As the G20 countries gather this weekend in Washington to address the global financial crisis, there’s growing movement to pull together a Global Green New Deal. The impetus for the global economic shift comes from many corners of the world, with many strategic underpinnings in common.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and leading economists have proposed a refocusing of the global economy, “towards investments in clean technologies and ‘natural’ infrastructure such as forests and soils as the best bet for real growth, combating climate change and triggering an employment boom in the 21st century.”
Economists in the United Kingdom have formed a Green New Deal Group that proposes strong investments in green technology that echo the tone of President Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression. Among the initiatives outlined by the group are: a ‘carbon army’ of workers for environmental reconstruction, a restructuring of fuel prices that include the cost to the environment, and a low-carbon energy system that makes every building a power station.
In the United States, the Worldwatch Institute has outlined key strategic objectives to the Global Green New Deal that would include: transition to a renewable energy economy, launch of an efficiency revolution, investment in green infrastructure, a circulation of materials, fairer distribution of wealth.
All of these initiatives point to the ‘perfect storm’ of the financial crisis, climate change and our current high-carbon energy infrastructure. While the impetus for such a broad restructuring of the economy has been there for some time, it’s unlikely that so many organizations and institutions would be thinking so boldly without all three of these components coming to a head.
I’ll be watching the deliberations of the G20 nations closely over the weekend, as well as the words an actions coming from Obama’s transition team. It’s increasingly likely that there will be a wealth of new opportunities in the coming year.
