Green economy and growth: Fiddling while Rome burns? 27 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Economic growth, Green Growth, Green New Deal, Sufficiency, Sustainability.add a comment
“A UNU-IAS fellow argues that a truly green economy cannot hinge solely on technology but must be a revolution of democracy and equality. “
Great analysis of the weakness of ideas for green growth and green economy.
"Efficiency is a necessary but insufficient condition today, when the imperative is to find sufficiency in a finite and deeply inequitable world."
Dear Mr Wolf… Reflections for the Magic Mountain 27 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Capitalism, Davos, Governance, Sustainability, WEF.add a comment
In Open Democracy, Simon Zadek has written a brilliant critique of what is wrong with Davos in the form of a reaction to a piece by Martin Wolf of the Financial Times.
Some highlights of this must-read article:
On Martin Wolf’s (and the FT’s) views on how to fix the financial sector (and capitalism):
“Fixing finance, the elephant in the room, needs in his view higher capital ratios, stronger oversight, and smarter consumers. Whilst no one would disagree with such common sense advice, there are equally few who would agree that these actions will fix the problem. They leave in play perverse incentives, conflicts of interest and the entire, under-regulated shadow banking system that is busy repeating yesterday’s profitable errors.”
On corruption:
“Frankly, the main difference between corruption in developed economies compared to weakly governed societies is that corruption in the former has been legalised into super-profit taking, obscene remuneration, laying-off risks on the poor, and systematic under-contributions of the rich and profitable through the tax system.”
On the fact that Wolf (and other economists") keep seeing the environment as an “after-thought” to “serious economic analysis”:
“… you appear to see no links between the state of the economy and the state of the natural ecology that sustains our lives on this planet. The real problem with the financial markets is not that they are unstable and liable to periodic implosion – it is that they are not doing their task of investing our money in creating a resilient, sustainable economy that will benefit current generations and those to come. Endemic short-termism is another way of saying that investors are disinterested in what creates real value, financial or otherwise, but have decided that competing with each other to make money out of money is a simpler way to get rich. Even if you are unwilling to value what cannot be monetised, take a look at how catastrophic last year was for the insurance business because of natural disasters, or the speculation-driven food price peaking just before the Egyptian revolution.”
On the Great Transformation (the theme of Davos this year) and the impossibility of the Clubs of the powerful to embrace the Disruption needed for this transformation:
“It is tough to seek to disrupt the lives and livelihoods of one’s own members, sponsors and friends. That is certainly true in Davos, but is also painfully true in the inner world of international NGOs, or the bureaucracies of government and international organisations. Try supporting nuclear in a Greenpeace meeting and see how far it gets you. But it is disruption that is needed, of that there is no doubt. The Davos strapline, the Great Transformation, is not conceivable without the Great Disruption, and there are few if any incumbents that will welcome that.”
Has Petroleum Production Peaked, Ending the Era of Easy Oil? 26 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Decoupling, Degrowth, Economic growth, Energy, Peak oil.add a comment
“A new analysis concludes that easily extracted oil peaked in 2005, suggesting that dirtier fossil fuels will be burned and energy prices will rise.” (Source: Scientific American)
This Scientific American article summarises a report in Nature magazine confirming that the age of cheap oil is over and that as a result we live in different times. Will The Anthropocene give way to the Post-Oil, Post-Growth era?
Another interesting quote from this report makes the link between peak cheap oil and the current economic crisis:
“King and Murray [the authors of the report] argue that global economic growth itself may be impossible without a concurrent growth in energy supply (that is, more abundant fossil fuels, to date). "We need to decouple economic growth from fossil-fuel dependence," King adds. "This is not happening due to industrial, infrastructural, political and human behavioral inertia. We are stuck in our ways."
Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists 26 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Economic growth, Globalisation, Porto Alegre, Rio+20, WSF.add a comment
"Large-scale social mobilisation, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts."(Source: – IPS News).
Interesting article on Rio+20 but wrong recommendation. Why would we need to save Rio+20? There are other ways of fighting for a new economy based on ecological and social justice. Let’s not spend too much of our precious energy on wrong lost battles.
Taking Back Globalization – Olivier De Schutter 25 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Davos, Economic growth, Globalisation, Governance, Sustainability, Trade policy, WEF.add a comment
“At Davos this year, the world’s economic and political leaders stand warned: do globalization better, or it will be derailed by the growing legions of the discontented.” (Source: Project Syndicate)
Excellent analysis by UN Special Food Rapporteur Olivier De Schutter of the failures of capitalist globalisation.
The big question is whether globalisation can "be done better" under current rules of free and fast movement of big capital, easy delocalisation for industries and consumer demand for low prices of consumption products. How can governments do globalisation better whe they have no grip on the systems and values of production and consumption. This is where we really need a complete overhaul of existing capitalism but who will drive this?
U.N. sustainable development summit shifts from climate change 25 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Climate change, Democracy, Globalisation, Governance, Rio+20, Sustainability.add a comment
"Representatives from around the world gather in Rio in June to try to hammer out goals for sustainable development at a U.N. conference designed to avoid being tripped up by the intractable issue of climate change." (Source: Reuters)
Reading this article makes you realise Rio negotiators have no clue on the real sustainability challenges.
Although it might make “diplomatic” sense to keep climate change off the agenda at Rio+20, the interconnectedness of the world’s sustainability challenges makes this a complete nonsense. The verticalisation or departementalisation of political problems at national government level as well as in international fora is something which urgently needs some rethinking.
Furthermore, when I read in this article the following quote from Brazil’s main Rio+20 negotiator, I have to despair about the ability of our political elites to understand the real transition that we will need to manage:
“Sustainable development is an easier sell globally than climate change, even though sustainable development is a way of tackling global warming and other environmental issues, he said. Climate change is an (issue) that has very strong resistance from sectors that are going to be substantially altered, like the oil industry," do Lago said. "Sustainable development is something that is as simple as looking at how we would like to be in 10 or 20 years." (my highlighting).
Sustainability “easier to sell” because it is a “long-term” problem? Do these so-called “leaders” live on another planet? What part of of the “ rethinking our global economy, governance, democracy, growth and business to be able to operate within the planets’ limits” do they not understand? Do they not see the need to start the emergency preparedness now?
Golden Growth: Restoring the lustre of the European economic model 24 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Capitalism, Economic growth.add a comment
Who was so bold to think that the Washington Consensus vision of economic growth was on its death bed, should read this new "Golden Growth" report by the World Bank.
Resource constraints or energy dependence are hardly mentioned in this report and the call for a "new growth model" is made into a caricature.
More innovation needed is one of the "recommendations" of the report. Maybe the World Bank should start innovating in its own thinking about growth?
Davos man weighs future of capitalism 24 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Capitalism, Democracy, Economic growth, Occupy Wall Street, Sustainability.add a comment
“The WEF’s Schwab says capitalism’s original distinction between the entrepreneur and the salaryman has been corrupted by excessive pay. He says top managers should not earn more than 20 times their lowest paid worker.” (Source: Reuters)
Does Mr Schwab practice what he preaches at WEF? Any of his lowest paid workers want to answer that question?
The future of capitalism is not the right question anyway. The real question is about the future of democracy and the future of economic growth in a geopolitically-changed, resource-constrained world.
New study paints rosy future for grid-scale energy storage in UK 24 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in renewable energy, Energy, Energy technologies, Energy Infrastructure, Storage.add a comment
The Bloomberg New Energy Finance study finds that rapid falls in the price of technology and appropriate regulatory support could create a significant opportunity for the use of storage in the electricity network.
Excellent news for all renewable energy fans.
Another extract from the press release:
“The study says that while niche markets for energy storage are already viable in the UK today, mainly to relieve bottlenecks in the transmission and distribution of power, more substantial penetration of energy storage within the grid system will become economic within the next five years. However, the report also points out that the key to the successful roll‐out of energy storage within the UK electricity system in the next few years will be putting in place an appropriate regulatory framework ‐ something
that has not yet been achieved”.
The Challenge at Davos: A Crisis of Global Politics, Not Just the Economy 24 January, 2012
Posted by Willy De Backer in Davos, Globalisation, Governance, Sustainability, WEF.add a comment
Excellent analysis by Time of the demise of democratic politics and the rising success of state capitalism.
But is "Davos Man" really ready for these uncomfortable questions and the necessary "Great Transformation"?
Read on this topic also the Economist: “The visible hand”.
