“Ethical Markets, as a longtime member of this important global Green Economy Coalition highly recommends this report! ~Hazel Henderson, Editor“
Happy new year! 2017 proved an important year for the transition to greener economies so here are some of the recent global highlights as well as some updates from the GEC and members:
Transition highlights
- President Macron of France is becoming the face of global leadership against climate change
- Following the lead of the Bank of England, Australia’s financial regulation authority is now officially warning banks that climate change is affecting the global economy
- India raised $400m in a new green bond for solar and wind projects in-country, helping institutional investors overcome concerns as to the risk of investing in Indian renewables
- The EU have lowered charges for green investments
- In the UK, Michael Gove has announced a restructuring of agricultural subsidies, aiming to reward environmental stewardship and social value creation
- UK & Canada announced global alliance to phase out coal power; while the new Dutch coalition government has agreed to shut down all coal-fired plants by 2030 – including 3 which were only built in 2015
For ALL the latest transition highlights check out the GEC Green Economy Barometer now out; and sign up to our newsletter for more regular updates (see December issue here).
And from the GEC
- GEC Global Meeting 2017, focused on the role of green enterprises in the transition to green economies. Members signed off on the GEC 2018 strategy and launched a declaration in support of small enterprises, the Santa Cruz Declaration. Check out the meeting highlights.
- GEC report ‘The Wealth of Nature’ led a team of Oxford economists, proved that our economic models are blind to the dependences between ‘capitals’ and sets out some recommendations on how to rectify that.
- For 2018, our key targets:
- Ensure policy items on ecological limits and inequality are at the top of the global Green Economy agenda. Key events this year include the UNPAGE Ministerial in Durban (September) and OECD Green Growth Forum. Contact Oliver to find out more.
- Develop stronger narratives aimed at public audiences on the relevance of a green economy to every day lives. This includes small business advocacy campaign. Contact Emily to be involved.
- Support civil society networks to grow and strengthen in our 7 national dialogue countries. Contact Stuart for more info.
And from our members
- CAFOD and Christian Aid convened leading thinkers on the issue of Green and Decent jobs, see their discussion paper.
- Finance Watch ran their first #ChangeFinance forum bringing together key activists, financiers and pioneers from 21 countries.
- Development Alternatives hosted the ‘Jobs we want’ event in India, part of a global initiative supported by the La Caixa Banking Foundation to create jobs and livelihood opportunities for women and young people in low-income communities.
- GGKP’s Fifth Annual Conference focused on ‘Sustainable Infrastructure’ took place at the World Bank on 27 – 28 November, and have launched a Research Working Group on Natural Capital.
- SEED have announced their Symposium 2018 focused on ‘Boosting Climate-smart enterprise solutions’, 13 -14 March, Pretoria, South Africa.
Finally, do you find these emails useful? Let us know if not – or what you want to hear more / less about. And if you have research / events you want us to publicise to the network, get in touch with Ben.