Media Coverage of the Global Green New Deal:

• GreenBiz.com: U.N. Set to Spur Global Green Market • The Guardian, UK: Now is the perfect time to save the planet • UN: Rebuild global economy through green investment • Environmental Expert Online: UNEP plans green version of the New Deal • Middle East Times: Give an Ear to Green New Deal • L'Express: L'ONU prône un "New Deal vert mondial" • Actualités News Environnement : Le PNUE propose un « Green New Deal » pour

la lutte contre le changement climatique • La Prensa.com: El medio ambiente pasa factura • Consumer.es: Más de un centenar de países debatirán la inclusión de tres

productos químicos en una lista de sustancias peligrosas • Reuters: "New Deal" needed for climate change • The Guardian, UK: UN: Rebuild global economy through green investment • The Telegraph: UN announces green 'New Deal' plan to rescue world economies • The Independent: A 'Green New Deal' can save the world's economy, says UN • News Now – UK: Defra hosts launch of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative • UN News Centre: UN launches new initiative to stimulate ‘green’ market growth • New York Times: The Green New Deal • Environmental Expert: UNEP launches green economy initiative to get global markets back

to work • mongabay.com: Green New Deal will spark global economy, create jobs • Today’s Zaman: Big green jobs machine • The Irish Times: : A chance to learn from great crash of Easter Island • States News Service: : "Global Green New Deal" - Environmentally-Focused Investment

Historic Opportunity For 21st Century Prosperity And Job Generation • Daily Times, Pakistan: VIEW: Big green jobs machine —Ban Ki-Moon • Gulf News: Paint the Planet to build our children's future • Gulf News: Youngsters sent in 200,000 entries to the recent United Nations Environment

Programme (UNEP) International Children's Painting Competition • International Business Times, NY: Green Globe International, Inc. Announces Agreement

With Scott Wilson Group • Global Pensions, UK: UNEP and GRI launch reporting tool • Le Monde, Belgique: L’appel à un « new deal » vert planétaire • Le Soir. Belgique: jeudi 23 octobre 2008 L’INDISPENSABLE « NEW DEAL »,VERT ET

ÉTHIQUE

GreenBiz.com: U.N. Set to Spur Global Green Market By GreenBiz Staff Published October 27, 2008 -- The United Nations Environment Program launched the Green Economic Initiative last week to shift the global economy toward environmentally friendly investments in order to create jobs and address climate change. The $4 million initiative is comprised of three planks: job growth, improving the nature around the world, and identifying the steps needed to foster the transition to a more environmentally friendly economy. It will deliver a comprehensive roadmap to all governments within two years. Already the initiative has targeted five sectors that stand to yield the highest returns: clean energy and cleantech; sustainable agriculture; ecosystem infrastructure; cutting greenhouse gas emissions; and sustainable urban planning. Achim Steiner, the organization's Environment Programme's executive director, called for "tranformational" thinking and decisions before major upcoming policy discussions, such as the next round of climate change talks in Poland. A lack of leadership and inability to manage markets have led to fossil fuel dependence and depleted natural assets, he said. "The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change and re-investing in natural infrastructure -- benefits ranging from new green jobs in cleantech and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture and conservation-based enterprises," Steiner said. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ The Guardian, UK: Now is the perfect time to save the planet

A green new deal will help us out of recession and stave off a climate crisis Ashley Seager, economics correspondent The Guardian, Monday October 27 2008

Banking crisis, recession, stocks tumbling, house prices collapsing - it's been a deluge in the past few weeks to compare with any turbulence of previous decades.

It's easy, as a result, to be gloomy about the prospects. Recession, after all, is already here and everyone is worried about the immediate future. There's also a lot of talk that switching the world economy to a carbon-free future is now something that cannot be afforded.

Not so. There were three important events in the past few weeks that went largely unnoticed during the financial maelstrom but whose significance cannot be overstated.

Two concern renewable energy and the other a change of government structure. In Britain, the government unexpectedly announced on October 16 that it intended introducing a "feed-in tariff" guaranteeing rates for renewably produced electricity. And the United States said part of its $700bn banking system bail-out would include $16bn (£10bn) of new green tax breaks for renewable energy, cleaner fuels and energy efficiency.

In Britain, as regular readers will know, the rhetoric and grand target-setting on climate change has far exceeded the practical policies to take us from where we are to where we want to be. The government has, in other words, generated a lot more hot air than it has tried to remove from the atmosphere.

This may finally be changing, thanks to relentless pressure from many in parliament, NGOs such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and, we hope modestly, this newspaper, which has long called for a feed-in tariff. Firstly, the government put energy and the environment under one roof in the new Department of Energy and Climate Change. Surely that's just a change of chairs, you argue, and the same BERR officials who resisted boosting renewable energies are now down at the DECC?

Possibly, and that's a justified concern. But if you look at the case of Germany, it decided to make the same move in 1999 and renewable energy there has grown exponentially in the past decade. It bears repeating that the Germans have 10 times as much wind power as Britain, in spite of having much less wind, and 200 times as much installed solar power.

That's because the Germans did, among many things, what new DECC boss Ed Miliband has said he will do - introduce a feed-in tariff for renewables. FITs work by paying an above-market rate for renewable electricity produced from things like wind turbines or solar photovolataics (PV) and fed into the grid. This pushes the yield on PV, for example, up to 8-10% and attracts huge investment from individuals, communities and industries.

The idea is to kickstart nascent industries and reward early adopters of the technology. FITs stimulate production of the technologies and so push costs down, which is why FITs are usually reduced each year for new projects. They are not subsidies but work to boost markets. Lord Stern in his review on climate change says they are the best way to make renewables work and the experience backs him.

FITs have been proved to work at lower cost than Britain's renewable obligation (RO) scheme, which imposes obligations on electricity producers to raise the share of power they produce from renewables. The RO has benefited large onshore wind farms but little else.

For householders here, the government offered only the fiasco of the low-carbon buildings programme grants which has been well documented in these pages. Britain produces less than 2% of its total energy and only about 5% of its electricity from renewables. In Germany the figures are 8.5% and 14%. Enough said.

The FIT costs the average German family a modest €20 (£16) a year in dearer electricity. The Germans started a decade ago and we, really, are just starting now. But we do finally look as if we are getting on the right track.

Robust

One reason to be cautious is that we don't yet have the details. Those are coming this Thursday from the government and campaigners are keen to see tariffs not just for electricity but a production-based tariff for renewable heat as well.

Half the energy we use in Britain provides us with heat, so encouraging small and medium-scale renewable heat close to where it is used is crucial. "The case for supporting renewable heat through a tariff is robust ... Heat is the biggest single use of energy in the UK and expected to make up a full third of our EU 2020 renewables targets - or 15% of the heating market," says Leonie Green of the Renewable Energy Association.

"Less than 1% of the UK's heat currently comes from renewable sources. Action plainly cannot come fast enough - hence the industry needs to see action now through the energy bill."

A Lords amendment to the energy bill would introduce tariffs for everything including biogas and is putting pressure on the government to do the same. Hence the government's change of heart.

It remains to be seen how tough the government will be over the proposed Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent regarding the fitting of carbon capture and storage technology. Another test is whether Britain keeps trying to undermine the European Union's 2020 renewable energy target, rather than redoubling efforts to try to meet it.

But Miliband has committed the government to an 80% carbon reduction by 2050 - another sign the government is finally getting serious. Gordon Brown also seems to have seen the light on the climate change issue - and he is aware of the international kudos he gained from leading the way on rescuing the global banking system. The message from that is that international leaders working together can get things done - an important lesson after decades in which governments appeared powerless in the face of "the markets". The markets have now failed and governments have been forced to step in.

Limits

Many of those government leaders would do well to read last week's report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Echoing President Franklin Roosevelt's stimulus programme for the depression-hit US economy in the 1930s, it called for a "Green New Deal" of huge investments in renewable and other clean technologies that would not only cut emissions but help revive flagging economies.

"The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible - possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on

less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint," says Pavan Sukhdev, head of global markets for Deutsche Bank, who worked on the report.

It highlights five areas offering the best payback in terms of economic returns, environmental sustainability and job creation: clean energy and new technologies including recycling; rural energy including renewables and biomass; sustainable agriculture including organic cultivation; ecosystem infrastructure and reduced emissions from deforestation; sustainable cities including green building and transport.

Friends of the Earth says Britain must start to play its part in this revolution. "The government must ... introduce a comprehensive feed-in tariff that encourages farmers, communities and businesses to invest in renewable energy technologies - not just households," says FoE campaigner Robin Webster. "If the government gets it right, the UK could become a world leader in the development of small-scale green energy - creating new green-collar jobs and a booming new industry."

Difficult to argue with that.

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ UN: Rebuild global economy through green investment Terry Macalister guardian.co.uk, Wednesday October 22 2008 13.00 BST

The United Nations today called for a refocusing of the world's economy towards investments in clean technologies and natural infrastructures such as forests in a Green New Deal that could revive the stumbling global economy, combat climate change, and cut poverty.

The UN's Environment Programme (UNEP) said the financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 highlighted the need for an innovative approach similar to the state-funded scheme used by US president Franklin D Roosevelt, in response to the Great Depression.

The organisation, supported by governments and top economists, is calling for - and believes it will achieve - decisive government action when finance ministers meet for the Financing for Development-Doha Review conference next month in New York.

"Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken," said Achim Steiner, the US undersecretary general and UNEP executive director.

"The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems," he added.

It was only a matter of time before investments would begin pouring back into the global economy but they should no longer be aimed at the "old, extractive, short-term economy of tomorrow," but a new green economy that could provide opportunities for the poor and well-off alike, said Pavan Sukdhev.

Sukdhev, a head of global markets for Deutsche Bank, has been seconded to work on UNEP's Green Economy Initiative, which is funded with £2m of cash from the European commission, Germany and Norway and which draws strong links between ecosystem losses and the persistence of poverty in the developing world.

"The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible - possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint," explained Sukdhev.

The initiative highlights five sectors which are likely to offer the best payback in terms of economic returns, environmental sustainability and job creation.

These are clean energy and new technologies including recycling; rural energy including renewables and biomass; sustainable agriculture including organic cultivation; ecosystem infrastructure and reduced emissions from deforestation, and sustainable cities including green building and transport.

The UN points out that £150bn is spent annually on agricultural subsidies with very little going into reforestation. It says that roughly the same amount of public investment currently goes into energy - much to fossil fuels - yet 2 billion people globally do not have electricity, oil or gas to cook food and provide heat and light.

Sukhdev added: "Here you have some of the choices in a nutshell. If we are to lift 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 a day out of poverty, do we put them into making more and more motor cars, TVs and PCs, or do we invest in the protected area network and develop its potential for green and decent new jobs?"

An additional investment of £25bn a year in some 100,000 conservation areas worldwide would secure the £2.5tr worth of services provided by these natural assets "while generating millions of new jobs and securing livelihoods for rural and indigenous peoples," he said.

Andrew Simms, the policy director at the New Economics Foundation in London, which called this summer for its own Green New Deal, said the UNEP initiative was highly important.

"The UN report has seen what several governments, including our own have failed to. It's 'now or never,' with the clock ticking on the global oil economy and the countdown to a new, more perilous phase of climate upheaval. Instead of scrabbling to return the economy to business-as-usual, this could be our last chance save the economy and prevent environmental bankruptcy."

Last month, the UN published another major report, which claimed that far from destroying jobs, tackling climate change would boost employment.

The Green Jobs study was hailed as being crucial to overcoming global resistance from the labour movement, which for many years opposed the Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions amid fears that members would lose their jobs.

Back to Menu

______________________________________________________________________ Environmental Expert Online: UNEP plans green version of the New Deal London, 23 October: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched a ‘Green New Deal’ initiative, which it hopes will give governments the tools to perform an environmental overhaul of their economies. Evoking the New Deal which boosted European economies after World War II, the two-year UNEP research programme will produce a report aimed at helping governments to pursue environmentally sustainable growth and jobs. But UNEP also called for governments to take immediate action, such as including measures to encourage a sustainable economy in their bank bail-out packages. Echoing sentiments expressed by environmental campaigners, a UNEP spokesman said that packages governments are putting together to cope with the credit crisis could include “requirements” focused on greening the economy. “Millions are going to bail out the banks. What kind of measures… can you put on that money? Should the banks have some requirements on them to use that money?” asked the spokesman – for example, he suggested, UK banks could start a programme insulate every house, stimulating the economy and providing jobs. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and executive director of UNEP, said: “The financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets. “But they are also part of a wider market failure triggering ever deeper and disturbing losses of natural capital and nature-based assets, coupled with an over-reliance of finite, often subsidised, fossil fuels.” Pavan Sukdhev, a senior banker at Deutsche Bank seconded to UNEP to lead the research, added: “Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy – the question is whether they go into the old, extractive, short-term economy of yesterday, or a new green economy that will deal with multiple challenges while generating multiple economic opportunities for the poor and the well-off alike.” The ‘Global Green New Deal’ initiative is being funded by the European Commission, and the German and Norwegian governments. At the launch, the UK’s Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "Britain is committed to building a green economy at home and abroad: it will be good for business good for the environment and good for development. “UNEP's initiative will help make this change; in particular by helping us to understand just how much we depend on the environment – soil, air, water and biodiversity – for our very existence." The report will gather together existing and fresh research, focusing on economic returns, job creation and environmental sustainability in five areas:

Clean energy and clean technology, including recycling Rural energy, including renewables and sustainable biomass Sustainable agriculture, including organic agriculture Ecosystem infrastructure Reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation Sustainable cities, including planning, transportation and green building Updated 23 October 2008 Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Middle East Times: Give an Ear to Green New Deal By MIDDLE EAST TIMESPublished: October 23, 2008 GETTING BACK TO GREEN -- The U.N.’s ‘Green New Deal’ proposal offers an alternative economic model to the false choice that now faces oil producer and consumer nations. (Image via Newscom) The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) this week responded to the global financial crisis by calling for a 'Green New Deal,' a strategic shift toward investments in clean technologies and sustainable natural infrastructures like fisheries and forests and clean water supplies. As oil exporting countries scramble to adjust their budgets and production targets to the new world of recession and $70 a barrel oil, the UNEP proposal offers a different economic model from the false choice facing producer and consumer nations. Low population oil exporters may want higher energy prices, but face resistance from high population oil consumers who need lower costs, more growth and more jobs. UNEP proposes a new economy in which both groups could benefit. The UNEP plan for an annual $50 billion is aimed at securing a triple effect to tackle the triple financial, food and fuel crises of 2008: to revitalize the stumbling global economy; to combat climate change; and to tackle poverty in a world where 2.6 billion people live on less than $2 a day. Named after the 1932 New Deal of massive state investments promoted by U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt in the Great Depression, the UNEP plan is aimed at next month's meeting of world finance ministers in New York for the Financing for Development-Doha Review conference. The plan could easily be funded by reducing the $300 billion spent annually by Europe, Japan and North America on agricultural subsidies, UNEP says. "Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken," said Achim Steiner, the U.S. undersecretary-general and UNEP executive director. "The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems." The proposal was drafted by Pavan Sukdhev, head of global markets for Deutsche Bank, who has been seconded to work on UNEP's Green economy Initiative. He warned that with the oil price dropping below $70 a barrel, there would be a temptation to return

to "the old, extractive, short-term economy of yesterday." But it would make more sense to invest in the new green economy of tomorrow. "The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible – possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint," Sukdhev argues. "Do we put them into making more and more motor cars, TVs and PCs, or do we invest in the protected area network and develop its potential for green and decent new jobs?" he challenges. UNEP says five sectors promise the best economic returns, environmental sustainability and job creation: clean energy and new technologies, including recycling; rural energy, including renewables and biomass; sustainable agriculture, including organic cultivation; ecosystem infrastructure and reduced emissions from deforestation; and sustainable cities including green building and transport of the kind now being developed in Dubai and the Gulf states. The U.N.'s proposal for a Green New Deal that could benefit everybody deserves a fair hearing. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ L'Express: L'ONU prône un "New Deal vert mondial" Par LEXPRESS.fr, mis à jour le 23/10/2008 12:27:39 - publié le 23/10/2008 11:25 La branche Environnement de l'ONU appelle les dirigeants mondiaux à investir dans les technologies propres, source d'emplois pour le 21e siècle. Le Programme des Nations Unies pour l'Environnement (PNUE) a présenté mercredi 22 octobre à Londres son projet de "New Deal vert mondial", une initiative encourageant les investissements dans les technologies propres et les ressources naturelles pour faire redémarrer l'économie. Cette initiative permettrait de redémarrer l'économie d'après le directeur du programme, Achim Steiner, qui a souligné que "les crises financières et alimentaires de 2008 sont en partie le résultat de la spéculation et de l'échec des gouvernements à diriger intelligemment les marchés". "Le bon côté de la chose, ce sont les énormes bénéfices économiques, sociaux et environnementaux qui pourraient émerger de la lutte contre le changement climatique et de nouveaux investissements dans les infrastructures naturelles (forêt, sols) allant de nouveaux emplois verts dans des technologies et énergies propres, jusqu'à une agriculture durable et des entreprises écologiques" a-t-il poursuivi selon un communiqué. Recentrer l'économie mondiale "vers les investissements dans les technologies propres et les infrastructures 'naturelles' comme les forêts ou les terrains est le meilleur pari pour une véritable croissance, combattre le changement climatique et provoquer une croissance de l'emploi au 21ème siècle", relève le programme. M. Steiner a appelé à privilégier cette nouvelle façon de penser lors des prochains grands rendez-vous des dirigeants mondiaux. Back to Menu

______________________________________________________________________ Actualités News Environnement : Le PNUE propose un « Green New Deal » pour la lutte contre le changement climatique 23/10/2008 14:37 (Par Sandra BESSON) Le PNUE propose un « Green New Deal » de lutte contre le changement climatique D’après le Programme des Nations Unies pour l’Environnement (PNUE), la communauté internationale devrait s’inspirer du New Deal initié par Franklin Roosevelt pour gérer la Grande Dépression, afin de fonder un « Green New Deal »de lutte contre le changement climatique. Le monde devrait s’inspirer du programme de New Deal qu’avait initié le Président américain Franklin Roosevelt pour gérer la Grande Dépression, et fonder un « Green New Deal» (un New Deal Ecologique) pour lutter contre le changement climatique, d’après ce qu’une agence des Nations Unies a proposé. Le New Deal est le nom donné par le président américain Franklin Delano Roosevelt à sa politique interventionniste mise en place pour lutter contre les effets de la Grande Dépression aux États-Unis. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ La Prensa.com: El medio ambiente pasa factura ABUSO DE LOS RECURSOS NATURALES. Graciela Arosemena Díaz Tradicionalmente, el análisis del problema económico se limita al estudio de las relaciones entre los agentes involucrados: productores y consumidores, sin considerar el sistema ecológico, que es el proveedor de insumos al sistema económico. El sistema económico forma parte de un sistema mayor: el ecosistema, pero el capitalismo ignora dicha pertenencia y potencia un consumismo infinito y global, en un ecosistema finito; Tierra solo hay una. La actual crisis financiera puede que sea negativa para el capitalismo, pero también es una oportunidad para redefinirlo. Esta crisis es coyuntural, pero una crisis de los recursos: energía, alimento y agua, sería verdaderamente seria. La energía es el caso más evidente. Nuestra dependencia del petróleo es patente en la industria, alimentación y transporte. Nadie duda que el petróleo se agotará durante el siglo XXI. ¿Cuándo?, es la incógnita. Los expertos apuntan entre 20 y 30 años. Urge, entonces, desintoxicarnos del petróleo, sin embargo, en nuestro país se inaugurarán dos centrales térmicas en 2009. Por otra parte, se construyen cerca de 70 hidroeléctricas. Las hidroeléctricas puede ser parte de la solución, ¿pero 70?, es hipotecar nuestros recursos hídricos. La construcción de embalses tiene un impacto negativo sobre el ciclo del agua, que asegura su propia producción. Esta no es una energía estrictamente renovable. El Pnuma ubica a Panamá en una zona que disminuirá el 66% de las precipitaciones entre junio y agosto, y en donde aumentarán las sequías a causa del cambio climático; que ya ha disminuido el caudal del río Chagres en un 21%. La Unesco también advierte que el agua escaseará y será objeto de conflictos en este siglo. La capacidad para satisfacer su demanda dependerá de la calidad de la gestión de los recursos hídricos.

El mix energético del país puede aprovechar las hidroeléctricas, pero moderadamente, sin poner en riesgo el ciclo del agua. Se debe diversificar mucho más las fuentes energéticas, apoyar el uso de energía solar, eólica, del biogás y disminuir el consumo energético. El Plan Puebla–Panamá explica tanta insensatez. La apertura del mercado energético en Centroamérica potencia que la electricidad deje de ser un servicio público y sea un negocio privado. Así se entiende que invirtamos en térmicas e hipotequemos nuestra agua. En el capitalismo, los recursos naturales son concebidos en términos de dólares y no por su valor intrínseco. ¿Qué haremos cuando escasee el petróleo, cuando llueva menos? El sistema económico pone en riesgo su propia estabilidad, y la economía panameña no puede apoyarse en recursos inestables. Si no cambia el modelo de consumo, si la economía continúa ignorando el ecosistema, la crisis ambiental desembocará en una situación económica más difícil de mitigar que la actual. La autora es arquitecta, especialista en sostenibilidad Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Consumer.es: Más de un centenar de países debatirán la inclusión de tres productos químicos en una lista de sustancias peligrosas Se trata de dos pesticidas y de un compuesto utilizado en la industria que pueden dañar la salud o el medio ambiente Ministros y representantes de 120 países se reunirán la próxima semana en Roma para decidir la inclusión de dos pesticidas (endosulfán y los compuestos de tributil estaño) y un producto químico utilizado en la industria (el amianto crisotilo) en una lista de sustancias peligrosas, informó la Organización de la ONU para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO). Son ya 39 las sustancias peligrosas incluidas en la lista denominada de Consentimiento Fundamentado Previo (CFP), establecida por el Convenio de Rotterdam, un tratado internacional que pretende evitar que los productos químicos peligrosos dañen la salud humana y el medio ambiente. El proceso CFP facilita a los países en desarrollo poder decidir sobre los productos químicos que desean recibir y excluir los que no pueden manejar de forma segura. Los países exportadores tienen la responsabilidad de asegurar que ninguna partida abandona su territorio cuando el país importador ha decidido no aceptar el producto químico en cuestión. La propuesta de incluir sustancias químicas en la lista CFP se basa en las recomendaciones de un comité técnico de expertos. Un requisito clave es que al menos dos países de dos regiones diferentes del mundo hayan prohibido o limitado severamente el uso de un determinado producto químico. "La importancia que da el convenio al comercio refleja la preocupación internacional sobre el impacto de los productos químicos y los pesticidas peligrosos en la salud humana y el medio ambiente", señaló Achim Steiner, responsable del Programa de Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA). Sustancias a debate Por lo que se refiere a los productos sobre los que se va a debatir, los compuestos de tributil estaño (TBT) son pesticidas usados en las pinturas antialgas en los cascos de los

barcos y son tóxicos para los peces, moluscos y otros organismos acuáticos, mientras que el endosulfán es un pesticida muy utilizado en todo el mundo, particularmente en la producción de algodón. Su uso entraña riesgos para el medio ambiente y la salud humana, especialmente en los países en desarrollo. Por su parte, el amianto crisotilo (también conocido como amianto serpentina o amianto blanco) es el tipo de amianto más utilizado y supone el 94% de la producción mundial. La sustancia, relacionada con varios tipos de cáncer, se usa mucho en los materiales de construcción, como el cemento, tuberías y planchas, y en la fabricación de productos de fricción, juntas y papel. "En el décimo aniversario de la adopción del convenio, es crucial que garanticemos que continúa siendo un instrumento relevante y eficaz en permitir a las partes proteger la salud humana y el medio ambiente, al tiempo que se adecua a las necesidades del desarrollo humano", destacó el director general adjunto de la FAO para Agricultura y Protección del Consumidor, Modibo T. Traoré. Actualmente se encuentran disponibles en el mercado alrededor de 70.000 productos químicos diferentes y cada año se introducen cerca de 1.500 nuevos. Ello supone un reto significativo para los organismos responsables de controlar y manejar estas sustancias potencialmente peligrosas. Y es que numerosos plaguicidas que han sido prohibidos o severamente restringidos en los países industrializados siguen comercializándose y utilizándose en los países en desarrollo. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Reuters: "New Deal" needed for climate change Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:25pm BST LONDON (Reuters) - The world should take a leaf from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's playbook for tackling the Great Depression and fund a "Green New Deal" to fight climate change, a U.N. agency proposed.

A two-year United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) initiative launched Wednesday would promote research into marketing tools, such as Europe's carbon emissions trading scheme initiated in 2005, to aid the environment.

This is because political efforts to curb pollution, protect forests and avert climate change have proven "totally inadequate," UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said.

He noted that a huge banking bailout had been mobilised in just four weeks, while the response to climate change was slow.

From 1981 to 2005 the global economy more than doubled, but 60 percent of the world's ecosystems -- for example fisheries and forests -- were either degraded or over-used.

"That's the balance sheet of our planet right now," he said.

A successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the pioneering global pact to fight climate change, set to be agreed in Copenhagen by the end of next year appears more remote than a year ago, Steiner said.

"We're further from a deal in Copenhagen than we were at the end of the Bali conference," he said, referring to the launch of talks on the successor pact last December in Indonesia.

"But does that mean we will not have one? No.

"The difficulty is that there is no deal based on national interest alone. Quite frankly the levels of financing being discussed right now are totally inadequate to allow such a deal to emerge."

Environment Minister Hilary Benn, hosting the launch, said the UNEP proposal was right in tune with the thinking of Roosevelt, from whom he quoted approvingly:

"'The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.'"

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, editing by Michael Roddy)

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ The Guardian, UK: UN: Rebuild global economy through green investment Terry Macalister Wednesday October 22 2008 13.00 BST

The United Nations today called for a refocusing of the world's economy towards investments in clean technologies and natural infrastructures such as forests in a Green New Deal that could revive the stumbling global economy, combat climate change, and cut poverty.

The UN's Environment Programme (UNEP) said the financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 highlighted the need for an innovative approach similar to the state-funded scheme used by US president Franklin D Roosevelt, in response to the Great Depression.

The organisation, supported by governments and top economists, is calling for - and believes it will achieve - decisive government action when finance ministers meet for the Financing for Development-Doha Review conference next month in New York.

"Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken," said Achim Steiner, the US undersecretary general and UNEP executive director.

"The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems," he added.

It was only a matter of time before investments would begin pouring back into the global economy but they should no longer be aimed at the "old, extractive, short-term economy of tomorrow," but a new green economy that could provide opportunities for the poor and well-off alike, said Pavan Sukdhev.

Sukdhev, a head of global markets for Deutsche Bank, has been seconded to work on UNEP's Green Economy Initiative, which is funded with £2m of cash from the European commission, Germany and Norway and which draws strong links between ecosystem losses and the persistence of poverty in the developing world.

"The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible - possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint," explained Sukdhev.

The initiative highlights five sectors which are likely to offer the best payback in terms of economic returns, environmental sustainability and job creation.

These are clean energy and new technologies including recycling; rural energy including renewables and biomass; sustainable agriculture including organic cultivation; ecosystem infrastructure and reduced emissions from deforestation, and sustainable cities including green building and transport.

The UN points out that £150bn is spent annually on agricultural subsidies with very little going into reforestation. It says that roughly the same amount of public investment currently goes into energy - much to fossil fuels - yet 2 billion people globally do not have electricity, oil or gas to cook food and provide heat and light.

Sukhdev added: "Here you have some of the choices in a nutshell. If we are to lift 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 a day out of poverty, do we put them into making more and more motor cars, TVs and PCs, or do we invest in the protected area network and develop its potential for green and decent new jobs?"

An additional investment of £25bn a year in some 100,000 conservation areas worldwide would secure the £2.5tr worth of services provided by these natural assets "while generating millions of new jobs and securing livelihoods for rural and indigenous peoples," he said.

Andrew Simms, the policy director at the New Economics Foundation in London, which called this summer for its own Green New Deal, said the UNEP initiative was highly important.

"The UN report has seen what several governments, including our own have failed to. It's 'now or never,' with the clock ticking on the global oil economy and the countdown to a new, more perilous phase of climate upheaval. Instead of scrabbling to return the economy to business-as-usual, this could be our last chance save the economy and prevent environmental bankruptcy."

Last month, the UN published another major report, which claimed that far from destroying jobs, tackling climate change would boost employment.

The Green Jobs study was hailed as being crucial to overcoming global resistance from the labour movement, which for many years opposed the Kyoto agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions amid fears that members would lose their jobs.

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ The Telegraph: UN announces green 'New Deal' plan to rescue world economies By Paul Eccleston Last Updated: 5:01pm BST 22/10/2008 A global green 'New Deal' is needed to transform the world's economies, according to a new UN report.

Low carbon economy must be part of economic recovery Credit crisis is time to act on climate change, says Lord Stern Greening the global economy It would be similar to Franklin D Roosevelt's New Deal which helped the US recover from the Great Depression of the 1930s. Achim Steiner: 'There will be enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change' But it would be aimed at a fundamental restructuring of economies weaning away dependence on oil and towards cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy. The Green Economy Initiative from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for global economies which invest in better care and management of the Earth's natural resources such as rainforests and oceans. Rather than more boom and bust cycles and the continued asset stripping of dwindling resources, the new green system would nurture and re-invest in them. It would refocus the global economy, create growth, trigger a 21st century employment boom and at the same time combat climate change, it is claimed. Launching the report in London Achim Steiner, UNEP executive director, said the worldwide financial crisis had created an historic opportunity to replace a system which had seen the world's GDP double between 1981-2005 but which had resulted in 60 per cent of the Earth's ecosystem being degraded while 2.6bn people were still living on less than $2 per day. He said the financial, food and fuel crises of 2008 had been caused by speculation and a failure by governments to regulate markets but they were also part of a wider market failure which was eating away the world's natural resources. The system was also over-reliant on a finite amount of fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - which were often subsidised. "The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change and reinvesting in natural infrastructure - benefits ranging from new green jobs in clean teach and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture and conservation-based enterprises," he said. Mr Steiner said that even though the world's focus was on the financial crisis, the pressing problems of food, fuel, energy and especially climate change had not altered and the world had no alternative but to reach a deal at the climate conference in Copenhagen next year. "We need to accelerate towards a green economy. We are talking about nothing less than the transformation of our economies in effect a global green New Deal," he said. "There will be challenges in bringing about this transformation but there are enormous opportunities and potential and it pays us to do so but governments need to change the signals about how the markets work."

The report has identified six keys areas which would underpin the New Deal: *Clean energy, cleaner technologies including recycling * Rural energy including renewables and sustainable biomass *Sustainable agriculture *Ecosystem infrastructure *Reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation. *Sustainable cities including planning, transport and buildings. Pavan Sukdhev, a banker seconded to UNEP, who is leading an attempt to draw up an 'inventory' of the Earth's resources and what they are worth, said current economic models were now at the limit of what they could deliver. "Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy - the question is whether they go into the old, extractive short-term economy of yesterday or a new green economy that will deal with multiple challenges while generating multiple economic opportunities for the poor and the well-off alike." The UNEP is developing a tool-kit for transforming economies which it will deliver to governments within the next two years. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ The Independent: A 'Green New Deal' can save the world's economy, says UN

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor Sunday, 12 October 2008

Top economists and United Nations leaders are working on a "Green New Deal" to create millions of jobs, revive the world economy, slash poverty and avert environmental disaster, as the financial markets plunge into their deepest crisis since the Great Depression.

The ambitious plan – the start of which will be formally launched in London next week - will call on world leaders, including the new US President, to promote a massive redirection of investment away from the speculation that has caused the bursting “financial and housing bubbles” and into job-creating programmes to restore the natural systems that underpin the world economy.

It aims to convince them that, far from restricting growth, healing the global environment will be a desperately -needed driving force behind it.

The Green Economy Initiative - which will be spearheaded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), headquartered here, and is already being backed by governments – draws its inspiration from Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, which ended the 1930s depression and helped set up the world economy for the unprecedented growth of the second half of the 20th century.

It, too, envisages basing recovery on providing work for the poor, as well as reform of financial practices, after a crash brought on by unregulated excesses of the free market and the banking system.

The new multimillion dollar initiative – which is being already funded by the German and Norwegian Governments and the European Commission – arises out of a study commissioned by world leaders at the 2006 G8 summit into the economic value of ecosystems. It argues that the world is caught up in not one, but three interlinked crises, with the food and fuel crunches accompanying and intensifying the financial one.

Soaring prices of grain and oil, it stresses, have stemmed from outdated economic priorities that have concentrated on short term exploitation of the world's resources, without considering how they can be used to sustain prosperity in the long term. Over the last quarter of a century, says UNEP, world growth has doubled, but 60 per cent of the natural resources that provide food, water, energy and clean air have been seriously degraded.

Achim Steiner, UNEP's Executive Director, adds that new research shows that every year, for example the felling of forests deprives the world of over $2.5 trillion worth of such services in supplying water, generating rainfall, stopping soil erosion, cleaning the air and reducing global warming . By comparison, he points out, the global financial crisis is so far estimated to have cost the world the smaller one-off sum of $1.5 trillion.

“We are pushing, if not pushing past, the limits of what the planet can sustain,” he says. “If we go on as we are today’s crisis will seem mild indeed compared to the crises of tomorrow”.

Switching direction and concentrating on 'green growth', he says, will not only prevent such catastrophes, but rescue the world's finances. “The new, green economy would provide a new engine of growth, putting the world on the road to prosperity again. This is about growing the world economy in a more intelligent, sustainable way.

“The 20th century economy, now in such crisis, was driven by financial capital. The 21st century one is going to have to be based on developing the world's natural capital to provide the lasting jobs and wealth that are needed, particularly for the poorest people on the planet”

He says for example, that it makes more sense to invest in preserving forests, peatlands and soils, which naturally absorb carbon dioxide, than destroying them and then developing expensive technology to do the job.

He points out that the world market for environmental goods and service already stands at $1.3 trillion and is expected to double over the next 12 years even on present trends, and adds. “There is an enormous opportunity to ride on this increasing global demand for environmental improvement and turn it into the driver of economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction that is now so desperately needed. And in some places it is already beginning to happen.”

Mr Steiner will launch the initiative in London a week on Wednesday, October 22nd, with the announcement of three projects, concentrating on how investing in the world's natural systems, in renewable energy and in other green technologies would stimulate growth and provide jobs, and giving examples of where it is already taking place.

He will describe, for example, how Mexico is now employing 1.5 million people to plant and manage forests, how China has created the world's biggest solar energy industries from scratch in just a few years, and how Germany has leapt from being a laggard to a leader in renewable energy by giving people attractive incentives to install it in their home.

Pavan Sukhdev, the chair of Deutschbank's Global Market Centre, who is leading the initiative, says: “. Hundreds of millions of jobs can be created, there is no question that traditional industries like steel and cars cannot provide them. But this is a really huge business opportunity.”

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ News Now – UK: Defra hosts launch of UNEP's Green Economy Initiative

Hilary Benn hosted the launch of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Green Economy Initiative at Defra today, highlighting the importance of building a greener and more equitable global economy.

In the current economic climate, the shift to a green economy has become more important than ever. UNEP's Initiative will accelerate this change by identifying policies which decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, and highlighting the huge opportunities available.

Mobilizing and re-focusing the global economy towards investments in clean technologies and 'natural' infrastructure such as forests, soils and water will bring about real growth, combat climate change and trigger an employment boom that will most benefit the world's poorest, both at home and abroad.

Speaking at the launch event, Hilary Benn:

"The green technological revolution needs to gather pace, as more and more of the worlds jobs will in future be in environmental industries. Britain is committed to building a green economy at home and abroad: it will be good for business good for the environment and good for development.

"UNEP's initiative will help make this change; in particular by helping us to understand just how much we depend on the environment - soil, air, water and biodiversity - for our very existence."

Dubbed the 'New Green Deal', the event featured speeches from Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn; Chief Scientific Adviser, Bob Watson; Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director; and Pavan Sukhdev, the senior Deutsche Bank economist who is heading UNEP's Initiative alongside his work on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) – a Stern-style review of ecosystem services, which Defra is also supporting.

More information about the Green Economy Initiative is available on the UNEP website.

Pavan Sukhdev will return to Defra on the 13th November to present his TEEB findings at the Darwin Initiative Lecture. http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/latest/2008/climate-2210.htm

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________

UN News Centre: UN launches new initiative to stimulate ‘green’ market growth

22 October 2008 – Boosting investment in clean technologies and natural resources is the best way to spur real global economic growth, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

and the world’s leading economists said today in London at the launch of the new Green Economic Initiative.

The $4 million scheme seeks to seize the historic opportunity to shift the focus of the global economy towards environmentally-friendly investments to simultaneously tackle climate change and trigger employment expansion.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said that 2008’s triple financial, fuel and food crises are partly due to speculation and governments’ failure to “intelligently manage” markets, as well as leading to losses of nature-based assets and an over-reliance on finite fossil fuels.

“The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change and re-investing in natural infrastructure – benefits ranging from new green jobs in clean tech and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture and conservation-based enterprises.”

Mr. Steiner appealed for “transformational thinking” ahead of the November follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development in Doha, Qatar, along with the proposed summit called for by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the next round of UN climate change talks in Poznan, Poland, in December.

Unless “transformative decisions” are taken, “the alternative is more boom and bust cycles: a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems – vast, natural ‘utilities’ that for a fraction of the cost of machines store water and carbon, stabilize soils,” and sustain indigenous and rural livelihoods.

The Green Economy Initiative has three main pillars: boosting the potential of nature worldwide, stimulating job growth, and clarifying the actions that can be taken to speed up the shift to a more environmentally-friendly economy.

Within the next two years, it expects to deliver to all governments – of both developed and developing countries – a comprehensive guide on how to make the transition.

The scheme has identified clean energy and technologies; sustainable agriculture; ecosystem infrastructure; reduced emissions; and sustainable urban planning as the five sectors most likely to generate the greatest returns.

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ New York Times: The Green New Deal October 22, 2008, 1:11 pm By James Kanter Achim Steiner, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Program, proposed a “Green New Deal” on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters)The financial crisis has stoked widespread concern that momentum toward policies on climate change and sustainability is about to stall. European governments are among those that are using the crisis as an excuse to ease back on the pace at which they had promised to tackle climate change.

Now, leading figures in environmentalism and conservation are fighting to make the case that saving the planet also will save the economic system. Earlier this week, Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told me governments should consider requiring bankers and financiers to check whether their investments faced climate-related liabilities like pending lawsuits or legislation related to global warming. Mr. de Boer said that loans that aren’t vetted for climate liabilities are just as vulnerable as the poorly vetted real estate loans for new houses responsible for triggering the current crisis. He said governments could implement the new rules when they sold many of the banks they have taken into public ownership back into private hands. On Wednesday Achim Steiner, the executive secretary of the United Nations Environment Program, launched an initiative in London called the Global Green New Deal in a deliberate echo of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s plan to tackle the Great Depression. The New Deal “set the stage for the biggest economic growth the world has seen,” said Mr. Steiner. “Today we need similar vision, urgent action and strong political engagement to direct financial flows and manage markets to deal with the even greater global challenges of our time,” he said. Mr. Steiner’s message is that massive government investment into industries creating jobs to tackle climate change is the same medicine that could help prevent a prolonged descent into economic misery and reduce bills for imported energy. Other business opportunities include clean-tech ventures, sustainable agriculture, conservation, and the intelligent management of the planet’s ecosystems. Mr. Steiner’s organization is proposing to spend $4 million on a study of these ideas, led by Pavan Sukhdev, the head of the global markets business in India for Deutsche Bank, with most contributions toward the cost of the study coming from Norway, Germany and the European Commission. The research should be completed in two years, but it is a fair bet the final report will make the case that governments should invest more money in creating green jobs, as well as protecting forest lands and other parts of the so-called “ecosystem infrastructure.” Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Environmental Expert: UNEP launches green economy initiative to get global markets back to work Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Published Oct. 22, 2008 Mobilizing and re-focusing the global economy towards investments in clean technologies and 'natural' infrastructure such as forests and soils is the best bet for real growth, combating climate change and triggering an employment boom in the 21st century. The call was made today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and leading economists as they launched the Green Economy Initiative aimed at seizing an historic opportunity to bring about tomorrow's economy today. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said:

'The financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets'. 'But they are also part of a wider market failure triggering ever deeper and disturbing losses of natural capital and nature-based assets coupled with an over-reliance of finite, often subsidized fossil fuels,' he said. 'The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change and re-investing in natural infrastructure - benefits ranging from new green jobs in clean tech and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture and conservation-based enterprises,' he added. Mr Steiner said there was a crucial and urgent need to bring creative, forward-looking and 'transformational thinking' into next month's Financing for Development Review Conference-taking place in Doha,Qatar. Other critical dates rapidly coming up in the international calendar include a proposed financial crisis summit of the G8+5, called for by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the next round of UN climate convention negotiations in Poznan, Poland in December. 'Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken. The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems - vast, natural 'utilities' that for a fraction of the cost of machines store water and carbon, stabilize soils; sustain indigenous and rural livelihoods and harbor genetic resources to the value of trillions of dollars a year,' said Mr Steiner. Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who held the launch, said, 'The green technological revolution needs to gather pace, as more and more of the worlds jobs will in future be in environmental industries. Britain is committed to building a green economy at home and abroad: it will be good for business good for the environment and good for development. UNEP's initiative will help make this change; in particular by helping us to understand just how much we depend on the environment - soil, air, water and biodiversity - for our very existence.' Current Economic Models: Short-Changing People and the Planet Pavan Sukdhev, a senior banker from Deutsche Bank who is seconded to UNEP to lead the research, said:'The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible - possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint'. 'Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy - the question is whether they go into the old, extractive, short-term economy of yesterday or a new green economy that will deal with multiple challenges while generating multiple economic opportunities for the poor and the well-off alike,' he said. The new report aims to help governments make better choices and send the right market signals to investors, entrepreneurs and consumers world-wide so 'we move from mining the planet to managing and re-investing in it,' said Mr Steiner.

The Green Economy Initiative, which has close to $4 million-worth of funding from the European Commission, Germany and Norway, builds in part on a request by the G8+5 group of nations two years ago. The G8+5 study on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), also led by Mr Sukhdev and funded by the European Commission and Germany, reported its Phase I findings in May at the UNEP-linked Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Bonn. It highlighted the economic magnitude of 'business - as-usual' losses, and drew strong links between ecosystem & biodiversity losses and the persistence of poverty. The Green Economy initiative has three pillars - valuing and mainstreaming nature's services into national and international accounts; employment generation through green jobs and the laying out the policies; instruments and market signals able to accelerate a transition to a Green Economy. The strategy builds on the findings of TEEB while also linking with the Green Jobs Initiative of UNEP, the International Labour Organisation, the International Trades Union Confederation and the International Organization of Employers. The Green Economy Initiative will draw on the existing and considerable body of work generated by UNEP, the UN-system and others ranging from the impacts and opportunities of shifting fish, fuel and other subsidies up to innovative market mechanisms and financial products already triggering a transition. In 18 to 24 months it should deliver for governments - North and South - a comprehensive assessment and tool kit for making the necessary transition. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Environment Minister, said:' There are moments in history when an idea's time has come - this is the case for a comprehensive Green Economy Initiative. Norway is delighted to be supporting this UNEP initiative. Innovative approaches and actions are needed in this very complex situation with a fundamental environmental crisis topped by an international financial situation out of control'. 'I commend UNEP for responding so fast and timely -in particular how UNEP together with International Labour Organization (ILO) have demonstrated the huge untapped job potential in sustainable management of natural capital and nature based assets,' he added. Five Priority Sectors Underpinning a Global Green New Deal The five sectors likely to generate the biggest transition in terms of economic returns; environmental sustainability and job creation are:- Clean energy and clean technologies including recycling Rural energy, including renewables and sustainable biomass Sustainable agriculture, including organic agriculture Ecosystem Infrastructure Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Sustainable cities including planning, transportation and green building Notes to Editors

Economic Mismatch Global economic growth over the past 50 years has been accompanied by accelerated environmental decline. From 1981 to 2005, the global GDP more than doubled, in contrast to the 60% of the world's ecosystems being degraded or used in an unsustainable manner. Only a fraction of national income is spent on the environment. The global annual spending on the environment is estimated at best at US$10 billion per year. This is in contrast to the US$60-90 billion needed for those environmental investments that contribute directly to poverty reduction alone. Misaligned incentives work against the environment. Global agricultural subsidies amount to more than US$300 billion a year, but there is a lack of funds for reforestation. Global energy subsidies range from US$240 billion to US$310 billion per year or around 0.7 per cent of global GDP, but there is inadequate support for renewable energy development. A recent assessment by UNEP also concluded that a dramatic phasing-out of fossil fuel subsidies could cut greenhouse gas emissions by some six per cent by boosting energy efficiency. Meanwhile the same assessment concluded that fossil fuel subsidies, often justified as an anti-poverty measure, rarely benefit the urban and especially the rural poor but tend to benefit fossil fuel companies; equipment suppliers and the middle class and well off in an economy. The global automobile industry generates some $1.9 trillion in revenues but employs just 4.4 million people. The global steel industry is a $500 billion income earner but employs 4.5 million people The world's 100,000 National Parks and protected areas generate wealth via nature-based good and services equal to around $5 trillion but only employ 1.5 million people. 'Here you have some of the choices in a nutshell. If we are to lift 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 a day out of poverty, do we put them into making more and more motor cars, TV's and PC's, or do we invest in the protected area network and develop its potential for green and decent new jobs ?,' said Mr Sukhdev. 'An additional investment of $ 50 billion a year in around 100,000 conservation areas worldwide could secure the $5 trillion-worth of services provided by these natural assets while generating millions of new jobs and securing livelihoods for rural and indigenous peoples.' Clean Energy and Clean Tech?not starting from ground zero Greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut by 80 per cent and finite natural resources from fossil fuels to metals need to be more efficiently used and re-used. UNEP's Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative renewable energy investments rose to $160 billion in 2007, up from $100 billion in 2006.

Norway announced this month that it intends to double its national research fund for renewables to $3.4 billion. This year the UK announced a $100 billion investment to build 4,000 onshore and 3,000 offshore wind turbines by 2020?while creating some 160,000 jobs. The global market for environmental products and services currently runs at around $1,370 billion or $1,000 billon Euro according to German consultants Roland Berger. The market in 2020 could double to $2,740 billon or Euro 2,200 billion. Some 50 countries including a dozen developing countries, have set renewable energy targets including Mexico; Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, China, India, the Philippines, Iran, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Globally some 300,000 people are employed in wind power and maybe 170,000 in solar. Over 600,000 are employed in solar thermal?most of these in China. Nearly 1.2 million are employed in biomass energy in four countries?Brazil, USA, Germany and China. Overall 2.3 million are employed in renewable energy sector?a conservative figure. Kleiner Perkins, the venture capital firm that supported the establishment of Google, Netscape and Amazon.com, recently directed $100 million to new companies working on lowering C02 emissions. Clean Tech investment in China will totaled an estimated $580 in 2007 million and is likely to total more than $720 million in 2008 A shift towards renewable energy and clean technologies is already underway. This is as a result of the existing UN climate change agreements and in the anticipation of a deep and decisive new deal in Copenhagen in late 2009 that will better price carbon Numerous shining examples exist on how to accelerate a transition to a low or even zero carbon economy including feed-in tariffs such as those that were introduced a few years ago in Germany. The German renewable sector, for example, now already generates $240 billion in annual revenue, employs 250,000 people, and is expected to provide more jobs than the country's auto industry by 2020. Rural Energy?not starting from ground zero Two billion people globally do not yet have electricity, oil or gas to cook food and for daily living. This perpetuates the poverty trap and undermines attempts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals while putting pressure on economically-important ecosystems such as forests for fuel-wood and charcoal. It is a crisis but also an opportunity including a business one given the potential size of the market for alternative energy systems

The Clean Development Mechanism of the UN's Kyoto Protocol is starting to reach some of the smaller developing economies. This is in part as a result of initiatives including the UN's Nairobi Framework of 2006 that is building the capacity of countries in, for example sub-Saharan Africa, to access the mechanism. Other measures have included awareness-raising among banks and industry players on the Continent to new green finance opportunities. The main countries benefiting to date have been the rapidly developing economies such as China, Brazil, India and South Africa. CDM starting to take-off in smaller developing countries The new figures for Africa, compiled by UNEP Risoe Centre in Denmark, indicate that this is changing with the first CDM projects emerging over the past 18 months in six countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Mali and Senegal. These include an oil well, gas flare reduction project in the DRC and a run-of river hydroelectric project in Madagascar. In Kenya new projects include a 35MW extension of geothermal, hot rocks, generation and a sugar cane waste-into-energy project with Mumias Sugar Company. The total of CDM projects in Africa still remains low compared to a global tally of close to 3,500 CDM projects, but does mark a departure from the very low levels of the past. Assuming governments agree on a deep and decisive new climate agreement in 2009, Africa overall could see roughly 230 projects by 2012. These could cumulatively generate over 65 million certified emission reductions, worth close to one billion US dollars at a conservative carbon credit price of $15. Other measures might include different risk assessment by developed countries; the us weather derivatives and other insurance-linked products are being piloted and bundling numerous smaller projects including cross border ones together, to make them more attractive to investors. For example the UNEP Solar and Wind Energy Resources assessment has mapped more than 2,000 MW of wind energy potential n Ghana, mainly along the border with Togo. CDM projects that reflect the transport, heating and cooling and industrial emissions from developing country urban areas could also be a way forward and contribute to greening cities. Feed-in tariffs and tax changes, such as VAT on clean energy and energy saving products, may assist rural electrification. Other smart instruments include micro-credit schemes and buying down the interest on loans.

UNEP has worked with two banks in India to reduce the cost of solar loans in rural areas from 12 per cent to five and then two per cent. 100,000 people were able to afford solar power. The project is now self-financing. Similar initiatives have kick-started the solar water heating market in Tunisia. In Mexico, UNEP is working with UNDP on a Global Environment Facility project with similar aims. The programme will cooperate with Mexico's National Solar Water Heater Program (known as PROCALSOL) to develop a supportive regulatory environment and to assist in building the market demand and the supply chain for solar water heaters. The aim is to reach the total capacity of 2,500,000 cubic metres of installed systems in Mexico by the end of 2011. It also aims to support continuing sustainable growth of the market beyond the project's life in order to reach the target to 23.5 million cubic metres of installed capacity by 2020. This has been estimated to correspond to an estimated cumulative greenhouse gas reduction potential of over 27 million tons of CO2 by 2020. By 2020, Mexico might have the potential to generate jobs for some 150,000 people in this sector as a result of the new project. Sustainable Agriculture? not starting from ground zero Agriculture remains a major employer in the world, providing jobs to about 40% of the total world labour force. The Global Green New Deal should include a major international program. This should be led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, to provide long-term support for investing in land restoration, soil and water conservation, integrated pest management, organic production, infrastructure development, extension services, and market support in the developing world. Organic agriculture triggers very polarized views, seen by some as the saviour and others as a niche, even luxury product unable to meet the needs of billions of people. Studies indicate that organic agriculture in both the North and the South employees more people. But what of the wider benefits? A new survey by the UN Conference on Trade and the Environment and UNEP in East Africa found that over 90 per cent of studies show that organic or near organic agriculture had benefits for soil fertility; water control; improved water tables, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. This allows farmers to extend the growing season in marginal areas. The research in East Africa was among 1.6 million organic or near organic farmers from seven countries working on 1.4 million hectares. Other findings include an increase in crop yields of 128 per cent since switching. Higher incomes too as a result of not having to buy fertilizers and pesticides; more food availability; higher prices paid through certification schemes for both export and domestic markets?addresses poverty in environmentally friendly way.

Close to 90 per cent of cases showed increase in farm and household incomes and because organic agriculture is more knowledge intensive it has lead to improvements in education; community bonds and cooperation on market access. The report concludes:' Organic and near-organic agricultural methods and technologies are ideally suited for many poor, marginalized smallholder farmers in Africa, as they require minimal or no external inputs, use locally and naturally available materials to produce high-quality products, and encourage a whole systemic approach to farming that is more diverse and resistant to stress'. R+D: A perennial challenge Governments also need to consider stepping up research into perennial crops. Experts suggest that 'moving back to the future' to these kinds of multi-year crops with deep roots can also boost soil fertility and stability 50-fold while assisting in adapting to climate change Perennial crops are also 50 per cent better at carbon capture and storage than their annual cousins, according to some estimates. Because they do not need to be planted every year, they use less farm machinery and require fewer inputs - reducing greenhouse gas emissions further. Environment Infrastructure Investments and REDD - not starting from ground zero Over the past 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by around 40 per cent; half the globe's wetlands have been lost since 1900 and human - led species extinction rates are now 1,000 higher than the 'natural' rate of extinction. Some 60 per cent of the Earth's ecosystems and the goods and services they provide are now degraded. Losses of natural areas between 2000 and 2050 are projected to be 7.5 million square km, roughly the size of Australia, if existing economic models continue unfocused and undirected. The economic losses have recently been emerging. For example in the Caribbean, tourism losses linked with an 80 per cent decline in coral reefs are set to rise to $300 million a year. Some Estimates of Returns on Natural Infrastructure Investments An annual investment of $45 billion could conserve services from protected area ecosystems which deliver an estimated $5 trillion a year ?a good cost benefit ration of 100:1. Coral reefs, whose fishery, tourism and flood protection services are estimated at between $100,000 and $600,000 per square km, could be conserved for an investment of close to $780 per square km or 0.2 per cent of the value of the ecosystem protected. Deforestation contributes close to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions-$17 billion to over $30 billion annually could halve this while securing livelihoods and boosting conservation-related employment in tropical countries.

A global marine protected area network, involving the closure of 20 per cent of total fishing grounds could result in profit losses of an estimated $270 million annually. But could sustain fisheries worth $80-100 billion a year; assist in conserving an estimated 27 million jobs while generating one million new ones and protect food supplies for over one billion people, especially in developing countries whose main or sole source of animal protein comes from fish.. Emerging Public and Private Natural Infrastructure Instruments Under the UN climate convention for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) to be included in a post-2012 deal up to payments for ecosystem services. Norway for example has pledged close to $3 billion for REDD; Costa Rica has invested around $200 million in protection of forests for ecosystem services and Mexico is paying 1.5 million rural people to manage forests and watersheds. The United States spends more than $1.7 billion a year in direct payments to farmers for environmental protection. The European Union promotes environmentally-friendly agriculture and forestry under its Euro 4.5 billion Rural Development programmes. New instruments are emerging such as habitat and 'bio-banking'. In the United States, companies and individuals can buy wetland mitigation banks. Trade in wetland bank credits reached around $350 million in 2006. 'Endangered species credits' are being generated by a biodiversity cap-and-trade system, also in the United States. The market volume has been around $40 million with over 44,000 hectares of endangered species habitat protected. A similar scheme, created through the BioBanking Bill of 2006, has been piloted in New South Wales, Australia. Certification schemes involving consumers and companies are also becoming more creative. In South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom, a biodiversity hot spot, wine producers who commit 10 per cent of their vineyard to conservation can use a special label. The market for sustainably produced commodities could reach $60 billion by 2010. There is an urgent need for governments to promote a sharp increase in financial flows via creative market mechanisms and smart instruments that reward those investing in rather than degrading nature-based assets. Sustainable cities?not starting from ground zero Huge opportunities exist for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and generating employment. In some countries the built environment is responsible for up to 40% of total energy use.

A worldwide transition to energy-efficient buildings would create millions of jobs, as well as 'greening' existing employment for many of the estimated 111 million people already working in the construction sector. Investments in improved energy efficiency in buildings could generate an additional 2-3.5 million green jobs in Europe and the United States alone, with the potential much higher in developing countries. Several cities are now developing sustainable transport projects including Bus Rapid Transport schemes. In Mexico City BRT schemes alongside cycle-ways and new traffic measures, envisage a 10 per cent cut in transport-related smog and fine air particles and average annual benefits of over $750 million. The Marikina bikeway project, which is focusing on safe cycle ways in Manila, Philippines, plans to double the share of journeys by pedal power by 2015. It is estimated that for every dollar of the around $2 million invested there will be a two dollar return in health and wider environmental benefits. Such projects are also helping to boost the incomes of local, often poor, people according to the new analysis by the World Bank which is one of the implementing agencies of Global Environment Facility-funded initiatives. In Lima, Peru use of bicycles twice a day results in per capita savings of up to $7.60 per month. The amount of money saved is equivalent to just under 10 per cent of a Lima resident's monthly energy bill. Better use of information technology, demand management and planning and market instruments are also forming part of such schemes. For example, housing and employment should be focused along transit hubs so as to shorten journeys to buses and cycle ways. Congestion charging, parking fees and tax credit for more efficient forms of transport may also be a boon. Finally, simple measures like ensuring buses and vehicles are properly maintained and serviced can deliver significant benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and local air quality. 'In Rio de Janeiro, improved operation of diesel buses has shown to result in annual savings of 40 million liters of fuel - a 12.5 per cent reduction - averting 107,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.' Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ mongabay.com: Green New Deal will spark global economy, create jobs October 22, 2008 A "Global Green New Deal" that focuses the world economy "towards investments in clean technologies and 'natural' infrastructure such as forests and soils is the best bet for real growth, combating climate change and triggering an employment boom," according to a new initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

"The financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets," said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director. "But they are also part of a wider market failure triggering ever deeper and disturbing losses of natural capital and nature-based assets coupled with an over-reliance of finite, often subsidized fossil fuels." "The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change and re-investing in natural infrastructure — benefits ranging from new green jobs in clean tech and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture and conservation-based enterprises."

The $4 million Green "Economy Initiative" aims to stimulate job growth and boost the quality of life for the world's poor by re-orienting the focus of global economic policy towards a more environmentally-friendly economy based on clean energy and technologies; sustainable agriculture; ecosystem infrastructure; reduced emissions; and sustainable urban planning. UNEP says the initiative plans to deliver within two years a comprehensive guide on how to make the transition. "Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken. The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems — vast, natural 'utilities' that for a fraction of the cost of machines store water and carbon, stabilize soils; sustain indigenous and rural livelihoods and harbor genetic resources to the value of trillions of dollars a year," said Steiner.

"The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible — possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint," added Pavan Sukdhev, a senior banker from Deutsche Bank who is helping develop the initiative. "Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy — the question is whether they go into the old, extractive, short-term economy of yesterday or a new green economy that will deal with multiple challenges while generating multiple economic opportunities for the poor and the well-off alike." The Green Economy Initiative draws on the New Economics Foundation's "A Green New Deal: Joined-up policies to solve the triple crunch of the credit crisis, climate change and high oil prices" report released in July. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Today’s Zaman: Big green jobs machine Amid the pressures of the global financial crisis, some ask how we can afford to tackle climate change. The better question is: how can we afford not to? Put aside the familiar arguments -- that the science is clear, that climate change represents an indisputable existential threat to the planet, and that every day we do not act the problem grows worse. Instead, let us make the case purely on bread-and-butter economics. At a time when the global economy is sputtering, we need growth. At a time when unemployment in many nations is rising, we need new jobs. At a time when poverty threatens to overtake hundreds of

millions of people, especially in the least developed parts of the world, we need the promise of prosperity. This possibility is at our fingertips. Economists at the United Nations call for a Green New Deal -- a deliberate echo of the energizing vision of United States President Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Thus, this week the UN Environment Program will launch a plan for reviving the global economy while dealing simultaneously with the defining challenge of our era -- climate change. The plan urges world business and political leaders, including a new US president, to help redirect resources away from the speculative financial engineering at the root of today’s market crisis and into more productive, growth-generating, and job-creating investments for the future. This new “Green Economy Initiative,” backed by Germany, Norway, and the European Commission, arises from the insight that the most pressing problems we face are interrelated. Rising energy and commodity prices helped create the global food crisis, which fed the financial crisis. This, in turn, reflects global economic and population growth, with resulting shortages of critical resources -- fuel, food, and clean air and water. The commingled problems of climate change, economic growth, and the environment suggest their own solution. Only sustainable development -- a global embrace of green growth -- offers the world, rich countries as well as poor, an enduring prospect of long-term social well-being and prosperity. The good news is that we are awakening to this reality. We have experienced great economic transformations throughout history: the industrial revolution, the technology revolution, and the era of globalization. We are now on the threshold of another -- the age of green economics. Visiting “Silicon Valley” in California last year, I saw how investment has been pouring into new renewable-energy and fuel-efficiency technologies. The venture capital firm that underwrote Google and Amazon, among other archetypal entrepreneurial successes, directed more than $100 million into new alternative energy companies in 2006 alone. In China, green capital investment is expected to grow from $170 million in 2005 to more than $720 million in 2008. (In just a few short years, China has become a world leader in wind and solar power, employing more than a million people.) Globally, the UN Environment Program estimates that investment in low-greenhouse-gas energy will reach $1.9 trillion by 2020. The financial crisis may slow this trend. But capital will continue to flow into green ventures. I think of it as seed money for a wholesale reconfiguration of global industry. We can already see its practical expression. More than two million people in the advanced industrial nations today find work in renewable energy. Brazil’s bio-fuels sector has been creating nearly a million jobs a year. Economists say that India, Nigeria, and Venezuela, among many others, could do the same. In Germany, environmental technology is expected to quadruple over the coming years, reaching 16 percent of manufacturing output by 2030 and employing more people than the auto industry. Mexico already employs 1.5 million people to plant and manage the country’s forests. Governments have a huge role to play. With the right policies and a global framework, we can generate economic growth and steer it in a low-carbon direction. Handled properly, our efforts to cope with the financial crisis can reinforce our efforts to combat climate change. In today’s crisis lies tomorrow’s opportunity -- economic opportunity, measured in jobs and growth.

Most global CEOs know this. That is one reason that businesspeople in so many parts of the world are demanding clear and consistent environmental policies. It is also the reason that global companies like General Electric and Siemens are betting their future on green. But it is important that the global public recognize this fact, perhaps nowhere more so than in the US. When the next American president takes office, voters and elected officials alike should be reassured by studies showing that the US can fight climate change by cutting emissions at low or even no cost, using only existing technologies. We know that the poorest of the world’s poor are the people most vulnerable to climate change. They are also the most vulnerable to the shocks of the financial crisis. As world leaders, we are morally bound to ensure that solutions to the global financial crisis protect their interests, not just the citizens of wealthier nations. Those left behind by the previous boom -- the so-called “bottom billion,” living on less than $1 a day -- must be brought into the next economic era. Again, a solution to poverty is also a solution for climate change: green growth. For the world’s poor, it is a key to development. For the rich, it is the way of the future. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ The Irish Times: : A chance to learn from great crash of Easter Island October 23, 2008 Thursday OPINION:Unrestrained growth destroyed an island society - and a new UN plan offers a chance to avoid a global repetition, writes John Gibbons NO MAN, wrote the poet John Donne, is an island. The same now could be said of entire countries, even continents. The worldwide financial crisis is for many people their first wake-up call to the extraordinary fragility of the complex interconnected systems upon which we have come to depend. In London yesterday, Achim Steiner of the UN's environment programme (UNEP) put the financial crisis into its wider context. Every year, the felling of forests is depriving the world of some $2.5 trillion worth of critical environmental services. These include water supply and filtering, rainfall generation, preventing soil erosion and reducing global warming. That's twice the entire losses in the financial crisis, but these are occurring every year. "We are pushing, if not pushing past, the limits of what the planet can sustain," said Steiner. "If we go on as we are, today's [financial] crisis will seem mild indeed compared to the crises of tomorrow." According to the UNEP, some 60 per cent of the Earth's natural resources have been severely degraded in just the last quarter century. The UN is now proposing a bold Green New Deal, modelled on the US president Franklin D Roosevelt's project to rescue the US from the Great Depression in the 1930s. The plan is to direct investment away from speculators on the housing and financial markets and create millions of real jobs worldwide in restoring and conserving natural systems. The Green New Deal aims to mark our liberation from the nihilistic cult of growth-obsessed free market economics.

The extraordinary prosperity that we in the developed world have enjoyed has been based primarily on spending down the planet's natural "capital". Using a fiscal analogy, author Prof Jared Diamond expresses it thus: "Spending capital should not be misrepresented as making money. It makes no sense to be content with our present comfort when it is clear that we are on a non-sustainable course." Diamond's book, Collapse: how societies choose to fail or survive, places our current economic and environmental travails in an acute historical perspective. Consider Easter Island, a tiny dot in the Pacific ocean, a thousand miles from its nearest neighbour. When the first Europeans reached it in 1722, they encountered a primitive, half-starved population of around 2,000 on a seemingly barren island. The mystery that confronted them was the large number of huge carved heads weighing up to 80 tonnes each that were dotted around the island. These were clear evidence of an advanced civilisation, but where was it? Over the centuries many fanciful stories emerged to explain the Easter Island statues. The facts were more prosaic. Polynesian explorers had, a thousand years earlier, colonised the island. Their success allowed the population to expand to around 15,000. A dozen or so clans competed with one another for social and religious prestige by constructing ever more elaborate statues. At their peak, up to 500 people were involved in carving, transporting and erecting each of these huge edifices, whose bases could consist of up to 1,000 tons of rock. The island's forests were gradually cut down to supply ropes and tree trunks needed to make sleds to drag these huge carvings several miles across the island. Deforestation led to rapid erosion of the delicate volcanic soils and soon agricultural output plummeted. Starvation, open warfare and cannibalism followed quickly as the political and religious power of the island elders evaporated. The only chance of escape was also lost, as all the trees capable of building ocean-going boats were long destroyed. The people of Easter Island were trapped in a hell of their own construction. Failure had become the tragic conclusion of their success. The crash of Easter Island occurred very soon after it had achieved its peak of population, statue construction and environmental impact. Strangely, no one saw it coming. In a quarry on Easter Island stand the half-carved remnants of statues. The collapse was so sudden they were simply abandoned where they stood. "The parallels between Easter Island and the whole modern world are chillingly obvious," writes Prof Diamond. "The island was as isolated in the Pacific as the Earth is today in space." Accelerating human impacts are now on a truly planetary scale. Easter Island is small enough to walk around in a day, so islanders would have been acutely aware of the limits of their world, yet as it deteriorated, tribal competition for prestige intensified and the extravagant production of statues reached its lunatic peak. The advantage we enjoy over the benighted Easter islanders is that we have history to guide us. But we tend to quickly forget its lessons; our political and corporate elites operate in cycles measured in weeks, not decades, driven by wealth and prestige more often than stewardship.

Other, altogether different outcomes are also possible. In the 17th century, economic expansion on another island nation, Japan, led to massive deforestation and society teetered on the verge of collapse. However, its political leadership recognised the danger and through vigorously enforced conservation measures, reversed the damage. Today, three-quarters of Japan is covered in forests - a living monument to political prescience and the foundation for its long-term prosperity. Perhaps the UN's Green New Deal offers the same hope for the wider world? LOAD-DATE: October 23, 2008 Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ States News Service: : "Global Green New Deal" - Environmentally-Focused Investment Historic Opportunity For 21st Century Prosperity And Job Generation The following information was released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): Mobilizing and re-focusing the global economy towards investments in clean technologies and 'natural' infrastructure such as forests and soils is the best bet for real growth, combating climate change and triggering an employment boom in the 21st century. The call was made today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and leading economists as they launched the Green Economy Initiative aimed at seizing an historic opportunity to bring about tomorrow's economy today. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "The financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets". "But they are also part of a wider market failure triggering ever deeper and disturbing losses of natural capital and nature-based assets coupled with an over-reliance of finite, often subsidized fossil fuels," he said. "The flip side of the coin is the enormous economic, social and environmental benefits likely to arise from combating climate change and re-investing in natural infrastructure - benefits ranging from new green jobs in clean tech and clean energy businesses up to ones in sustainable agriculture and conservation-based enterprises," he added. Mr Steiner said there was a crucial and urgent need to bring creative, forward-looking and 'transformational thinking' into next month's Financing for Development Review Conference-taking place in Doha,Qatar. Other critical dates rapidly coming up in the international calendar include a proposed financial crisis summit of the G8+5, called for by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the next round of UN climate convention negotiations in Poznan, Poland in December. "Transformative ideas need to be discussed and transformative decisions taken. The alternative is more boom and bust cycles; a climate-stressed world and a collapse of fish stocks and fertile soils up to forest ecosystems - vast, natural 'utilities' that for a fraction of the cost of machines store water and carbon, stabilize soils; sustain indigenous and rural livelihoods and harbor genetic

resources to the value of trillions of dollars a year," said Mr Steiner. Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who held the launch, said, "The green technological revolution needs to gather pace, as more and more of the worlds jobs will in future be in environmental industries. Britain is committed to building a green economy at home and abroad: it will be good for business good for the environment and good for development. UNEP's initiative will help make this change; in particular by helping us to understand just how much we depend on the environment - soil, air, water and biodiversity - for our very existence." Current Economic Models: Short-Changing People and the Planet Pavan Sukdhev, a senior banker from Deutsche Bank who is seconded to UNEP to lead the research, said:"The economic models of the 20th century are now hitting the limits of what is possible - possible in terms of delivering better livelihoods for the 2.6 billion people still living on less than $2 a day and possible in terms of our ecological footprint". "Investments will soon be pouring back into the global economy - the question is whether they go into the old, extractive, short-term economy of yesterday or a new green economy that will deal with multiple challenges while generating multiple economic opportunities for the poor and the well-off alike," he said. The new report aims to help governments make better choices and send the right market signals to investors, entrepreneurs and consumers world-wide so "we move from mining the planet to managing and re-investing in it," said Mr Steiner. The Green Economy Initiative, which has close to $4 million-worth of funding from the European Commission, Germany and Norway, builds in part on a request by the G8+5 group of nations two years ago. The G8+5 study on the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), also led by Mr Sukhdev and funded by the European Commission and Germany, reported its Phase I findings in May at the UNEP-linked Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in Bonn. It highlighted the economic magnitude of "business - as-usual" losses, and drew strong links between ecosystem and biodiversity losses and the persistence of poverty. The Green Economy initiative has three pillars - valuing and mainstreaming nature's services into national and international accounts; employment generation through green jobs and the laying out the policies; instruments and market signals able to accelerate a transition to a Green Economy. The strategy builds on the findings of TEEB while also linking with the Green Jobs Initiative of UNEP, the International Labour Organisation, the International Trades Union Confederation and the International Organization of Employers. The Green Economy Initiative will draw on the existing and considerable body of work generated by UNEP, the UN-system and others ranging from the impacts and opportunities of shifting fish, fuel and other subsidies up to innovative market mechanisms and financial products already triggering a transition. In 18 to 24 months it should deliver for governments - North and South - a comprehensive

assessment and tool kit for making the necessary transition. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Environment Minister, said:" There are moments in history when an idea's time has come - this is the case for a comprehensive Green Economy Initiative. Norway is delighted to be supporting this UNEP initiative. Innovative approaches and actions are needed in this very complex situation with a fundamental environmental crisis topped by an international financial situation out of control". "I commend UNEP for responding so fast and timely -in particular how UNEP together with International Labour Organization (ILO) have demonstrated the huge untapped job potential in sustainable management of natural capital and nature based assets," he added. Five Priority Sectors Underpinning a Global Green New Deal The five sectors likely to generate the biggest transition in terms of economic returns; environmental sustainability and job creation are:- Clean energy and clean technologies including recycling Rural energy, including renewables and sustainable biomass Sustainable agriculture, including organic agriculture Ecosystem Infrastructure Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Sustainable cities including planning, transportation and green building Notes to Editors Economic Mismatch Global economic growth over the past 50 years has been accompanied by accelerated environmental decline. From 1981 to 2005, the global GDP more than doubled, in contrast to the 60% of the world's ecosystems being degraded or used in an unsustainable manner. Only a fraction of national income is spent on the environment. The global annual spending on the environment is estimated at best at US$10 billion per year. This is in contrast to the US$60-90 billion needed for those environmental investments that contribute directly to poverty reduction alone. Misaligned incentives work against the environment. Global agricultural subsidies amount to more than US$300 billion a year, but there is a lack of funds for reforestation. Global energy subsidies range from US$240 billion to US$310 billion per year or around 0.7 per cent of global GDP, but there is inadequate support for renewable energy development.

A recent assessment by UNEP also concluded that a dramatic phasing-out of fossil fuel subsidies could cut greenhouse gas emissions by some six per cent by boosting energy efficiency. Meanwhile the same assessment concluded that fossil fuel subsidies, often justified as an anti-poverty measure, rarely benefit the urban and especially the rural poor but tend to benefit fossil fuel companies; equipment suppliers and the middle class and well off in an economy. The global automobile industry generates some $1.9 trillion in revenues but employs just 4.4 million people. The global steel industry is a $500 billion income earner but employs 4.5 million people The world's 100,000 National Parks and protected areas generate wealth via nature-based good and services equal to around $5 trillion but only employ 1.5 million people. "Here you have some of the choices in a nutshell. If we are to lift 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 a day out of poverty, do we put them into making more and more motor cars, TV's and PC's, or do we invest in the protected area network and develop its potential for green and decent new jobs ?," said Mr Sukhdev. "An additional investment of $ 50 billion a year in around 100,000 conservation areas worldwide could secure the $5 trillion-worth of services provided by these natural assets while generating millions of new jobs and securing livelihoods for rural and indigenous peoples." Clean Energy and Clean Tech-not starting from ground zero Greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut by 80 per cent and finite natural resources from fossil fuels to metals need to be more efficiently used and re-used. UNEP's Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative renewable energy investments rose to $160 billion in 2007, up from $100 billion in 2006. Norway announced this month that it intends to double its national research fund for renewables to $3.4 billion. This year the UK announced a $100 billion investment to build 4,000 onshore and 3,000 offshore wind turbines by 2020-while creating some 160,000 jobs. The global market for environmental products and services currently runs at around $1,370 billion or $1,000 billon according to German consultants Roland Berger. The market in 2020 could double to $2,740 billon or 2,200 billion. Some 50 countries including a dozen developing countries, have set renewable energy targets including Mexico; Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic, China, India, the Philippines, Iran, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Globally some 300,000 people are employed in wind power and maybe 170,000 in solar. Over 600,000 are employed in solar thermal-most of these in China. Nearly 1.2 million are employed in biomass energy in four countries-Brazil, USA, Germany and

China. Overall 2.3 million are employed in renewable energy sector-a conservative figure. Kleiner Perkins, the venture capital firm that supported the establishment of Google, Netscape and Amazon.com, recently directed $100 million to new companies working on lowering C02 emissions. Clean Tech investment in China will totaled an estimated $580 in 2007 million and is likely to total more than $720 million in 2008 A shift towards renewable energy and clean technologies is already underway . This is as a result of the existing UN climate change agreements and in the anticipation of a deep and decisive new deal in Copenhagen in late 2009 that will better price carbon Numerous shining examples exist on how to accelerate a transition to a low or even zero carbon economy including feed-in tariffs such as those that were introduced a few years ago in Germany. The German renewable sector, for example, now already generates $240 billion in annual revenue, employs 250,000 people, and is expected to provide more jobs than the country's auto industry by 2020. Rural Energy-not starting from ground zero Two billion people globally do not yet have electricity, oil or gas to cook food and for daily living. This perpetuates the poverty trap and undermines attempts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals while putting pressure on economically-important ecosystems such as forests for fuel-wood and charcoal. It is a crisis but also an opportunity including a business one given the potential size of the market for alternative energy systems The Clean Development Mechanism of the UN's Kyoto Protocol is starting to reach some of the smaller developing economies. This is in part as a result of initiatives including the UN's Nairobi Framework of 2006 that is building the capacity of countries in, for example sub-Saharan Africa, to access the mechanism. Other measures have included awareness-raising among banks and industry players on the Continent to new green finance opportunities. The main countries benefiting to date have been the rapidly developing economies such as China, Brazil, India and South Africa. CDM starting to take-off in smaller developing countries The new figures for Africa, compiled by UNEP Risoe Centre in Denmark, indicate that this is changing with the first CDM projects emerging over the past 18 months in six countries - the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Mali and

Senegal. These include an oil well, gas flare reduction project in the DRC and a run-of river hydroelectric project in Madagascar. In Kenya new projects include a 35MW extension of geothermal, hot rocks, generation and a sugar cane waste-into-energy project with Mumias Sugar Company. The total of CDM projects in Africa still remains low compared to a global tally of close to 3,500 CDM projects, but does mark a departure from the very low levels of the past. Assuming governments agree on a deep and decisive new climate agreement in 2009, Africa overall could see roughly 230 projects by 2012. These could cumulatively generate over 65 million certified emission reductions, worth close to one billion US dollars at a conservative carbon credit price of $15. Other measures might include different risk assessment by developed countries; the us weather derivatives and other insurance-linked products are being piloted and bundling numerous smaller projects including cross border ones together, to make them more attractive to investors. For example the UNEP Solar and Wind Energy Resources assessment has mapped more than 2,000 MW of wind energy potential n Ghana, mainly along the border with Togo. CDM projects that reflect the transport, heating and cooling and industrial emissions from developing country urban areas could also be a way forward and contribute to greening cities. Feed-in tariffs and tax changes, such as VAT on clean energy and energy saving products, may assist rural electrification. Other smart instruments include micro-credit schemes and buying down the interest on loans . UNEP has worked with two banks in India to reduce the cost of solar loans in rural areas from 12 per cent to five and then two per cent. 100,000 people were able to afford solar power. The project is now self-financing. Similar initiatives have kick-started the solar water heating market in Tunisia. In Mexico, UNEP is working with UNDP on a Global Environment Facility project with similar aims. The programme will cooperate with Mexico's National Solar Water Heater Program (known as PROCALSOL) to develop a supportive regulatory environment and to assist in building the market demand and the supply chain for solar water heaters. The aim is to reach the total capacity of 2,500,000 cubic metres of installed systems in Mexico by the end of 2011. It also aims to support continuing sustainable growth of the market beyond the project's life in order to reach the target to 23.5 million cubic metres of installed capacity by 2020. This has been estimated to correspond to an estimated cumulative greenhouse gas reduction potential of over 27 million tons of CO2 by 2020.

By 2020, Mexico might have the potential to generate jobs for some 150,000 people in this sector as a result of the new project. Sustainable Agriculture-not starting from ground zero Agriculture remains a major employer in the world, providing jobs to about 40% of the total world labour force. The Global Green New Deal should include a major international program. This should be led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, to provide long-term support for investing in land restoration, soil and water conservation, integrated pest management, organic production, infrastructure development, extension services, and market support in the developing world. Organic agriculture triggers very polarized views, seen by some as the saviour and others as a niche, even luxury product unable to meet the needs of billions of people. Studies indicate that organic agriculture in both the North and the South employees more people. But what of the wider benefits? A new survey by the UN Conference on Trade and the Environment and UNEP in East Africa found that over 90 per cent of studies show that organic or near organic agriculture had benefits for soil fertility; water control; improved water tables, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. This allows farmers to extend the growing season in marginal areas. The research in East Africa was among 1.6 million organic or near organic farmers from seven countries working on 1.4 million hectares. Other findings include an increase in crop yields of 128 per cent since switching. Higher incomes too as a result of not having to buy fertilizers and pesticides; more food availability; higher prices paid through certification schemes for both export and domestic markets-addresses poverty in environmentally friendly way. Close to 90 per cent of cases showed increase in farm and household incomes and because organic agriculture is more knowledge intensive it has lead to improvements in education; community bonds and cooperation on market access. The report concludes:" Organic and near-organic agricultural methods and technologies are ideally suited for many poor, marginalized smallholder farmers in Africa, as they require minimal or no external inputs, use locally and naturally available materials to produce high-quality products, and encourage a whole systemic approach to farming that is more diverse and resistant to stress". R+D: A perennial challenge Governments also need to consider stepping up research into perennial crops. Experts suggest that 'moving back to the future' to these kinds of multi-year crops with deep roots can also boost soil fertility and stability 50-fold while assisting in adapting to climate change Perennial crops are also 50 per cent better at carbon capture and storage than their annual

cousins, according to some estimates. Because they do not need to be planted every year, they use less farm machinery and require fewer inputs - reducing greenhouse gas emissions further. Environment Infrastructure Investments and REDD - not starting from ground zero Over the past 300 years, the global forest area has shrunk by around 40 per cent; half the globe's wetlands have been lost since 1900 and human - led species extinction rates are now 1,000 higher than the 'natural' rate of extinction. Some 60 per cent of the Earth's ecosystems and the goods and services they provide are now degraded. Losses of natural areas between 2000 and 2050 are projected to be 7.5 million square km, roughly the size of Australia, if existing economic models continue unfocused and undirected. The economic losses have recently been emerging. For example in the Caribbean, tourism losses linked with an 80 per cent decline in coral reefs are set to rise to $300 million a year. Some Estimates of Returns on Natural Infrastructure Investments An annual investment of $45 billion could conserve services from protected area ecosystems which deliver an estimated $5 trillion a year-a good cost benefit ration of 100:1. Coral reefs, whose fishery, tourism and flood protection services are estimated at between $100,000 and $600,000 per square km, could be conserved for an investment of close to $780 per square km or 0.2 per cent of the value of the ecosystem protected. Deforestation contributes close to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions-$17 billion to over $30 billion annually could halve this while securing livelihoods and boosting conservation-related employment in tropical countries. A global marine protected area network, involving the closure of 20 per cent of total fishing grounds could result in profit losses of an estimated $270 million annually. But could sustain fisheries worth $80-100 billion a year; assist in conserving an estimated 27 million jobs while generating one million new ones and protect food supplies for over one billion people, especially in developing countries whose main or sole source of animal protein comes from fish.. Emerging Public and Private Natural Infrastructure Instruments Under the UN climate convention for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) to be included in a post-2012 deal up to payments for ecosystem services. Norway for example has pledged close to $3 billion for REDD; Costa Rica has invested around $200 million in protection of forests for ecosystem services and Mexico is paying 1.5 million rural people to manage forests and watersheds. The United States spends more than $1.7 billion a year in direct payments to farmers for

environmental protection. The European Union promotes environmentally-friendly agriculture and forestry under its 4.5 billion Rural Development programmes. New instruments are emerging such as habitat and 'bio-banking'. In the United States, companies and individuals can buy wetland mitigation banks. Trade in wetland bank credits reached around $350 million in 2006. 'Endangered species credits' are being generated by a biodiversity cap-and-trade system, also in the United States. The market volume has been around $40 million with over 44,000 hectares of endangered species habitat protected. A similar scheme, created through the BioBanking Bill of 2006, has been piloted in New South Wales, Australia. Certification schemes involving consumers and companies are also becoming more creative. In South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom, a biodiversity hot spot, wine producers who commit 10 per cent of their vineyard to conservation can use a special label. The market for sustainably produced commodities could reach $60 billion by 2010. There is an urgent need for governments to promote a sharp increase in financial flows via creative market mechanisms and smart instruments that reward those investing in rather than degrading nature-based assets. Sustainable cities-not starting from ground zero Huge opportunities exist for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and generating employment. In some countries the built environment is responsible for up to 40% of total energy use. A worldwide transition to energy-efficient buildings would create millions of jobs, as well as "greening" existing employment for many of the estimated 111 million people already working in the construction sector. Investments in improved energy efficiency in buildings could generate an additional 2-3.5 million green jobs in Europe and the United States alone, with the potential much higher in developing countries. Several cities are now developing sustainable transport projects including Bus Rapid Transport schemes. In Mexico City BRT schemes alongside cycle-ways and new traffic measures, envisage a 10 per cent cut in transport-related smog and fine air particles and average annual benefits of over $750 million. The Marikina bikeway project, which is focusing on safe cycle ways in Manila, Philippines, plans to double the share of journeys by pedal power by 2015. It is estimated that for every dollar of the around $2 million invested there will be a two dollar return in health and wider environmental benefits.

Such projects are also helping to boost the incomes of local, often poor, people according to the new analysis by the World Bank which is one of the implementing agencies of Global Environment Facility-funded initiatives. In Lima, Peru use of bicycles twice a day results in per capita savings of up to $7.60 per month. The amount of money saved is equivalent to just under 10 per cent of a Lima resident's monthly energy bill. Better use of information technology, demand management and planning and market instruments are also forming part of such schemes. For example, housing and employment should be focused along transit hubs so as to shorten journeys to buses and cycle ways. Congestion charging, parking fees and tax credit for more efficient forms of transport may also be a boon. Finally, simple measures like ensuring buses and vehicles are properly maintained and serviced can deliver significant benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and local air quality. "In Rio de Janeiro, improved operation of diesel buses has shown to result in annual savings of 40 million liters of fuel - a 12.5 per cent reduction - averting 107,800 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year." For More Information Please Contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson and Head of Media, on Tel: +254 733 632755; after 17 Oct 41 79 596 57 37, E-mail: nick.nuttall@unep.org LOAD-DATE: October 22, 2008 Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________

Daily Times, Pakistan: VIEW: Big green jobs machine —Ban Ki-Moon

A solution to poverty is also a solution for climate change: green growth. For the world’s poor, it is a key to development. For the rich, it is the way of the future Amid the pressures of the global financial crisis, some ask how we can afford to tackle climate change. The better question is: how can we afford not to? Put aside the familiar arguments — that the science is clear, that climate change represents an indisputable existential threat to the planet, and that every day we do not act the problem grows worse. Instead, let us make the case purely on bread-and-butter economics. At a time when the global economy is sputtering, we need growth. At a time when unemployment in many nations is rising, we need new jobs. At a time when poverty threatens to overtake hundreds of millions of people, especially in the least developed parts of the world, we need the promise of prosperity. This possibility is at our fingertips. Economists at the United Nations call for a Green New Deal — a deliberate echo of the

energising vision of United States President Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Thus, this week the UN Environment Program will launch a plan for reviving the global economy while dealing simultaneously with the defining challenge of our era — climate change. The plan urges world business and political leaders, including a new US president, to help redirect resources away from the speculative financial engineering at the root of today’s market crisis and into more productive, growth-generating, and job-creating investments for the future. This new “Green Economy Initiative,” backed by Germany, Norway, and the European Commission, arises from the insight that the most pressing problems we face are interrelated. Rising energy and commodity prices helped create the global food crisis, which fed the financial crisis. This, in turn, reflects global economic and population growth, with resulting shortages of critical resources — fuel, food, and clean air and water. The commingled problems of climate change, economic growth, and the environment suggest their own solution. Only sustainable development — a global embrace of green growth — offers the world, rich countries as well as poor, an enduring prospect of long-term social well-being and prosperity. The good news is that we are awakening to this reality. We have experienced great economic transformations throughout history: the industrial revolution, the technology revolution, and the era of globalisation. We are now on the threshold of another — the age of green economics. Visiting “Silicon Valley” in California last year, I saw how investment has been pouring into new renewable-energy and fuel-efficiency technologies. The venture capital firm that underwrote Google and Amazon, among other archetypal entrepreneurial successes, directed more than $100 million into new alternative energy companies in 2006 alone. In China, green capital investment is expected to grow from $170 million in 2005 to more than $720 million in 2008. (In just a few short years, China has become a world leader in wind and solar power, employing more than a million people.) Globally, the UN Environment Program estimates that investment in low-greenhouse-gas energy will reach $1.9 trillion by 2020. The financial crisis may slow this trend. But capital will continue to flow into green ventures. I think of it as seed money for a wholesale reconfiguration of global industry. We can already see its practical expression. More than two million people in the advanced industrial nations today find work in renewable energy. Brazil’s bio-fuels sector has been creating nearly a million jobs a year. Economists say that India, Nigeria, and Venezuela, among many others, could do the same. In Germany, environmental technology is expected to quadruple over the coming years, reaching 16% of manufacturing output by 2030 and employing more people than the auto industry. Mexico already employs 1.5 million people to plant and manage the country’s forests.

Governments have a huge role to play. With the right policies and a global framework, we can generate economic growth and steer it in a low-carbon direction. Handled properly, our efforts to cope with the financial crisis can reinforce our efforts to combat climate change. In today’s crisis lies tomorrow’s opportunity — economic opportunity, measured in jobs and growth. Most global CEOs know this. That is one reason that businesspeople in so many parts of the world are demanding clear and consistent environmental policies. It is also the reason that global companies like General Electric and Siemens are betting their future on green. But it is important that the global public recognise this fact, perhaps nowhere more so than in the US. When the next American president takes office, voters and elected officials alike should be reassured by studies showing that the US can fight climate change by cutting emissions at low or even no cost, using only existing technologies. We know that the poorest of the world’s poor are the people most vulnerable to climate change. They are also the most vulnerable to the shocks of the financial crisis. As world leaders, we are morally bound to ensure that solutions to the global financial crisis protect their interests, not just the citizens of wealthier nations. Those left behind by the previous boom — the so-called “bottom billion,” living on less than $1 a day — must be brought into the next economic era. Again, a solution to poverty is also a solution for climate change: green growth. For the world’s poor, it is a key to development. For the rich, it is the way of the future. —DTPS

Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Gulf News: Paint the Planet to build our children's future By Anupa Kurian, Readers Editor Published: October 22, 2008, 23:56 Dubai: Newspaper headlines scream natural disasters. It makes for heart-wrenching reading but 'today's news is yesterday's bin liner'. As the world moves on, quite often, the heart of the story lies buried - beneath the rubble and the sound. While we may be ready to colonise another planet, children continue to fall prey to climate-related disasters, such as floods, landslides and hurricanes. According to a 2007 environment report from the UK, approximately 175 million children will be affected by climate change induced natural disasters over the next decade. This is 50 million more than the past 10 years. Children are hoping that adults might help with the solution by combating climate change. Young artists from around the world are lending their voice to the message through the 'Paint for the Planet' event. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________

Gulf News: Youngsters sent in 200,000 entries to the recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Children's Painting Competition. On October 25, a selection of the winning paintings from the collection will be auctioned at the Harvard Club of New York City, to raise emergency funds for children affected by climate-related disasters. A statement from UNEP said that the proceeds would go to Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund. Prior to that, on October 23, an exhibition featuring more of the original artworks from the competition will be opened to the world, at the UN headquarters in New York. Together the exhibition and auction comprise the 'Paint for the Planet' event. After New York, the exhibition will travel around the world, with final stop being the climate change talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. Paint for the Planet is the start-off for the 'Unite to Combat Climate Change' UN campaign that calls for a definitive agreement between nations on the issue. Gabrielle Medovoy, one of the young American artists featured in the exhibition, said: "The message I would like to send to the leaders of the world is that Nature is in danger because of climate change. Children of today, in different countries, are already in danger because of global warming! Please do everything in your power to prevent it!" In addition to the live auction, the art will also be sold online on eBay.com in partnership with LiveAuctioneers to enable people from around the world to participate. Pre-bidding for the auctioned paintings will also be available on www.unep.org/paint4planet. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ International Business Times, NY: Green Globe International, Inc. Announces Agreement With Scott Wilson Group Posted 22 October 2008 @ 08:10 am EST

MURRIETA, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 10/22/08 -- Green Globe International, Inc. (OTCBB: GGLB),the worldwide owner of the Green Globe brand, the premier internationalgreen brand, today announced a strategic alliance with internationalconsultancy Scott Wilson to collaborate on Green Globe sustainability andcarbon neutrality projects for tourism destinations clients. Scott Wilson Group plc, with over 6000 members of staff globally, providessustainable, integrated business and development solutions to meet theplanning, environmental, management and engineering needs of clients acrossa full range of sectors, including leisure and tourism. The Group hasdoubled in size over the past few years and from its UK headquarterscurrently controls a worldwide network of 80 offices, of which 40 are inthe UK. The main international centres are located in China, Hong Kong,India, SE Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Southern Africa. Under terms of a Memorandum of Understanding, the areas of collaborationbetween Scott Wilson Group plc and Green Globe International, Inc. willinclude: 1) identification of potential tourism destinations (e.g.countries, territories, municipalities and resort areas) for the GreenGlobe International programs; 2) securing support and participation

of keystakeholders in the destinations; 3) designing and developing adestination-specific Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality Plan; 4) workingto identify new funding mechanisms e.g. carbon trading, for thedestinations' Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality Plan; 5) management andimplementation of the Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality Plan; 6)monitoring and reporting progress toward key sustainability and carbongeneration indicators for energy consumption; waste production; waterusage; chemical usage; community engagement, and local economic benefit; 7)certification that communities and businesses are compliant with GreenGlobe benchmarking and certification programs available; and 8) providingan annual review to confirm compliance with benchmarking standards whichquality for certification. Green Globe International is preparing to sign the first clients for thecompany's Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality Plan for tourismdestinations. The plan includes a carbon offset strategy, and asustainability strategy, Green Globe benchmarking and certification, and acommunications program. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with a company with theexperience and reach of Scott Wilson and look forward to our collaborationin delivering sustainability and carbon neutrality solutions to tourismdestinations worldwide," commented Steven R. Peacock, CEO and managingdirector of Green Globe International. Stuart Coventry, Scott Wilson's director of environment and sustainabilityservices, said, "Our clients are increasingly striving to improve standardsof sustainability in their business and developments and the Green Globeschemes offer a real opportunity to benchmark their performance. We arevery pleased to collaborate with Green Globe." Green Globe's Company and Community Standards for sustainable tourismpractice are used across 48 countries by both tourism businesses andcommunities. The Green Globe brand and program, which traces its roots back to theUnited Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, where 182 Heads ofState endorsed the Agenda 21 principles of Sustainable Development, hasprimarily been used in the travel and tourism industry but is now beingexpanded to include a growing number of environmentally responsiblebusinesses in a variety of market sectors. The Green Globe brand is anideal symbol for the world's increasing awareness of environmentalresponsibility and response to global climate change. Green Globe International, an affiliate member of the United Nations WorldTourism Organization (UNWTO), has endorsed the efforts of the UnitedNations Foundation, Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP) and the UNWTO in launching the Global Sustainable TourismCriteria (GSTC). Green Globe International (www.greenglobeint.com) encourages allshareholders and others interested in following the progress of the companyto subscribe to receive email alerts whenever new information is madepublic. To subscribe, please visithttp://www.greenglobeint.com/stayconnected/email/. About Green Globe International, Inc. Green Globe International, Inc. is the majority owner of Green Globe, Ltd.,a British company that owns the Green Globe brand, the premierinternational brand for

sustainable travel, tourism and related greenbusinesses. Green Globe's worldwide network extends across nearly 50countries. For information on Green Globe's benchmarking and certificationprogram, please visithttp://www.ec3global.com/products-programs/green-globe/Default.aspx. GreenGlobe International has been admitted as an affiliate member of the UnitedNations World Tourism Organization. For more information on Green GlobeInternational, please visit www.greenglobeint.com. Safe Harbor Statement This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to theresults of operations and business of Green Globe International, Inc.,which involves risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual future resultscould materially differ from those discussed. The Company intends that suchstatements about the Company's future expectations, including futurerevenues and earnings, and all other forward-looking statements be subjectto the "Safe Harbors" provision of the Private Securities Litigation ReformAct of 1995. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Global Pensions, UK: UNEP and GRI launch reporting tool by Keren Holland 22 October 2008 GLOBAL – A new environmental and social reporting standard will help banks, insurers and asset managers rebuild battered reputations, its developers have claimed. Launching the standard yesterday, the United National Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GPI) said they expected the indicators contained in the GRI Financial Services Sector Supplement would become the future standard for sustainability reporting in the financial sector. Developed over a five-year period, the supplement provides guidance for retail, corporate and commercial banking, insurance and asset management on how to report on the environmental and social performance of their products and services. Sylvie Lemmet, director, UNEP Division for Technology, Industry and Economics, said: “The standard is of great relevance in today’s world where disclosure and transparency is considered a key responsibility of financial institutions. “The launch of the supplement is timely and presents a concrete way for financial institutions to report on their corporate responsibility.” The working group behind the supplement pulled together sustainability reporting expertise from 28 financial institutions, asset managers and insurers, including Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank DWS, Bank of China, Westpac Banking Corporation, Insurance Australia Group and State Street Corporation. At the same time, report users such as rating agencies and non-governmental organisations were involved. Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________

Le Monde, Belgique: L’appel à un « new deal » vert planétaire LIER LA PRÉSERVATION planétaire à l’avenir de la finance mondiale : un appel des Nations unies est lancé au « G20 ». La « refondation » du capitalisme financier doit en premier lieu passer par la protection de la planète et des plus pauvres ! C’est en substance le message délivré, ce mercredi à Londres, par le Programme des Nations unies pour l’environnement. S’inspirant du « new deal » mis en oeuvre par le president Théodore Roosevelt après le krach de 1929, le PNUE et plusieurs économistes de renom ont lancé un appel aux pays riches en vue de développer « une nouvelle économie verte » mondiale susceptible de créer des dizaines de millions d’emplois. « Les crises économique, énergétique et alimentaire de 2008 sont en partie le résultat de la speculation et de la faillite des gouvernements à diriger de manière intelligente en se focalisant sur les marchés, expose Achim Steiner, directeur exécutif du PNUE. Combattre les changements climatiques et réinvestir dans la préservation des écosystèmes auront des bénéfices économiques, sociaux et environnementaux considérables… » Socle « scientifique » de cet appel politique, les travaux menés par l’économiste Pavan Sukdhev ont en partie été initiés, voici deux ans, par le « G8+5 ». Des travaux qui s’attachent à chiffrer le prix des services rendus par la nature à l’homme et au coût de la restauration des habitats naturels dégradés (Le Soir de mercredi). D’ici 24 mois, d’importantes conclusions, comparables à celles du rapport Stern sur les changements climatiques, devraient donner aux gouvernements de nouveaux instruments pour accélérer la transition écologique. « Les modèles économiques du XXe siècle ont atteint les limites du possible en termes d’empreinte écologique et d’amélioration des conditions de vie des 2,6 milliards de personnes qui vivent avec moins de 2 dollars par jour, remarque Pavan Sukdhev. Tôt ou tard, de nouveaux investissements seront réalisés dans l’économie mondiale. La question est de savoir s’ils seront consacrés à une vieille économie à court terme où s’ils seront réorientés vers une économie verte susceptible de rencontrer les multiples challenges des pays pauvres et riches. » Énergies renouvelables, recyclage, agriculture durable, restauration des écosystèmes, lutte contre la déforestation et transports publics sont autant de gisements de dizaine de millions d’emplois identifiés par le PNUE pour lutter contre le réchauffement et la dégradation planétaire. Réguler la finance ? S’attaquer aux paradis fiscaux ? Bravo, bravo, applaudissent les Nations unies. Mais il appartient aussi aux pays riches de balayer devant leur porte en s’attaquant aux facteurs qui brident ou bloquent le développement de l’économie verte. Exemple ? Les investissements dans les énergies renouvelables ont atteint 160 milliards de dollars en 2007. Or, selon les Nations unies, ce secteur est penalize par les 300 milliards de dollars de subventions publiques encore accordées aux énergies fossiles. Et la Banque mondiale ne manque pas d’être épinglée à ce sujet. Les prêts accordés au secteur du charbon s’élevaient à 3 milliards de dollars en 2007 et ont augmenté de 250 % ces dernières années ! « Les aides protectionnistes travaillent contre l’environnement, note le PNUE. Comment comprendre que l’on subventionne l’agriculture à hauteur de 300 milliards de dollars par an mais qu’il n’y ait pas d’argent pour lutter contre la déforestation… »

La Banque mondiale, ici encore, est pointée du doigt : selon le PNUE, ses crédits au développement de l’agriculture dans les pays pauvres sont en chute libre. « C’est pourtant un des plus gros défis, constate l’ex-ministre belge Olivier Deleuze, haut responsible au PNUE. La tendance actuelle de l’agriculture n’est pas soutenable. Or, cet enjeu est énorme parce qu’il concerne les pauvres et que plus on est pauvre, plus on dépend des écosystèmes… » Il reste à connaître le sort que réservera le sommet du « G20 », le 15 novembre, à cet appel d’inspiration keynésienne… Du côté de la présidence française de l’Union européenne, on évoque « la détermination écologique du président Nicolas Sarkozy, pour qui les crises écologiques et financiers sont bien liées. Le president s’est clairement opposé à la remise en cause des objectifs européens du paquet climat-énergie. » CHRISTOPHE SCHOUNE Back to Menu______________________________________________________________________ Le Soir. Belgique: jeudi 23 octobre 2008 L’INDISPENSABLE « NEW DEAL », VERT ET ÉTHIQUE L’édito Olivier Mouton L’acteur Un an de récession pour l’économie européenne. La prevision fait froid dans le dos. Elle ne vient pas d’obscurs prédicateurs, mais bien d’éminents economists d’UBS, en Suisse. Glacées par les perspectives, les Bourses du continent ont une nouvelle fois dévissé. Exemple à Bruxelles : – 6,14 %. Et ce à l’heure où plusieurs indicateurs montrent combien l’économie « réelle» souffre, d’ores et déjà, de faillites en licenciements. L’heure est grave ? Oui. Les comparaisons avec la Dépression de 1929 prennent chaque jour plus de force. A cette nuance près : les autorités publiques prennent, cette fois, la mesure du sérieux de la situation. Elles ont investi massivement pour sauver les banques et éviter l’effondrement du système. La deuxième étape, plus délicate, s’ouvre : il s’agit d’atténuer le désastre tout en jetant les bases d’un nouveau modèle de société. Un « New Deal », version 2008. Trois promesses, faites mercredi, au beau milieu d’une cascade de mauvaises nouvelles. Suscitant espoir autant que scepticisme. Un. Le Premier ministre Yves Leterme réunira le 5 novembre tous les acteurs concernés : fédéral, Régions et Communautés, partenaires sociaux… L’esprit de concorde qui a prévalu jusqu’ici pourra-t-il accoucher d’autre chose que d’une souris dans le contexte budgétaire actuel ? Peu probable. Mais la volonté politique de soutenir les enterprises est un signal. Tout comme son souhait de légiférer – enfin – sur les parachutes dorés. Deux. La Maison-Blanche a annoncé la convocation d’un sommet mondial sur la crise le 15 novembre à Washington. Le premier d’une série pour « faire en sorte que la crise ne se reproduise pas ». Si ce processus débouchait sur une révolution éthique – suppression des profits fous et des risques démesurés, purification des moeurs économiques, regulation accrue –, ce serait un fameux pas en avant. Trois. Les Nations unies appellant à un « New Green Deal ». La vraie opportunité de cette mauvaise passe, c’est peut-être d’accélérer cette révolution verte que l’on sait indispensable pour la planète – et potentiellement profitable pour l’économie. Rêve-t-on, si l’on tente de voir la lumière au bout long tunnel annoncé?