by Alex Evans | Mar 19, 2009 | Climate and resource scarcity, Economics and development, London Summit
Nick Robins at HSBC has just sent over a copy of their excellent report A Climate for Recovery, which compares the green element of economic recovery plans around the world: must read stuff.
Among the headline findings: governments around the world have so far allocated $430bn to climate-related themes, with the US and China in the lead; and that the key benefiting sectors include rail, water infrastructure, power grids and building energy efficiency, but renewables less so (apart from in the US).
Especially interesting is the table breaking down recovery plans by countries. A whopping 37.8% of China’s stimulus package is counted as green, but the real laurel wreath here goes to South Korea, at 80.5%. The US is at 18.2%. (Britain? Down at 2.1%. Not that that stopped our Gordon from handing down a lengthy disquisition on the importance of climate change when he made his speech to Congress…)
HSBC profess themselves hopeful that what we’ve seen so far is just the first installment, with more to come. Let’s hope so – but given the trouble Tim Geithner’s been having trying to get Europe to cough up more for fiscal stimulus, I’m not holding my breath for the London Summit…
by Alex Evans | Mar 6, 2009 | Influence and networks, London Summit
White Band Action, the website of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, has some goodies to dish out: it’s got 50 places for bloggers at the G20 London Summit, and 20 of them are going to be handed out on the basis of readers’ nominations.
Now, I’m prepared to admit that recent posts of ours may not have been entirely aligned with Britain’s NGO community: David’s been cruelly taunting climate NGOs for being missing in action as Copenhagen beckons, Richard is running a recruitment drive for Nepal’s Maoist rebels, and I’ve been trashing 0.7 and suggesting that the pre-G20 Put People First march is an exercise in utter pointlessness (no, they still don’t have a policy platform).
But on the plus side, as regular readers will know, we’re all incorrigible summit nerds here at Global Dashboard – so we can promise you reams of top notch coverage if you nominate us for a place at the summit. And if you’re a fellow blogger: sure we’re open to a bit of vote-trading! This is the EU, after all; there are certain standards to observe…
by Alex Evans | Feb 12, 2009 | Influence and networks, London Summit
Yes, it’s only February, but it seems pretty unlikely that anything will top this for sheer pointlessness and banality. Here’s the pitch from the “Put People First” march that will be taking place in London on 28th March:
On 2 April the leaders of 20 of the world’s biggest economies meet in London to tackle the recession and global financial crisis..
But even before the banking collapse caused recession, the world suffered vast poverty and inequality and faced the looming threat of climate chaos.
Governments, business and international institutions have followed a model of financial deregulation that has encouraged short-term profits, instability and an economy fuelled by ever-increasing debt, both financial and environmental.
There can be no going back to business as usual. The only sustainable way to rebuild the global economy is to create a fair distribution of wealth that provides decent jobs and public services for all, ends global inequality and builds a low carbon future.
Wow. That’ll tell the politicians.
But, er, what is it telling them, exactly?
Sure, it’s not exactly a newsflash that the last few years have seen a pronounced move among NGOs away from having actual policy, and towards big campaign platforms that are much more about maximising participation (and hence donations and membership).
But even so, this is a new low. Make Poverty History may not have had the most sophisticated of policy platforms, but it looks like a doctoral thesis in comparison to this. The coalition of participating organisations haven’t even bothered to put together a position paper to explain what they want. Instead, there is simply this one liner:
Our message is clear. We must put people first.
The only clear message I can make out is the one that says “NGOs are hellbent on political irrelevance”.
(See also: Where next for NGOs?)
by David Steven | Feb 4, 2009 | Economics and development, London Summit
The EU may be planning to sue over the US’s Buy American nonsense, but in the FT, Lex is confident that globalization cannot easily be put into reverse:
Economic nationalism, it is argued, will tip the world into a Great Depression, just as America’s Smoot-Hawley Act did 79 years ago. This is a horrifying but, frankly, also a distant prospect. The disaggregation of global supply chains, the source of the huge efficiencies that companies pass on to consumers, will not be easily undone.
Maybe so… But Willem Buiter is much less sanguine:
We can go down in history as the generation that created the Great Depression of the Noughties. Just keep on beating the protectionist drums. Keep on the footdragging that prevents effective qualitative and quantitative monetary policy easing in the Eurozone and the UK. And go ahead with unsustainable fiscal stimuli in the US, the UK and elsewhere that will spook markets, push up long-term interest rates and raise the spectre of sovereign default by countries not belonging to the group of usual suspects. Yes we can! I hope we won’t.
