People have been asking me what the Green New Deal is. ANdrew Simms wrote the following summary.
The Green New Deal is:
1. A massive environmental transformation of the economy to tackle the triple crunch of the financial crisis, climate change and insecure energy supplies.
2. Jobs, more jobs and secure jobs. And, it's about the skills and training to create and sustain them: in a time of recession, with unemployment already rocketing in the US, and growing here, shifting to green energy will produce countless new jobs, and create many more pound-for-pound of investment, than propping up the current system.
3. Investment now to tackle the current recession, and an investment for the future: there are lots of ways we can invest in the future — as a country public spending on a green new deal will reap economic, environmental and social benefits. We can spend ‘better' by reforming taxes, so that we tax more what we want less of (like pollution and reckless speculation) and less what we want more of (like green goods and services). Investment can come from public and private sources, as well as our savings. Shutting tax havens and ensuring that corporate tax reporting accurately reflects profits made in a country, would raise billions more for public investment in both rich and poor countries.
4. New checks, balances and directions for a banking system that has become unfit for purpose: everyone agrees that new rules are needed to prevent a repeat of the banks' catastrophic errors, but there's also a new opportunity for change. With the taxpayer now owning several banks we can make sure that they invest and lend at low, affordable interest rates to support the economy's environmental transformation.
5. Greater security for our pensions and savings: many people's pensions have taken a battering, but now there's a chance to create new, low risk steady return vehicles for saving. New bonds and pensions targeted at the green renewal of the nation's infrastructure could help bring mutual long-term benefits to both savers and the nation as a whole.
6. Warm homes in winter, protecting us from high and volatile energy prices and ending fuel poverty: too many people can't afford to keep warm in winter. Whatever the international price of fuel, homeowners seem to have to pay ever higher prices. A Green New Deal will begin by improving insulation and energy efficiency in UK households and start to break our dependence on volatile, expensive and ultimately declining fossil fuels.
7. The UK showing real world leadership, setting an example and helping to build global security: unless rich nations like the UK show that they can implement change at home, poorer countries are unlikely to make the shift.The Green New Deal is about setting the economy, nationally and globally, on a path to live within its environmental means. It is also about fair play in a warming world and calls for the new financial mechanisms to help the majority world adapt to climate change as well as breaking the carbon chains of fossil fuel dependence
Press coverage of the (new) Green New Deal:
The Observer - Paper
http://www.theguardian.com/
Guardian — Comment is Free
http://www.theguardian.com/
The Guardian - Paper
http://www.theguardian.com/
And - the report itself:
http://www.greennewdealgroup.
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“Greater security for our pensions and savings: many people’s pensions have taken a battering, but now there’s a chance to create new, low risk steady return vehicles for saving. New bonds and pensions targeted at the green renewal of the nation’s infrastructure could help bring mutual long-term benefits to both savers and the nation as a whole.”
The pension fund I’m a member of has hundreds of thousands of members. It has made it quite clear that it sees no benefits to investing in such ideas / schemes as infrastructure bonds etc.
The pension fund manages approx £13bn in assets – are you saying you would legislate to force them to invest in your ideas even if it meant lower returns / higher risk?
It’s just that some of us remember the last Red Mob CofE – he of the famous pensions raid and the damage that did.
Yes I would
Pensions enjoy massive tax relief and pay very low rewards
I would demand 25% of new contributions go into infrastcruture bonds paying guaranteed minimum return in exchange for that relief
Your problem is?
You don’t have to save that way, after all
Mr. M., I thought pensions – especially the large schemes – were one of the few ways that the average worker could save enough and pool enough to ensure that they had enough for a bit of a retirement income. After all Red and Blue Mobs originally at least, encouraged savings.
Maybe you haven’t noticed how dire performance is whilst the city gets rich
Richard, if we going to use pension funds for socially useful purposes in return for tax relief, may I suggest 4 other areas where we might do this as well:
1) For the arts, to improve the cultural life of the country and to give jobs to the young. The kids seem to like rap music these days, so the money could go into paying them to do that. Or maybe into arts like as opera (which I can’t stand but some people like it).
2) To provide pay day loans in competition with Wonga. Such loans are given to anyone who needs them. And instead of charging 5000%, we could charge only (say) 3%, and pay that to the pension fund.
3) To recruit more HMRC staff to investigate the tax avoidance practices of big business.
4) To fund the main political parties and trade unions.
The pension would get a return for this from the government.
Is there a Green New Deal committee or something like that which I can write to, to make my suggestions?
Send them as an email to me!
No relevance to this thread – sorry – but have to say that I’m at TUC conference manning CND stall and just using the free terminal. I went to type in your blog address and found that someone had already been here before. Saved me typing and gave me warm glow. All the best, Richard.
Thank you
Appreciated!
I recall, but maybe incorrectly, that FTT was seen as a potential revenue stream for the Green New Deal. Looks like that idea has been binned:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/business-news-markets-live/10297914/Business-news-and-markets-live.html
Oh it’s still there
But there are always issue you choose to prioritise
If there is no revenue stream, the Green New Deal will never amount to anything other than a table-top exercise…..
Who said there is no revenue stream
Birmingham is doing a funded £100 million GND project right now – paid for by energy savings
Of course there are revenues
As one who works in the energy industry your faith in “green” technology and jobs is touching and really rather niaive. The ecomonics around technologies such as wind is disaterous and even worse when the turbines are offshore. Most of these are actually manufactured overseas anyway and imported into the UK.
Our fuel bills have gone out of control with huge payments included for Renewables Obligations put in place by the Labour government.
As for cliamte change I suggest you review the new evidence coming through which casts doubt on the scaremongering of the last 10 years. Do some research into climate sensitivity as this makes a huge difference to the computer model predictions relied upon by the AGW fraternity.
If you really want energy security then Shale gas is the way forward. We have trillions of cubic feet under our soil and we could be energy efficient and secure for many decades to come.
The expertise we have as a group is more than enough to show the hollowness of your claims
We’re not ‘touching’
We’re talking fact
And that suggests shale is a disaster – unless frying the world for our children is your aim
I presume it is