I wrote last week about the opportunity for world leaders to merge the global environmental and economic agenda at the expanded G20 summit in London. I ended my blog optimistically by saying "This is an opportunity to advance the green agenda second only to Copenhagen and it means that this year, more than ever, environmentalists have a good reason to make their voices heard."
Unfortunately, the "opportunity" quickly fizzled. While progress was made on global economic inequality, there was absolutely no mention of the environmental agenda. Green stimulus spending, something that seems like such a no brainer, was left entirely out.
A recent report by Forum for the Future shows that green stimulus spending varies considerably between countries. A figure from the paper below shows that while India and Thailand tie no stimulus spending to the green agenda, South Korea has tied over 80 %. It seems that there are many missed opportunities occurring across the world but there too are examples too of leadership. Hopefully we will see fewer and fewer missed opportunities because we can't afford too many more.
As Jonathon Porritt's report states,"In the same way that our capital markets imploded for lack of proper regulation, so our carbon-intensive economies are about to implode - socially and environmentally - for lack of proper regulation of emissions of greenhouse gases. Which means, quite simply, that the only available global solution to our economic crisis lies in addressing our sustainability crisis through what is rapidly becoming known as a "Green New Deal for the 21st Century"" Check out the full paper here.
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