Blind Spots: The Green Transi­tion and the IMF's Economic Surveillance

The report argues that the IMF's economic surveillance of Colombia and Indonesia reveals significant 'blind spots' regarding the green transition. It finds that the IMF prioritizes austerity and market-based pricing mechanisms over green industrial policies and fails to adequately quantify long-term climate risks or the financing needs for adaptation and mitigation. The authors call for a systematic integration of climate issues into policy recommendations, better sequencing of fiscal advice, and wider engagement with civil society.

• The IMF continues to favor market-oriented strategies and pricing mechanisms, such as the removal of energy subsidies, while neglecting green industrial policies and non-pricing instruments.
• Coverage of physical, transition, and spillover climate risks in the IMF's surveillance is described as cursory, with a failure to properly quantify the costs of inaction or the necessary investments for adaptation.

APA

Stubbs, T., & Ken­ti­kelenis, A. (2023). Blind Spots: The Green Transi­tion and the IMF's Economic Surveillance. Trend Asia. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BLIND-SPOTS-spreads-2.pdf

Chicago

Stubbs, Thomas, and Alexandros Ken­ti­kelenis. Blind Spots: The Green Transi­tion and the IMF's Economic Surveillance. Trend Asia, 2023. https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BLIND-SPOTS-spreads-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Stubbs |first1=Thomas |last2=Ken­ti­kelenis |first2=Alexandros |title=Blind Spots: The Green Transi­tion and the IMF's Economic Surveillance |publisher=Trend Asia |date=October 2023 |url=https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BLIND-SPOTS-spreads-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stubbs2023blind, author = {Stubbs, Thomas and Ken­ti­kelenis, Alexandros}, title = {{Blind Spots: The Green Transi­tion and the IMF's Economic Surveillance}}, institution = {Trend Asia}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://trendasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BLIND-SPOTS-spreads-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }