Green New Deal

The Green New Deal is a package of policy proposals that aims to address global warming, and financial crises. It echoes the New Deal, the social and economic programs launched by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the wake of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression.^[1]

The proposals of the Green New Deal generally echo the recommendations of UN-mandated organizations like ICLEI or the TEEB, of global NGOs, and of the Basel II and related monetary accords, especially as these relate to reforms to measurement of fundamental ecosystem risk and financial liabilities. The reinsurance industry and The Economist have also consistently expressed support for the general principles of consistent global carbon and emissions charges, for metrics of ecosystem destabilization risk and a generally high value on nature's services which underlie human valuation.

Several of the proposals have already been implemented in one or more G8 or G20 countries including Norway, South Korea, the UK, US and European Union. The financial proposals echo some already underway at the IMF, World Bank, BIS and ECB to better reflect ecosystem valuations and reduce systematic incentives to invest in "dirty" over "clean" industries.

Proposals

• Government-led investment in energy efficiency and microgeneration
• Low-carbon infrastructure redevelopment as a job creation strategy
• A directed windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas companies (already established in Norway) with expanding renewable energy and energy efficiency investment
• Further financial incentives for green investment and reduced energy usage, including reduction of private bank interest rates for green investment
• Break up large financial institutions into smaller units to facilitate more explicit and detailed fundamental risk management, as opposed to an approach based on sheer size and diversifying into every activity regardless of its harms
• Re-regulation of international finance including capital controls, increased scrutiny of financial derivatives, likely along the lines of Basel II
• Prevent corporate tax evasion by demanding financial reporting and by clamping down on tax havens
• A Global Marshall Plan Initiative using "green quantitative easing" to create money to fund the "great transition" to a fossil fuel free society and other measures to preserve the biosphere

Notable proponents

• Jill Stein (United States), in her campaign platform for the United States presidential election, 2012^[2]
• Thomas L. Friedman (United States)^[3][4]
• The European Green Party and The Greens–European Free Alliance campaigned on the Green New Deal in the European Parliament election, 2009 and maintain an ongoing European "Green New Deal" campaign
• The Green New Deal Group (United Kingdom) and the New Economics Foundation^[5]
• Van Jones (United States), in his book The Green Collar Economy^[6]
• The United Nations Environment Programme launched a Green Economy Initiative known as the 'Global Green New Deal'^[7]
• "Towards a Green New Deal: Economic stimulus and policy action for the double crunch" report (Australia)^[8]
• Green New Deal for Australia conference (Australia) held in October 2009
• "The European Energy Centre" Conferences in India^[9] and Europe^[10] organised by the European Energy Centre
• "The Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific" developed by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific^[11]

Relationship with other stimulus plans

Many of the national economic stimulus plans proposed or adopted in late 2008 and early 2009 had a "green" component, for example in the United States^[12] Japan and South Korea.^[13]

In 2009, the Green Party and other groups in New Zealand conducted conferences, discussions, etc., to outline a Green New Deal.

In Australia, the Australian Greens, who hold a balance of power in government, proposed changes to the incumbent Labor Government's stimulus plan, which was seen by some as a potential Green New Deal for Australia.

Critique

Some developing countries and organizations based in developing countries have expressed some concerns over the proposals of the Green New Deal, sending the message that environmental "global challenges are as much about transformation of the political system as about the need for economic system reforms". Some countries also imply that the proposal may undermine national sovereignty when it comes to control over own natural resources. Opponents have argued that the emphasis should be on a continued search for sustainable development rather than a "Green New Deal". A prominent NGO-based critic is the Third World Network. As far as states are concerned, China and Indonesia have voiced basic support for the Green New Deal, but particularly China worried that one may face "trade protectionism under the pretext of environmental protection". Brazil, Mexico and India have emphasized national sovereignty when discussing the Green New Deal, with India also expressing fears of a green "economic straitjacket". Bolivia, on their part, have worried that the Green New Deal signals a "privatization and commodification of nature"^[14]

See also

• Green growth
• Economics of global warming
• Politics of global warming
• Climate change mitigation
• Adaptation to global warming

References

External links

• Full text of A Green New Deal from The Green New Deal Group, published by the New Economics Foundation
• The Green New Deal Group
• UNEP Global Green New Deal
• Caroline Lucas on A Green New Deal at the Guardian
• A green New Deal: Green, easy and wrong, article at The Economist
• Support the Green New Deal for Europe

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