Our work
Research Agenda
BGG pursues original research, policy analysis, and practitioner engagement across five interconnected domains. Each is chosen because Bhutan’s experience offers distinctive and underutilized insights. Together, they address the defining challenges of our era.
Climate and Environmental Policy
Carbon markets, biodiversity frameworks, climate finance for small states, and integrating environmental values into national accounting systems. Our work draws on Bhutan’s constitutional environmental protections and its record as the world’s only carbon-negative country.
Technology, Energy and Digital Innovation
Clean energy economics, digital finance models for developing economies, central bank digital currency, and technology governance frameworks that balance innovation with values-led development. Anchored in Bhutan’s renewable energy leadership and its cautious, deliberate approach to digital modernization.
Economic Development
Youth employment, sustainable tourism, hydropower economics, trade integration with South Asia, and growth frameworks that preserve cultural and environmental integrity while addressing Bhutan’s current economic pressures.
Global Governance and Diplomacy
The role and voice of small states in multilateral institutions, reform of global governance architectures, South-South cooperation, and new models of diplomatic engagement for nations outside the major power blocs.
Urban Development
As Bhutan urbanizes, BGG serves as a key source for research on sustainable, forward-thinking urban development and economic growth rooted in Bhutanese values. The country’s emerging urban projects represent its most ambitious effort to translate its governance philosophy into built form.
What we produce
Our Outputs
Our outputs are designed to be rigorous enough for policymakers and accessible enough to reach the broader public.
Policy briefs and working papers
Rapid-response analysis and longer-form research on emerging issues, freely available online and distributed to relevant government and multilateral stakeholders.
What we’re building
Convenings
Annual gatherings in Bhutan bringing together policymakers, scholars, and practitioners from across the globe to examine Bhutan’s most pressing policy questions.
The BGG Fellowship
Resident and non-resident fellowships for researchers from Bhutan, South Asia, and partner nations, building the next generation of scholars working on these issues.
The State of Policy Report
A flagship annual publication benchmarking progress across our five research domains, distributed to governments, multilateral institutions, and civil society globally.
All research is published openly. We believe that ideas should travel as freely as the questions that prompt them.
Get involved
Support This Work
BGG is seeking a small group of founding partners to help establish our first three years of operations. If you represent a foundation, government, academic institution, or are an individual who shares our conviction that the global policy conversation needs broader voices, we would welcome a conversation.
Discuss a partnership →