Toward a Transatlantic Green New Deal: Tackling the Climate and Economic Crises
Source: Worldwatch Institute for the Heinrich Böll Foundation
From the Introduction:

The grave financial and economic crisis that broke into full view in the fall of 2008 has dominated not only headlines but also government and business deliberations. Bailout efforts and stimulus packages of unprecedented scope have taken center stage, as attempts to stave off the specter of a second Great Depression unfold. In sharp contrast with the laissez-faire attitude of the past three decades, the question now is not whether government can play a useful and central role, but what the specifics of government action should be.

As governments struggle to address the economic crisis, climate change presents another grave threat. The findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) make it increasingly clear that urgent action is needed to dramatically reduce global carbon emissions in the coming decades. Negotiations are currently underway on a successor agreement to the 1992 Kyoto Protocol, and are expected to culminate in December at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Failure to act threatens serious and irreversible damage to the world’s ecosystems, risks sea level rise and natural disasters of increasing frequency and magnitude, and is likely to have devastating impacts on food production, on economic well-being, and even on habitability in some parts of the world.

In some government and business circles at least, climate action is still too often seen as a recipe for economic damage. There is therefore a danger that some governments may decide to postpone serious action on climate until the economic crisis is resolved – even though fears of environmental action as a job killer are over-blown and climate inaction may ultimately cause large-scale job loss. According to the landmark 2006 Stern Review, failing to take action on climate change will lead to future annual economic losses of 5-20 percent of global GDP, while the annual costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to manageable levels would be around 1 percent of global GDP.

There is growing recognition of the imperative to address the economic and environmental crises together rather than separately. This means that the solution to current economic problems lies not in pushing “shovel-ready” programs like more road building or in simply restarting the engine of consumption, but rather in laying the foundations for a fundamental green transformation.

Support is growing around the world for an integrated response to the current economic and environmental crises, increasingly referred to as the “Green New Deal.” The term is a modern-day variation of the U.S. New Deal, an ambitious effort launched by President Franklin Roosevelt to lift the United States out of the Great Depression. The New Deal of that era entailed a strong government role in economic planning and a series of stimulus packages launched between 1933 and 1938 that created jobs through ambitious governmental programs, including the construction of roads, trails, dams, and schools. Today’s Green New Deal proposals are also premised on the importance of decisive governmental action, but incorporate policies to respond to pressing environmental challenges through a new paradigm of sustainable economic progress.

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