This morning I’m writing, as I often do, more to take notes and learn about something I want to better understand. Today the subject is what a global Green New Deal might look like, stimulated by the release of the report from the UN trade, investment and development agency (UNCTAD), Financing a Global Green New Deal. https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/tdr2019_en.pdf

Obviously it will take the cooperation of every country to dramatically cut fossil fuel use, which is the only possible way to perhaps avoid runaway global burning. Some countries actually use that as an argument to justify not cutting their own emissions, suggesting their efforts would be negated by other country’s continued reliance on fossil fuels.

The world must dramatically rethink its economic model in order to tackle growing environmental stress, inequality and development challenges, the UN said Wednesday, calling for a “Global Green New Deal”.

In a fresh report, the UN trade, investment and development agency (UNCTAD) called for countries to join forces and enable trillions of dollars in public sector investments to help reboot the global economy and counter climate change.

“Under the current configuration of policies, rules, market dynamics and corporate power, economic gaps are likely to increase and environmental degradation intensify,” warned Richard Kozul-Wright, head of UNCTAD’s globalisation and development strategies division.

“What we need is a Global Green New Deal,” he said, using the terminology proposed by progressive Democrats in the US who want to shift their country away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy with the aim of rapidly zeroing out greenhouse gas emissions.

If such policies were applied globally, they would help rein in rampant climate change, create millions of jobs and pave the way to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for eradicating poverty and boosting human wellbeing by 2030, the report found.

UN calls for ‘Global Green New Deal’ to boost world economy
By Nina LARSON, 24MATINS.UK, 25 September 2019.

PRESS RELEASE

A changing climate is already causing severe damage across the world and posing an existential threat. Decarbonizing the global economy will require a significant rise in public investment especially in clean transport, energy and food systems. This will need to be supported by effective industrial policies, with targeted subsidies, tax incentives, loans and guarantees, as well as accelerated investments in research, development and technology adaptation.

The report argues for a new generation of trade and investment agreements to support these policies along with changes to intellectual property and licensing laws. But more specific measures and dedicated financial support will be required in developing countries to help them leapfrog carbon-intensive development paths.

PRESS RELEASE
UN calls for bold action to finance a global green new deal and meet the SDGs

Bernie Sanders’ Green New Deal is a policy that targets reducing global reliance on fossil fuels.

His Green New Deal includes a pledge to help the world’s poorer countries move rapidly away from fossil fuel use, reducing their greenhouse gas emissions as part of a transition as deep and comprehensive as the one that would simultaneously unfold in the United States. Specifically, he proposes that the US provide $200 billion to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, a program that helps poor countries leave coal, oil, and gas behind in favor of solar and other renewable energy sources. This, he says, would “reduce emissions among less industrialized nations by 36 percent by 2030.” Combine that reduction with the 71 percent drop in US emissions by 2030 that Sanders projects under his Green New Deal, and the net effect, he estimates, would be equivalent to cutting US emissions by 161 percent

Only a Global Green New Deal Can Save the Planet And Bernie Sanders has a plan for that.
By Tom Athanasiou, The Nation, September 17, 2019

Sanders’ plan predictably drew swift opposition. For example, to the enormous cost. This is another thing I’m going to learn more about. One thing I will say is when it comes to cost, there are the billions of dollars in fossil fuel subsidies and in the bloated military budget that would be better spent on funding a Green New Deal.