Archives des Events-reports

Summit of Minds 2023: Technological revolution, geopolitics, & sustainable finance

Posted on 12 October 202312 October 2023 by the_bridge_tank

From 15-17 September 2023, the mountain air of the French Alps fuelled creative minds and change makers from around the world who gathered for this year’s Summit of Minds “Stretching Minds – Inspiring Change” in Chamonix. Two of these brilliant minds in attendance were The Bridge Tank’s very own Djellil Bouzidi, Economist & Founder, Emena Advisory, and Pranjal Sharma, Economic analyst & Author of “The Next New – Navigating the Fifth Industrial Revolution”. The Bridge Tank had already taken part in the Summit’s 2021 edition.

Addressing themes ranging across today’s most pressing economic, societal, environmental, technological and geopolitical issues, the Summit of Minds brought together experts, investors, and practitioners to share insights and to collectively explore creative ideas and new solutions.

Technological revolution in a changing world

During the Summit, our board member Pranjal Sharma explored themes of tech innovation and how to harness it, placing it in the context of changing geopolitical dynamics around the globe. These were topics Mr Sharma previously discussed during The Bridge Tank’s Davos Innovation Lunch 2022 and at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

On geo-politics, Pranjal Sharma noted that what is incorrectly perceived by many as a global disorder is in fact a re-ordering of the world in which new geopolitical alignments are challenging the dominance of OECD countries. While legacy economies are struggling to adapt to this changing climate, emerging and developing economies are deepening South-South collaboration, something which will inevitably lead to the acceleration of regional currency (non-dollar) trade with the support of Saudi Arabia, UAE, India and Brazil. The global logistics map will undergo deep changes as new economic corridors like the IMEC were announced between India, Europe and the Middle East during the latest G20 Summit in India.

The technological revolution requires decisive action by governments in terms of control and regulation of technology, Mr Sharma argued. Protecting children and vulnerable communities in the digital world will be one of the – protection of society. But beyond these challenges, the technological revolution will offer a strong positive impact on the improvement of sustainability.

Drawing from his recently published book “The Next New – Navigating the Fifth Industrial Revolution,” Pranjal Sharma highlighted the transformation of business models resulting from the fifth industrial revolution. These are the result of three factors: emerging technologies; the urgency of sustainability; and the need for social equity. This emergence of new business models will generate new revenue streams worth $25 trillion, impacting all companies and industries.

The future of Sustainability-Linked Bonds

In Chamonix, Djellil Bouzidi, Economist, Founder, Emena Advisory and long-time board member of The Bridge Tank sat down with Eoin Murray, Head of Investments, Federated Hermes, UK to discuss sustainability-linked bonds (SLB). One of the first proponents of SLBs having laid out their premises in 2015 and a leading expert on the matter ever since, Mr Bouzidi shed light on these bonds, whose principal, unlike standard green bonds, vary according to the achievement of pre-determined sustainability targets. The discussion addressed SLBs growth in both private markets and from sovereign issuers, while also analysing their environmental effectiveness.

Having advised issuers worldwide and notably the Chilean government for the issuance of the world’s first sovereign SLB in March 2022, Mr Bouzidi has recently been raising the alarm on shortcomings and problematic approaches in the current SLB market threatening these sustainable finance tools’ future viability.

In 2020, Djellil Bouzidi published a seminal article on the matter for the Official Forum of Monetary and Financial Institutions, titled “How climate cuffs could save the planet”.

CHINA: Global innovation, research and technology dissemination in times of de-risking

Posted on 29 September 20239 October 2023 by the_bridge_tank

Building on The Bridge Tank’s long-time partnership with the Institutes of Science and Development of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASISD), China’s leading research institute, Joel Ruet was invited to hold a keynote speech at this year’s Forum on Cooperation and Governance of Global Science, Technology and Innovation. The Forum, which took place in Beijing on September 25^th 2023, is China’s most important annual conference on innovation.

The Bridge Tank and CASISD signed a MoU in 2018. Joel Ruet previously intervened in the opening session of the World Internet Conference organized by CASISD in November 2020.

In the context of China’s gradual reopening to the world, Joel Ruet’s keynote speech to the Forum addressed crucial themes of global innovation, research, technology development and dissemination in times marked by the de-risking of relations with China.

Global innovation navigating uncertain times of de-risking

2023 will have witnessed the de-risking of EU-China relations become the new normal in Europe’s engagement with China. The idea of “de-risking rather than decoupling” has made it all the way into the Oval Office, as the United States increasingly rely on this approach in their relations with China.

Cooperation in core technologies linked to fundamental research (e.g. nuclear, genomics, AI) is also affected by this trend towards de-risking, Mr Ruet noted. Still, some common challenges remain which ensure a global acceleration of solutions. These will require “technology diplomats” to find a modus vivendi.

In nuclear power, fast breeder reactors, safety questions, non-proliferation technologies, fuel alternatives (e.g. thorium), or nuclear fusion are all “risks” which have already been taken, as China is already a nuclear-weapon state. The journey towards a safer, cleaner, non-military linked nuclear sector is thus to be taken jointly.
In genomics, Mr Ruet noted that France and China did cooperate in Wuhan’s virology centre. At the time of the COVID pandemic, sharing the DNA sequence proved useful in developing vaccines faster: at times when several coronaviruses have been identified as potentially mutable and harmful, international transparency and cooperation is more than ever needed. The UNGA just approved the idea of a common fund for the development of vaccines and the fight against epidemics. This is something The Bridge Tank had been advocating in 2020, alongside Liberal International and Socialist International. Virology should therefore be another sector beyond de-risking.
AI is arguably different, as its results may translate much faster and wider into regulations of society or even “control.” Here the “systemic rivalry” may make cooperation more difficult. However, technology diplomacy is needed here as well and talks will have to be kept alive, possibly with the mediation of think tanks.

On research, technology development and technology dissemination

Innovation was never “global,” Joel Ruet argued. While science is a commonly accepted status of truth and research offers cooperation opportunities, technology development is not the preserve of research institutions but involves companies and markets. Science may be kept common through publications and fundamental research (e.g. ITER in nuclear fusion).

However, it appears that all technologies that serve the ecological transition are becoming not only competitive but also “competitive advantages”. This is the case in China through a research-technology push in which the Chinese Academy of Sciences is central; in the EU through a green deal and regulation packages that increasingly move towards “new competitive advantages” (in carbon, materials, human impact etc.), or simply through subsidy-based attraction in the US.

Here, a policy dialogue is important. It should gather on a common platform scientists, technologists, trade and investment policy makers and national security policy makers. Indeed, the latter need to be included as concrete US rivalry measures on semi-conductors are for instance the result of the convergence of a double process that can be traced back to the 2012 US State Department report triggered by the China 2025 policy, and on the other hand the debate launched by Ms Pritzker under the Obama administration on risks to innovativeness resulting from a delocalised Chinese economy (something previously discussed in Chapter 5 of ISPI’s “China’s Belt and Road: A Game Changer?”).

Though science, research, technology, and economics may not necessarily be linked, in the current state of de-risking -as well as in China’s policy framework- they have undoubtedly become so. Their governance has to involve different streams of policy makers, pointing to another possible role for think tanks and CASISD. It is to be noted that NATO has interestingly taken up the technology agenda through finance by launching a private equity fund to de-risk startups from “needing Chinese money”.

On technology dissemination

The ecological transformation notably implies technology dissemination in conjunction with market innovation, Mr Ruet noted. “Technology transfers” seldom arise without innovation and are in fact a driver of the latter, alongside companies.

The role of China as a marketplace and of Chinese technological companies in new materials, new energies, and new mobilities is to be analysed properly.

The Bridge Tank’s past works have shown that technology “transfers” didn’t happen through joint ventures but through suppliers, through ecosystems arising from project capitalization, through state-led learning; all of these as a “technology for markets” deal between global companies and China. One should note this corresponds neither to classical trade economics nor to developmental economics. This has been a Chinese idiosyncrasy.

As China has caught up with the world, “technology for markets” is not possible anymore: only “technology for technology” or “market for market” approaches are left to be explored.

Joel Ruet argued that each one of them is difficult in isolation and unlikely in times of de-risking. Both attempted together as a form of tit-for-tat may be the future. While technology for technology bottlenecks were what Mr Ruet had discussed so far; a “market for market” approach that would paradoxically be the return to canonical trade economics has been eliminated under the format of the EU-China investment treaty, as new competitive advantages are getting designed around societal values.

Only a global EU-China discussion combining research, technology, trade and investment may see some -although thin- possibility of cooperation arise.

This is however not what has happened recently and this is where the technology community has a role in conveying the needs for the planet while keeping de-risking in mind.

A conversation with François de Rugy & the Ambassador of Kazakhstan on energy and France-Kazakhstan relations

Posted on 11 July 202324 July 2023 by the_bridge_tank

On 30 June 2023, Joël Ruet sat down with former Minister of State, Minister for the Ecological Transition and Solidarity, and former President of the French National Assembly, François de Rugy, and the current Ambassador of Kazakhstan to France, Gulsara Arystankulova, to discuss bilateral relations between France and Kazakhstan and the prospects for energy and technology partnerships between the two countries.

This discussion was part of a symposium held at the French Senate on the theme of “Energy sovereignty for Europe and France: what solutions, what partners?” The Bridge Tank’s recent work in Kazakhstan is best exemplified by our contribution to the development of an auction mechanism for renewable energy in 2021 and the highlighting of the challenges faced by foreign investors in the country.

Future ambitions and cooperation

During her address, Ambassador Gulsara Arystankulova emphasised the profound relationship that links France and Kazakhstan, and the close cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector. In November 2022, the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev, was notably welcomed to Paris by President Macron. This cooperation has been particularly strengthened since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Kazakhstan offering a key alternative to Russian oil and gas. With its wealth of raw materials and as the oil giant of Central Asia, the country plays a key role in Europe’s energy supply and will be a central player in the continent’s energy future.

For despite its status as an oil giant, Kazakhstan is pursuing an ambitious energy transition strategy aimed at gasifying its energy mix and achieving 50% renewable energy by 2050. To meet the supply and interconnection challenges posed by the country’s size, Kazakhstan is betting on a process of energy decentralisation based on state-subsidised green energy mini-systems.

Kazakhstan’s ambition to be carbon neutral by 2060 is underpinned by considerable assets. With its vast open spaces, abundant sunshine and rare earth resources, the country offers great potential for the development of renewable energies. French groups are already positioning themselves in the country, such as TotalEnergies, which has launched a 1GW onshore wind farm project in the Zhambyl region of southern Kazakhstan, in partnership with the National Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna and the National Company KazMunayGas.

Partnerships and issues of sovereignty

According to Joël Ruet, there are many opportunities for not only energy cooperation but technical and technological cooperation between France and Kazakhstan. The world’s leading producer of uranium, Kazakhstan supplies the uranium needed to run France’s nuclear power plants, notably through a close partnership with French nuclear giant Orano.

As the third largest foreign investor in Kazakhstan, France has every interest in positioning itself to generate new partnerships and launch new industries in the country, as well as continuing to develop its know-how and human resources, particularly in the nuclear and hydrogen sectors. Cooperation between France and Kazakhstan cannot therefore be limited to its energy component and to the supply of raw materials. This cooperation must bolster its technical and technological component in order to develop joint research, knowledge and innovation in the sector.

In the context of these partnerships, it is important to consider energy in its various forms, not only through the issue of electrification but also by taking into account energy in its liquid and gaseous forms, which represent a significant proportion of the energy mix.

Placing this observation in the context of French energy sovereignty, François de Rugy emphasised that energy sovereignty is not just a question of electricity, but of oil and gas – resources that, in France’s case, are almost entirely imported. To ensure security of supply, France will therefore need to diversify sources of supply, but also electrify uses by decarbonising transport, heating and industry.

In recent years, however, France has been faced with a new challenge resulting from the declining availability of nuclear power plants due to maintenance and declining production capacity. According to François de Rugy, it is therefore crucial to invest in both renewable energies and the renewal of France’s nuclear power plants, using France’s strengths and expertise in these areas.

The evolution of Kazakhstan’s energy sector undoubtedly offers great potential for cooperation with France and Europe. Although the country currently supplies fossil fuels and raw materials to the Old Continent, it will be an essential partner in the energy transition and in the development of renewable and low-carbon energy sources.

B20 India – Final meeting of the Action Council on African Economic Integration

Posted on 5 July 20235 July 2023 by the_bridge_tank

After 6 months of work and proactive engagement by its members, the B20 India Action Council on African Economic Integration – An Agenda for Global Business met for its fourth & final meeting on June 30, 2023. As a contributing member to the Action Council, The Bridge Tank attended the meeting, represented by its chairman Joel Ruet.

The B20 India Action Council on African Economic Integration is an initiative of the Business20 (B20) – the G20’s engagement group with the business community – launched under India’s 2023 presidency and chaired by Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder & Chairman of Bharti Enterprises. A long-time advocate for greater economic integration of the African continent and a strong proponent for North-South & South-South engagement, The Bridge Tank had joined the Action Council in January 2023, during the B20 Inception Meeting.

The Action Council’s co-chairs present during the meeting included Mauro Bellini, Chairman, Marcopolo Board of Directors, Brazil, Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings, Nigeria, Patricia Nzolantima, Founder, Bizzoly Holding, Democratic Republic of Congo, Valentina Mintah, Founder, West Blue Consulting, Ghana, Cas Coovadia, CEO, Business Unity, South Africa, Birju Pradipkumar Patel, Joint CEO, ETG World, South Africa, & Sudarshan Venu, Managing Director, TVS Motor Company, India.

The meeting presented the policy paper developed by the Action Council along five priority themes:

Promoting stronger human capital outcomes across health, education and skilling
Transform agriculture and food systems to sustainably improve productivity, food security and nutrition levels
Structural transformation through industrialisation via private investments, technology adoption, MSME enablement and energy access
Facilitating trade to harness the potential of integration into regional and global value chains
Bridging the physical and digital connectivity gaps through facilitating investment.

The policy paper and its recommendations will now be submitted to the G20 and presented to stakeholders through B20/G20 dialogue. The paper hopes to serve as the basis for continued advocacy and dialogue in favour of African economic integration.

Policy Brief – How China came to dominate the global EV lithium-ion battery value chain: Lessons and opportunities for Africa

Posted on 27 June 202327 June 2023 by the_bridge_tank

This policy brief was written by Xieshu WANG, Senior Expert, Finance, Resources and Mobility, The Bridge Tank, and was first published by the Centre for Business and Development Studies, Copenhagen Business School Policy Brief No. December 2022. For the original publication, click here.

The electrification of vehicles is accelerating and the global automotive industry is under full transformation. China has become an indispensable partner for EV makers as the only country that has succeeded in building a complete and competitive industry value chain of EV lithium-ion batteries. Top-down government-led policymaking has been an important driver; bottom-up firm-level vertical integration strategy and investments have effectively created a closed-loop supply chain. Africa is still at an early stage in this mobility transition. But with its rich deposits of minerals and potential markets, it can become a key player in the global EV value chain, if a favourable ecosystem for the fast uptake of EV and related green businesses could be developed in time.

Key points:

Government-led policymaking, constant adjustments, and temporary infant industry protection policies have been some of the main drivers of the fast-growing EV industry and the lithium-ion battery sector in China.
Many Chinese firms deploy a strategy that can be defined as “specialised vertical integration”, i.e., actively entering related upstream and/or downstream segments within the EV lithium-ion battery supply chain, while continuing to reinforce their existing capacity in the original segment of the value chain, which serves as an expansion base.
With the soaring demand for minerals for batteries and EVs, Africa, with its rich deposits of lithium, copper, cobalt and other minerals, could become a key player in the global EV value chain.
Designing an EV promoting regulatory framework, applying incentive policies, & developing government-led R&D programs are important starting points to attract technologically leading MNEs in the EV value chain, encourage local startups and develop competitive industrial clusters. Fostering regional alliances and collaboration as well as developing industrial investment funds dedicated to firms along the EV value chain are other avenues of action that ought to be explored.

About the author

Xieshu WANG is Senior Expert, Finance, Resources and Mobility at The Bridge Tank and associated researcher at the Centre de recherche en Économie de l’Université Paris Nord (CEPN). She is a member of the Osservatorio sulle Economie Emergenti Torino (OEET) and has been a research fellow at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Innovation of Ecole Polytechnique de Paris and the Department of Economics and Statistics ‘Cognetti de Martiis’ of the University of Turin.

Concordia Europe Summit: European sovereignty, energy security & transatlantic relations

Posted on 21 June 202321 June 2023 by the_bridge_tank

On 15-16 June 2023, prominent decision makers from across Europe and the world gathered in Madrid, Spain for the 2023 Concordia Europe Summit. Two days of high-level closed-door conversations on the theme of Democracy, Security & Geopolitical Risk addressed some of the most pressing issues facing Europe, including cyber and energy security and diplomatic tools. The Bridge Tank was in attendance at the summit, represented by its president Joel Ruet and board member Raphael Schoentgen, who took part in a session on Europe’s renewable energy transition.

European sovereignty: Climate targets, autonomy & energy security

In the opening session of the Summit, Former European Commission (EC) President José Manuel Barroso testified to the intricate link between establishing binding climate targets and achieving energy security in Europe. Despite the challenges these climate targets represent, the EU 2020 Strategy was achieved by enlarging the problem from its environmental component to energy security, thereby winning over the EU’s new members as the EC launched infrastructure investments, he noted. This is an approach which has also been used by the US and India.

Putting the current discussion on the EU’s strategic autonomy in its geopolitical context, Othmar Karas, First Vice-President of the EU Parliament, noted that Russia’s aggression very much clinched the debate on the EU’s strategic autonomy and sovereignty, as well as on its defence strategy. Mr Karas stated that this debate was led “in a spirit of cooperation with NATO.”

Connecting this issue with environmental challenges, this was an opportunity for The Bridge Tank’s president Joel Ruet to engage with the EU Parliament’s First VP on the contribution of the European Green Deal in the EU’s strategic autonomy. Binding policies are indeed only beneficial inasmuch as they are embedded into larger trade-offs. It is therefore important that the EU & US do not lose cooperation for autonomy against illiberal regimes. In particular the short term subsidy war the two blocks are currently engaged in presents a worrying trend, Joel Ruet argued.

In the midst of the new rivalries arising, the next 10 years will be crucial in fine tuning the right PPP inventor/adopter and funding models, Will Roper, Former Assistant Secretary of US Air Force, contended.

During a session on “Pathway to Independence,” Ambassador Paula Dobriansky, former US Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs under President George W Bush, recalled that the US government was also very focused on the ramifications of the war in Ukraine. She acknowledged noticeable moves on nuclear energy and hydrogen in Europe, something also pointed out by other speakers who emphasized the need to work on the supply side of energy security to move towards Europe’s autonomy. This question was also addressed by our board member Raphael Schoentgen during a session on “Europe’s Energy Landscape: Alternatives for the Renewable Transition.”

Transatlantic Diplomacy & Security and the role of Latin America

The question of transatlantic cooperation was a central topic during the Summit. The benefits of a strong and sovereign Europe for the US were highlighted by different panellists, as partnerships benefit from both parties’ strength and confidence.

A session on “Transatlantic Diplomacy & Security: Strengths and Future Opportunities” gathered Former President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez, Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs José Manuel Albares, US Ambassador to Spain Julissa Reynoso, and Radoslava Stefanova from NATO.

According to José Manuel Albares, the transatlantic relationship is very important in the context of Russian aggression. The US is a natural ally of the EU and the transatlantic agenda will be at the heart of Spain’s coming EU presidency, including on the technological agenda, Mr Albares stated. In this process moving towards a Europe of defence and greater integration, the EU also needs to consider having a decision making process based on a qualified majority and not unanimity, he added.

The central role of the transatlantic alliance is also acknowledged on the other side of the Atlantic, Ambassador Reynoso contended, adding that the current President of the United States has been the one to believe in it the most in recent history. Building on this, Radoslava Stefanova reminded the audience that NATO already provides an amount of integration in military systems and procurement based on member countries’ commitments and is therefore working towards convergence.

Iván Duque Márquez addressed the opportunities created by Spain chairing the EU in offering a unifying point between Latin America and the EU. Latin America’s ecosystems are essential in the fight against climate change and the continent is a key player in energy supply, be it oil, gas, and green hydrogen but also in securing the EU’s food security. Additionally, Latin America is facing similar questions to those raised within the EU with regard to how to best approach its relationship with China, particularly in matters of trade.

Iván Duque also raised these issues in a session alongside former President of Mexico Felipe Calderón in which they discussed Latin America’s role in Global Sustainability. Iván Duque particularly highlighted the hypocrisy that makes CO2 worth 50 dollars a ton in Brussels and 5 in the Congo Basin or the Amazon. Felipe Calderon called for a real implementation of the “polluter pays” principle and a reward for absorption at equal price across the planet. “Actually funding capital costs is more important than pledges,” he added.

Concordia Summit: Our board member Raphael Schoentgen discusses Europe’s Energy Transition

Posted on 16 June 202321 June 2023 by the_bridge_tank

As Europe grapples with high energy prices and disruptions in its energy supply following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, working towards Europe’s energy transition has never been more pressing – but also full of new opportunities. At Concordia’s 2023 Europe Summit in Madrid, Spain, our board member Raphael Schoentgen, Founder & CEO, Hydrogen Advisors, took part in a panel discussion on “Europe’s Energy Landscape: Alternatives for the Renewable Transition.”

Alongside him on the stage to discuss this question were Ana Palacio, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spain, Teresa Parejo, Director of Sustainability, Iberia Airlines, and German Alcayde, Board Member, HVR energy, who moderated the session.

Europe’s changing energy landscape

Drawing on his extensive experience in the energy sector, having previously been CTO & Executive Committee Member of ENGIE and now an expert and entrepreneur in the field of hydrogen, Raphael Schoentgen set the stage for the discussion by recalling that 80% of the energy used today in Europe is either solid, liquid, or gas. The energy transition should therefore not focus solely on electricity. Today, renewable energy sources represent 40% of Europe’s power grid. However, electricity accounts for only 20% of the energy we consume – making renewable energies only 8% of the total power consumption. Europe still imports 85% of its energy (including fuel). It will thus not be self-sufficient from one day to the other, Mr Schoentgen argued.

The largest energy need in Europe is heating, with 40% of the total consumption. This is mainly provided through gas. Then comes transport with 30%, which is mainly provided in liquid form. Mr Schoentgen therefore expressed his belief in the potential of hydrogen, as it provides both a good complement to green power and a substitute to natural gas, which can reinforce the production of biogas.

Encouraging development and adapting to a changing international environment

Raphael Schoentgen however issued a warning about imposing restrictions on the development of hydrogen in Europe, calling for decision makers to be concrete and non-dogmatic. The European Commission’s Delegated Act is for example making the development of hydrogen very complicated, as the focus on zero-CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions is too high.

Putting Europe’s efforts in comparison with international energy trajectories, Ana Palacio shared her analysis of the state of play in the United States. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), signed into law in August 2022, contains $500 billion in new spending and tax breaks aiming – among other priorities – to boost clean energy. Ana Palacio noted that while the IRA was technology neutral, the European Green Deal did not display this technology neutrality as it rejected nuclear energy. This was confirmed by Raphael Schoentgen who only recently returned from Washington D.C., where he attended the release of the US hydrogen strategy.

Coming back to Europe’s energy imports, Ana Palacio highlighted Spain’s efforts not to make itself dependent on one country (as opposed to Germany’s dependence on Russian gas). Instead, Spain built a flotilla of energy terminals to remain relatively independent.

The Fouta Djallon Highlands: The Bridge Tank & OMVS on a field mission in Guinea

Posted on 6 June 20237 June 2023 by the_bridge_tank

In 2021 and 2022, The Bridge Tank took part in two field missions in the Fouta Djallon, in northern Guinea. These forested highlands, commonly referred to as the water tower of West Africa, are home to the headsprings of some the region’s largest rivers, i.e. the Senegal River, the Niger River and the Gambia River. They offer a reservoir of biodiversity constituting the strategic depth of the Great Green Wall in the Sahel. These missions led by our board member Hamed Diane Semega, then High Commissioner of the Senegal River Basin Development Organisation (OMVS), with the participation of Joel Ruet, President of The Bridge Tank, allowed us to collect valuable testimonies about the challenges faced by local populations and the degradation of the Fouta Djallon’s ecosystems.

The field missions were instrumental in structuring our roadmap for the preservation of Fouta Djalon, which we presented alongside Initiatives for the Future of Great Rivers (IFGR) and OMVS during a side event at the UN 2023 Water Conference, and our policy brief on hydro-diplomacy.

These two field missions in the Fouta Djallon highlands documented the decline of the Senegal River’s headwaters and the dramatic drop in their water levels. Just a few decades ago, a man could drown in the deep pools of the springheads. Today, only small puddles remain in these very same locations. The Bridge Tank accompanied OMVS and its high commissioner Hamed Semega, founding board member of The Bridge Tank, on what was the first visit by an OMVS high commissioner to the Senegal River springheads.

In February 2022, Hamed Diane Semega, accompanied by Guinea’s Minister of Energy, Hydraulics and Hydrocarbons, Ibrahima Abe Sylla, the Director of the Guinean OMVS Unit, Soufiana Dabo, and the Director of SOGEOH (Société de Gestion de l’Énergie des Ouvrages du Haut Bassin du Fleuve Sénégal en Guinée), Souleymane Dravé, together inaugurated the premises of the future Environmental Documentation and Archiving Centre in Labé, Guinea. The center will play a key role in efforts to preserve the Fouta Djallon.

Protecting and restoring ecosystems

Local populations: the first victims of the springs’ disappearance

These missions revealed the many challenges faced by the people of the Fouta Djallon. Often stigmatized and accused of drawing excessively on the waters of spring heads and contributing to deforestation, local communities are in fact the first victims of the death of the springs.

In this sparsely populated area, access to water is a daily struggle. The mission found that villages are often far from the springs and the forests that shelter them. Populations suffer from a cruel lack of water. Moreover, the water is very often highly turbid and has a high concentration of earth, making it unfit for consumption.

Between the two missions, OMVS equipped some of these villages with wells to tap into groundwater resources, notably in Soulamayo, the village closest to the Senegal River’s dried-up geographical source.

Agriculture and hydropower: A long-term development vision

The region and its populations require a long-term vision and solutions to enable a more sustainable development that takes into account both their needs and the issues of preserving and restoring forest and water ecosystems. Such development will notably involve the (re-)adoption of agricultural methods adapted to changing demographic and environmental conditions, and the advancement of electrification.

In Koukoutamba, local residents expressed their support for the next major OMVS hydroelectric dam project currently being developed in the municipality. The Koukoutamba hydroelectric dam, located on the Bafing River in the upper Senegal River basin, will have a capacity of 294 MW and will be the largest dam built by OMVS. Financed by the Chinese Exim Bank for a total of over $800 million, and developed by the Chinese company Sinohydro, the project will contribute to the economic development and electrification of rural areas in the region.

A lasting commitment

The Bridge Tank’s commitment in favour of the preservation of the Fouta Djallon highlands has grown steadily ever since. In 2021, this commitment was reflected in the organisation of special session at the World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal, titled “The Fouta Djallon Highlands : visions and actions to safeguard the water tower of West Africa” in partnership with OMVS, OMVG and Initiatives for the Future of Great Rivers (IFGR). At the UN 2023 Water Confernece in New York in March 2023, The Bridge Tank and IGFR intensified their cooperation in favour of the preservation of the Fouta Djallon by raising the alarm through the publication of an Op-ed co-signed by Erik Orsenna, Chairman of IGFR, Joel Ruet et Hamed Diane Semega, and through the organisation of an official side event of the UN 2023 Water Conference in partnership with OMVS and with the official support of France and Guinea.

From Davos to New York: The Bridge Tank explores new blue finance initiatives

Posted on 16 May 202324 May 2023 by the_bridge_tank

The Bridge Tank’s presence in Davos, Switzerland during the World Economic Forum 2023 and its participation to the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York set two new milestones in The Bridge Tank’s research on innovative financial tools in support of hydro-diplomacy, in the weeks following the launch of the World Water for Peace Conference.

On Thursday, January 19^th, 2023, the promotion of transboundary water cooperation found a home at the House of Switzerland in Davos. Represented by its chairman, Joel Ruet, and board member Raphael Schoentgen, The Bridge Tank attended an event on “Innovative Impact Investing through Blue Peace Bond” co-organised by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Two months later, on March 23rd, during the UN 2023 Water Conference, The Bridge Tank took part in a second session on this very topic at the UN Headquarters in New York, through the presence of Joel Ruet and Cédric Terrasson, Editor & Junior Analyst.

These two sessions presented the vision and the potential of the Blue Peace Financing Initiative, a promising new blue finance programme which aims to use water and transboundary rivers as an entry point for peace-building and socio-economic development. The programme will help develop and provide financial support to multi-sectoral cooperation frameworks pursuing sustainable and integrated co-management of transboundary rivers and water resources. Blue Peace will help scale up those frameworks and their associated investment plans by issuing Blue Peace Bonds, which will facilitate access to public and private capital.

This is of particular interest for River Basin Organisations (RBOs) all around the world, as the pilot projet for which the first Blue Peace Bond will be issued in 2023 has been developed in support of a West-African RBO, i.e. the Gambia River Basin Development Organization (Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Gambie, OMVG).

Investing in Water for Peace and Development

In keeping with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Blue Peace Financing Initiative aims to provide affordable, inclusive, and safe access to water-related services in order to ensure food security, access to clean drinkable water, and affordable green energy.

The programme approaches water as a vector for peace, cooperation, and socio-economic development by fostering a more equitable, sustainable, and peaceful integrated management of transboundary water resources.

The Davos session was opened by Patricia Danzi, Ambassador, Director General, SDC, and moderated by Christian Frutiger, Ambassador, Assistant Director General, SDC, who gave the floor to the following panellists to discuss the vision and structure of Blue Peace:

Jaffer Machano, Global Program Manager, UNCDF
Rukan Manaz, Program Specialist, Blue Peace Financing, UNCDF
Hans-Ruedi Mosberger, Head of Asset Management and Sustainability, Swiss Bankers Association SBA
Matus Samel, Research Manager, Economist Impact

At the UN 2023 Water Conference, the session was opened by Mourad Wahba, Officer in Charge, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and saw contributions from:

Daouda Samba Sow, Secretary General, OMVG
Rohey John Manjang, Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, The Gambia
Usha Rao-Monari, Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator of UNDP
Benjamin Powell, Head of Sustainable Debt Capital Market, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB),
Tania Rödiger-Vorwerk, Deputy Director General, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Germany
Marjeta Jager, Deputy Director General, DG INTPA, European Commission
Douglas R. Eger, Chairman & CEO, Intrinsic Exchange Group

Supporting RBOs to foster change

Representing the UNCDF, Jaffer Machano and Rukan Manaz introduced the approach and structure of the Blue Peace Financing Initiative to the Davos audience. With pressure on water resources having become one of the great challenges of our times, water has become a source of tension and conflict in many regions around the world. Trying to break this downward spiral, the ambition of Blue Peace is to turn this contentious issue into an entry point for cooperation and sustainable development.

Blue Peace’s goal and overall mission is to generate and support water cooperation initiatives and develop a common understanding of transboundary water resources management by encouraging data-driven decision making. To reach this objective, Blue Peace comes in support of local & regional non-sovereign entities in charge of water management, e.g. River Basin Organisations.

Blue Peace’s support is structured around two essential activities:

Capacity building and technical development;
Facilitating access to public and private capital through an innovative financial tool, i.e. Blue Peace Bonds.

This is best exemplified through the Blue Peace Financing Initiative’s pilot project.

A Pilot Case in West Africa: the Gambia River Basin Development Organization

1. Capacity building and technical assistance

The Gambia River Basin Development Organization (OMVG) is an RBO which handles the co-management and development of the Gambia River Basin. It comprises four member states, from the springheads to the delta of the Gambia River: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Gambia.

In December 2019, the OMVG and the UNCDF signed a Collaborative Partnership into existence between the two organisations. The OMVG Council of Ministers subsequently issued a resolution (Nr.13/CM/45/B/G) green-lighting the development of the “OMVG Masterplan for the Integrated Development of its river basins, which will serve as the basis for the OMVG joint investment plan.” Such a Masterplan covers projects as diverse as the development of hydro-power, access to drinking water, natural parks, irrigation of farmlands, or transport and navigation systems.

This encapsulates the first stage of Blue Peace. The technical assistance and institutional capacity building supports the development of this multisectoral masterplan, offering a long term development perspective carried out by the joint investment plan.

2. Facilitating access to capital

In the second stage of the Blue Peace Financing Initiative, the partnership between the OMVG and UNCDF helps equip “the OMVG with the adequate tools to develop innovative financing mechanisms that will enable it to directly access the financial markets through the issuance of bonds.”

In order to scale up and meet the objectives of the masterplan and joint investment programme, the regional sub-sovereign entity (in this case the OMVG, a multi state organisation) will issue a Blue Peace Bond in order to mobilise capital. This is done through a Special-purpose entity (SPV) created and owned by the River Basin Organisation, which is in charge of managing and implementing the Investment Plan.

Building on the Masterplan for integrated development, the portfolio approach of the Blue Peace Bonds allows to combine large infrastructure projects that are generating revenue with smaller but equally important projects which have a higher dependence on subsidies. This diversification and cross-subsidization offered by Blue Peace Bonds helps derisk investments while also funneling funds to smaller projects.

Blue Peace Financing Partners support the Blue Peace Bond by mobilizing banks and investors, while also contributing to the de-risking of the Bond. The SPV is in charge of repaying interest and principal through the cashflow of underlying projects. In 2023, the first phase of capital mobilization will cover between 500 and 750 million USD, with 2 billion USD in perspective over the coming years.

Facilitating future Blue Peace projects

A tool which will play an important role in supporting the Blue Peace Financing Initiative is the Blue Peace Index. Matus Samel, Research Manager, Economist Impact, introduced the index to the participants as a tool measuring the extent to which countries and basins manage their shared water resources in a sustainable, equitable and collaborative way.

The index analyses 74 qualitative and quantitative indicators across five domains:

Policy & legal frameworks – development of legislative and regulatory frameworks at national and basin level
Institutions & participation – institutional arrangements for cross-sectoral coordination, capacity building and information sharing
Water management instruments – implementation of water management mechanisms
Infrastructure & financing – implementation of sustainable investment in water management
Cooperation context – exposure to major drivers and risk factors to peace

The Index provides an overview of the enabling environment for financing and investment in transboundary water management. The Blue Peace Financing Initiative Readiness Assessment will promote suitable investments by helping identify appropriate actors to support.

Attracting Investors for Blue Peace

As noted by Hans-Ruedi Mosberger, Head of Asset Management and Sustainability, Swiss Bankers Association, the Blue Peace Bond has the benefit of having been designed with the investor’s perspective in mind.

Mr Mosberger stated that investors do not like one-off investments; they favour scalable and replicable projects, which create a track-record reducing the risk of the investment. The diversification offered by the portfolio and cross-subsidization approach of Blue Peace, building on the Masterplan for integrated development, contributes to this improved risk-return.

The Blue Peace Financing Structure is a promising mechanism involving blended finance, i.e. using public funds to generate momentum and subsequently raise private capital, and non-sovereign bonds to create impact through water and transboundary rivers.

As however pointed out by the interventions of Mr Ruet and Mr Schoentgen during the Q&A session in Davos, this South-North cooperation must not only involve the Global North’s financial institutions but needs to incorporate the Global South’s financial institutions and service providers to serve as an opportunity for the Global South to develop and leverage its own financial ecosystem.

The Bridge Tank partners with the Technology for Change Days 2023 of École Polytechnique

Posted on 9 May 20239 May 2023 by the_bridge_tank

From April 4 to 6, the Technology for Change Days 2023 were held in Paris, organized by the Chair “Technology for Change” of École Polytechnique. Joël Ruet, President, The Bridge Tank, spoke at the Opening Conference on April 4, in a session on water access and the preservation of water resources as a sustainable development issue.

The mission of the Technology for Change Conference is to assess the current state of affairs regarding the links between technology, society and industry in order to explore different approaches and perspectives for technological development and innovation that contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive world. The conference kicked off on April 4, 2023 with a session titled “Water access: management and preservation – What are the current strategies and the challenges to overcome to place water at the center of sustainable development issues?” which gathered:

Pilar Acosta – Professor of Management Science, École polytechnique, IP Paris
Joël Ruet – Economist, CNRS Researcher, École polytechnique, IP Paris & President of The Bridge Tank
Marie-Laure Vercambre – Managing Director of the French Water Partnership

The session addressed some of the major issues and challenges surrounding water in our world today: what are the current strategies for managing access to water? for preserving access to water? What is the situation at the international level? How can water be placed at the center of sustainable development issues? To what extent is technology a lever to meet these challenges?

Marie-Laure Vercambre started by recalling the current context of global water crisis, with demand that is bound to grow by 1% per year until 2050. Agenda 2030 and Goal 6 of the UN SDGs summarise the many challenges in water resources management and conservation: access to drinking water, sanitation, water quality, rational use, integrated management of water resources, transboundary issues, governance, preservation of ecosystems, etc. The transversality of water issues presents a major challenge due to the silo mentality of the different users. Such an approach is not appropriate for the management of a common good but is difficult to inflect. Joël Ruet underlined that the organization of practices should be based on 3 axes: 1) optimization of the resource, 2) preservation/conservation by considering water and its ecosystems, 3) renaturation.

Technology is an important lever to meet these many diverse challenges: water transport, desalination, water treatment, or reuse. Responding to these challenges also requires more spatio-temporal data, for which technological tools are needed. Joël Ruet thus also reminded the audience of the importance of preserving the headsprings and headwaters of rivers. This is a major challenge since these are most often found in more remote areas. Taking the example of the Fouta Djallon Highlands in Guinea, a mountainous region home to the sources of some of West Africa’s largest rivers but threatened by the effects of climate change and demographic pressure, Joël Ruet illustrated this transversality of the actions required to preserve water resources. Such actions impact farming and forestry methods, agroforestry, as well as the need to create local data. The incubation of local start-ups is an interesting field of action to support the development of this technology and the data necessary for conservation action. These could also be mobilized for green finance mechanisms, as they need data to measure the impact of the transformational change they aim to fund.