UN focus: revive economies and protect the planet

To paraphrase Kipling: “environmentalists are environmentalists, and economists are economists; never the twain shall meet.”

There is a widespread assumption that “green” policies are, by definition, expensive. That there is a choice to be made between ecologically sound practices and profit – or at least a trade-off.  Whether that’s accurate is beside the point – perception becomes reality.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) sees the current financial crisis as an opportunity to change that equation. With climate change accelerating, droughts lengthening, forests, wetlands and species disappearing, this may be both our last and best chance to change that course.

What the world needs now, says UNEP, is a Global Green New Deal. Given the tremendous resources being channeled into propping up tottering institutions, why we aren’t using some to also trigger an overarching energy efficiency program – providing an immediate economic stimulus?

These goals don’t have to be mutually exclusive. UNEP asks, where are the jobs of tomorrow going to come from?  The same industries being rescued from bankruptcy? Consider the steel and car industries, which provide around five million jobs each. That’s not likely to increase.

So, you may ask? Consider that the world’s population is projected to increase by up to 3 billion by 2050. Those people will need jobs, too. The possibilities for income generation from green technologies needs to be further explored.

UNEP proposes heavy investment in the recycling industry and in managing natural resources and ecosystems. In turn, these eco-industries will provide services which will be integrated into the economy.

To quote another classic: the Chinese use the same symbol for “crisis” and “opportunity.” UNEP asks us to take the former and see the latter.