AEC Chair to Address the Harvard Kennedy School
The Chair of the AEC, Mr. Tero Vauraste, is invited to give a speech on April 3rd at Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. This lunch seminar is a part of a speaker series with distinguished experts recently opened by the President of Iceland, Guđni Jóhannesson. Mr. Vauraste’s speech is titled “Is the Arctic Drowning in Financial Nationalism?”.
The Arctic is seen as a vulnerable area, yet facing a new era due to climate change caused by mankind. Today, the Arctic is home to 4 million people. According to Guggenheim Partners’ estimate, the Arctic investment potential is 1 trillion USD. With potential increase in investments and economic development in the Arctic, there is a need to secure that these investments are made in a sustainable manner.
Recent times have witnessed the establishment of new barriers of trade including sanctions, tariffs as well as halting free trade agreement processes. Meeting the Paris Agreement targets for diminishing the global warming will be a challenge as financial nationalism inhibits the use of best available services and technologies and protectionism hinders cooperation. Instead of reducing emissions by new innovative solutions, corporations need to cope with aged technologies. This, however, is very short sighted – especially in the Arctic where responsible operations require the use of best possible knowledge and technology. As temperatures in the Arctic rise much quicker than in the lower latitudes, we should focus on facilitating freedom of trade in the Arctic even more vigorously. This is vital for the responsible economic development of the region.
The seminar will be held at the John F. Kennedy School of Government – Littauer Building, Belfer Center Library, room L369 on April 3, 2018 starting from noon. The event is open to the public. More information and registration: https://www.belfercenter.org/event/arctic-drowning-financial-nationalism-tero-vauraste#!rsvp
