net zero while also supporting living standards and productivity.

About Dirk Pilat

Dirk Pilat is a Research Fellow of The Productivity Institute, an Associate Researcher at the Valencia Institute of Economic Research and a Senior Research Fellow at the Lisbon Council. Until recently, he worked at the OECD as Deputy Director for Science, Technology and Innovation, with the responsibility to manage OECD analysis and policy advice in areas such as innovation and technology policy, entrepreneurship, digital economy, productivity, global value chains, and green innovation. He is currently a member of the UK Productivity Commission and was also a member of Ireland’s National Competitiveness and Productivity Council.

Dirk has a PhD in Economics from the University of Groningen and has been published in a range of journals including Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, the Journal of Development Economics, the Review of Income and Wealth, the Review of Economics and Statistics, OECD Economic Studies, and the International Productivity Monitor.

Marmaduke Dixon Glacier, Arthurs Pass National Park. Dave Heatley

Productivity in a changing world

New ideas, cutting-edge thinking, research and evidence are all critical for stimulating and informing our work at the Treasury. Our Guest Lecture Series provides insights from the work of experts in New Zealand and internationally. These seminars are open to everyone, as we want to facilitate learning and debate on the important issues facing New Zealand.

Our current guest lectures theme — Productivity in a Changing World — recognises that lifting our productivity performance continues to be central to improving New Zealanders’ wellbeing; and that we are facing this challenge in the context of significant economic, social and environmental shifts. These shifts will require major changes in our economy if we are to sustain and improve our economic and productivity performance.

By Tim Ng, Strategic Economic Advisor, NZ Treasury

For updates and our latest research visit https://www.treasury.govt.nz.