The Future of Mineral Markets

17:33, November 30, 2022

Researchers and practitioners discussed how it will be in the context of the global energy transition

On November 18-19, 2022, the Graduate School of Economics and Management UrFU became the venue for an important international academic event "Mineral Markets and Global Energy Transition", held as part of the XVII International Conference "Russian Regions in the Focus of Changes".  The section, due to the participation of well-known practitioners and researchers, as well as the scale of geography, has become a international conference under the leadership of Kazi Sohag, Head of the Laboratory for Natural Resources Policy at GSEM UrFU. The laboratory was created as part of the Development Program “Priority 2030”. Experts in the field of environmental economics, macroeconomics, corporate business from India, Turkey, Serbia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Russia made presentations. More than 20 people, including representatives of the academic environment and practitioners, bachelor and master students of UrFU became participants in the discussion.

During the first day of the conference, experts highlighted issues related to the challenges of the global energy transition and changes in the demand and supply of natural resources in the context of the active development of renewable energy production. The dynamics and forecasting of prices for natural resources in the context of geopolitical tensions, as well as the achievement of global environmental goals, were also discussed by the experts. In particular, the keynote speaker of the conference, Prof. Avik Sinha from Goa Institute of Management (India) presented the results of an assessment of the dynamics of world mineral markets, obtained using modern econometric methods of analysis, in the context of a global energy transition. Aleksey Gordeev, director of department mining Russian Copper Company (RCC), explained the role the company plays in the Russian and international markets, and spoke about the company's outstanding technological capabilities, which ensure high production capacity. Dr. Vishal Dagar, from Great Lakes Institute of Management Gurgaon (India) spoke about the opportunities to improve the environmental performance of countries in the context of anthropogenic climate change and achieve global sustainability goals.

Shujaat Abbas, GSEM Research Fellow paid attention to the factors related to the dynamics of export deliveries of Chilean copper in terms of the development of environmental innovations and the global transition to renewable energy. Dr. Victoria Galkovskaya, a researcher at the Moscow National Research Nuclear University, explained through which channels nuclear energy can stimulate sustainable development processes in Russia. Dr. Natalia Vukovich, representative of the Higher School of Economics, paid special attention to the impact of the COVID-19 on the global solar electricity market. Monirul Islam, Associate Research Fellow at the the Laboratory for Natural Resources Policy, presented the results of an assessment of the current demand for Renewable Energy Production in Realizing Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia. Mir Zat Ullah, a PhD student, empirically substantiated the impact of geopolitical tensions on green and traditional energy markets, and mineral markets . Suleiman Mamman, PhD student, presented the results of studying the dynamics of Indonesia's mineral exports in the context of global energy changes. Yulia Sokolova, junior researcher at the Laboratory for Natural Resources Policy, formulated a theoretical and empirical relationship between prices for natural resources and returns on green investments, bonds and stocks.

The second day of the conference was marked by a seminar by Prof. Avik Sinha on academic writing and practical guidelines for publishing in high-level international journals. In addition, Evgenia Shenkman, a researcher at the Higher School of Economics (Perm), shared the results of an ongoing study examining the impact of the abolition of daylight saving time on the level of load on the power industry. Other researchers, including Dr. Ibrahim Alnafra (PhD, Research Fellow, GSEM), Prof Mustafa Özer, (PhD, Research Fellow, Anadolu University, Turkey), Dr. Chan Liu, (Junior Research Fellow, China University of Mining and Technology), Anna Gainetdinova and Irina Kalina (GSEM Junior Research Fellows), Matvey Vasheka and Ulyana Bogdanova (bachelor students) presented results in the field of applied macroeconomics, including aspects related to mineral markets and the environment, as well as the relationship between macroeconomic indicators, oil prices and geopolitical risks.

 

Positive feedback was received from the participants of the international conference "Mineral markets in the context of the global energy transition". Attendees highly appreciated the professionalism of the organizers and the competence of the experts, as well as the opportunity to publish in high quartile international journals: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (IF 16.799, Q1), Resources Policy (IF 8.222, Q1), Mathematics (IF 2.592, Q1).