Climate Prosperity
CLIMATE PROSPERITY
ALLIANCE EXECUTIVE BOARD
CHAIR: Marc Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban
Development, Washington, DC
VICE CHAIR: Lawrence Bloom, Chairman, United
Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
Green Economy Initiative on Green Cities,
Buildings, and Transport, London, UK
VICE CHAIR: Hazel Henderson, President, Ethical Markets
Media (USA and Brazil), St. Augustine, FL
VICE
CHAIR: C.
S. Kiang, Chairman, Sustainable
Development Technology Foundation, Beijing, China
VICE CHAIR: Rodrigo Loures,
President, Federation of Industries for the State of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil
VICE CHAIR: James Nixon, President, Global Urban Development, Oakland, CA
Grace Akumu, Executive Director, Climate Network Africa, Nairobi,
Kenya
Rosa Alegria, Co-Chair, The Millennium Project, Brazil Node, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Elizabeth Autumn, Executive Producer and Anchor, United Nations MediaGlobal News Service,
New York, NY
Emilia
Queiroga Barros, Vice President, State of the World
Forum, Lauro de Freitas,
Brazil
Antonella Battaglini,
Process Leader, SuperSmartGrid, Renewables
Grid Initiative,
European Climate Forum, Berlin, Germany
Robert Baugh, Executive Director, Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO,
Washington, DC
Scott Bernstein, President, Center for Neighborhood
Technology, Chicago, IL
Iman Bibars,
Vice President, Ashoka Global, and Regional Director,
Ashoka Arab World, Cairo, Egypt
Tess Cacciatore, Chairman and Executive
Director, World Trust Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Nancy Carter, City Council Member, Charlotte, NC, and Member, Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Steering Committee, National League of Cities, Washington, DC
John Cleveland, Vice President, Innovation Network for Communities,
Tamworth, NH
Susan Davis, President, Capital Missions Company, East Troy, WI
Ladislau Dowbor,
Professor of Economics and Regional Development, Catholic University of Sao
Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Marlene
Fernandes, International Advisor, Brazilian Institute
for Municipal Administration (IBAM),
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Jeffrey
Finkle, President and CEO, International Economic
Development Council, Washington, DC
Morel Fourman, CEO, Gaiasoft, London, UK
John Fullerton, Founder, Level 3 Capital Advisors,
New York, NY
James
Garrison, President, State of the World Forum, Mill Valley, CA
Nicky
Gavron, Council Member, Greater London Authority,
London, UK
John Geesman, Chairman, American
Council on Renewable Energy, Washington, DC
Abdulrahman Al Ghabban,
Project
Development Specialist, Qassim Development Corporation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Theodore Gordon, Senior
Fellow and Co-Founder, The Millennium Project,
Washington, DC
Alex
Grayson, Principal, Omni Group, London, UK
Elliott Hoffman, Chairman and CEO, New Voice of
Business, San Francisco, CA
Ashok Khosla, President,
Development Alternatives, New Delhi, India
Sean Kidney, Europe Manager, Climate Risk, London, UK
Kelly Krpata, Director, Applied
Materials Climate Prosperity Initiative,
Joint Venture Silicon
Valley Network, San Jose, CA
Christine Loh, CEO, Civic Exchange,
Hong Kong, China
L. Hunter Lovins, President and
Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions, Longmont, CO
Tony Manwaring, CEO, Tomorrow’s Company, London, UK
David
Martin, Executive Chairman, M∙CAM, Charlottesville, VA
Peter Matthies,
Founder, Conscious Business Institute, Santa Barbara, CA
Dan Montgomery,
Principal, Resilient Strategies, Superior, CO
Mary Jane Ortega, Secretary General, CITYNET,
Yokohama, Japan
Julia
Parzen, Sustainability Manager, Urban Sustainability
Associates, Chicago, IL
Christina Carvalho Pinto, President,
Full Jazz Communications Group, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Alexander Plessl, Independent
Journalist, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bill Radulovich, Founder, Climate
Prosperity Citizens, Pleasanton, CA
Susan Rochford, Vice
President, Energy and Sustainability Initiatives, Council on Competitiveness,
Washington, DC
Nancy
Sedmak-Weiss, Secretary-Treasurer, Global Urban
Development, Rehoboth, DE
Jigar
Shah, CEO, Carbon War Room, Washington, DC
D.
Wayne Silby, Founding Chair, Calvert Funds, Bethesda,
MD
Phillip
Singerman, Senior Vice President, B & D
Consulting,
Radames Soto, President and
Founder, Kinina Ventures, Miami, FL
Steve
Viederman, Author,
and former President, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation,
Nicholas
You, Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategic Planning, Office of the Executive
Director,
United Nations Human Settlements Program
(UN-Habitat), Nairobi, Kenya
Climate Prosperity Alliance Advisory
Board
Poonam Ahluwalia, President, Youth Entrepreneurship and
Sustainability (YES), Cambridge, MA
Prince
Cemil Giray Alyanak, Founder, Mondofragilis Group,
Annecy, France
Mart Bailey, Chairman, US-China Green Tech Summit, San
Francisco, CA
Andrea Bassi,
Deputy Director for Project Development and Modeling, Millennium Institute,
Arlington, VA
Clement Bezold,
Chairman and Founder, Institute for Alternative Futures, Alexandria, VA
Allison Brooks, Managing Director, Reconnecting
America, Oakland, CA
Ann
Chan, California Program Director, Center for Clean Air Policy, Washington, DC
Michael
Chang, Senior Research Scientist, Institute of Sustainable Systems,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Helene Connor, Director, HELIO, Paris, France
Reese Fayde, Principal, Reese Fayde
& Associates, New York, NY
Seth Fearey, Associate Country Director, Peace Corps, Bishkek,
Kyrgyz Republic
David Feehan, Advisory
Panel Manager and Program Consultant,
International Downtown
Association, Washington, DC
David Fenton, CEO, Fenton Communications, New York, NY
Shari Garmise, Vice President for Knowledge Management and Development, International
Economic Development Council, Washington, DC
David Gershon, CEO, Empowerment Institute, New York, NY
Richard
David Hames, Professor and Director, Asian Foresight
Institute, Dhurakij Pundit University,
Bangkok, Thailand
James Hanusa, Fellow, Global
Urban Development, San Francisco, CA
Ken Heatherington,
Executive Director, Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council, Fort Myers, FL
Paul Hughes, President, Green Fox Energy Group, Newark, DE
Bianca Jagger, President, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, London, UK
Daniel Kammen, Professor
and Director, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, University of
California, Berkeley, CA
Randall Kempner, Executive Director, Aspen Network for
Development Entrepreneurs,
Aspen Institute, Washington, DC
Steven
Lovink, President, Planet2025 Network, Washington, DC
Tom McCawley,
CEO, Evergreen Asia Pacific Investment, Shanghai, China
Peter Merry, Director, The Hague
Center for Global Governance, Innovation, and Emergence, Utrecht, Netherlands
Michael
Northrop, Program Director, Sustainable Development, Rockefeller Brothers Fund,
New York, NY
Lora O’Connor, Consulting Director, Social Media, Citizen Global, Los
Angeles, CA
Collin
O’Mara, Secretary, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control,
State of Delaware, Dover, DE
Gerald Page,
Managing Director, Equinox Energy Partners Corporation, Beijing, China
Kathryn Papp, Associate Senior Fellow, National Council for
Science and the Environment, Washington, DC
Nicolai
Peitersen, CEO, Ethical Economy, London, UK
Scott Polikov, Principal, Gateway Planning
Group, Austin, TX
Paul Ray, Director, Institute for the Emerging Wisdom Culture, Mill
Valley, CA
Michael Replogle, Global Policy Director and Founder, Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy, Washington, DC
Renato Romano, Principal, Global Green
Partners, Los Angeles, CA
Kendra Sandoval, Social Venture Connector, Blue and Yellow Logic, Denver, CO
Marybeth
Schubert, Principal, Schubert Consulting, Santa Fe, NM
Steve Schueth, President, First Affirmative Financial Network, Colorado
Springs, CO
Nick Silver,
Director, Callund Consulting, London, UK
Jasper
Sky, Senior Fellow, Oxford University Environmental Change Institute, Oxford,
UK
William
Stafford, President, Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle, Seattle, WA
Sean
Sweeney, Director, Global Labor Institute, Cornell University, New York, NY
Richard Swett, CEO,
Climate Prosperity Enterprise Solutions, Concord, NH
Kaarin Taipale,
Chair, Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Buildings and Construction,
Ministry of the Environment, Government of
Finland, Helsinki, Finland
Martin Tull, Director of Sustainable Technology, Formos,
Portland, OR
Wayne
Wescott, Principal, Wescott
and Wyman, Melbourne, Australia
Mark
Willis, Resident Fellow, Furman Center for
Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University, New York, NY
Eva Willmann de Donlea, Director, Beyond 2012-Climate Professionals, Sydney, Australia
Darcy
Stallings Winslow, Manager, Sustainable Enterprise Certificate Program,
Willamette University, Salem, OR
Susan Witt, Executive Director, E.F. Schumacher
Society, Great Barrington, MA
Michelle
Wyman, Principal, Wescott and Wyman, Washington, DC
Joel Yudken, Principal, High Road Strategies, Arlington, VA
Dimitri Zenghelis,
Senior Economic Advisor, Cisco Systems, and Senior Visiting Fellow, Grantham
Research Institute
on Climate Change and
the Environment, London School of Economics, London, UK
Climate Prosperity Alliance Working Groups
Coordination with Climate Prosperity, Inc. Co-Chairs: Richard Fleming, President and CEO, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, St. Louis, MO; Doug Henton, Chairman and CEO, Collaborative Economics, Mountain View, CA.
Metrics–Outreach to Entrepreneurs and Policymakers. Co-Chairs: Andrea Bassi, Deputy Director for Project Development and
Modeling, Millennium Institute, Arlington, VA; Martin Tull, Director of
Sustainable Technology, Formos, Portland, OR.
Outreach to
Business Organizations.
Co-Chairs: Richard Eidlin, Principal, Eidlin
Consulting, Denver, CO; Michael Fleming, President, American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Alexandria, VA.
Outreach to
Civic Organizations. Co-Chairs: Robert McNulty, President and CEO,
Partners for Livable Communities, Washington, DC; Adele
Simmons, President, Global Philanthropy Partnership, Chicago,
IL.
Outreach to Economic Development Organizations. Co-Chairs, John Cleveland, Vice President, Innovation Network for Communities,
Tamworth, NH; Shari Garmise, Vice President for Knowledge
Management and Development, International Economic Development Council,
Washington, DC.
Outreach to Education and Research Institutions. Co-Chairs: James Gollub,
CEO, E-Cubed, San Francisco, CA; Joel
Rogers, Director, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, University of Wisconsin,
Madison, WI, and Senior Advisor, Green for All, Oakland, CA.
Outreach to the Federal Government. Co-Chairs: Uwe Brandes, Vice President, Urban Land Institute,
Washington, DC; Emily Wadhams,
Vice President for Public Policy, National Trust for Historic Preservation,
Washington, DC.
Outreach to
Financial Institutions and Investors.
Co-Chairs: Paul Hughes, President, Green Fox
Energy Group, Newark, DE; Sean Kidney, Europe Manager,
Climate Risk, London, UK.
Outreach to Labor Organizations.
Co-Chairs: Lynn Hinkle,
Principal, HK Climate Solutions, Minneapolis, MN; Joel Yudken, Principal, High Road Strategies,
Arlington, VA.
Outreach to Land-Use and
Transportation Organizations. Co-Chairs: Parris Glendening,
President, Smart Growth Leadership Institute, Smart Growth America, Washington,
DC; Keith Laughlin, President, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy,
Washington, DC.
Outreach to Local Governments. Co-Chairs: Scott Polikov, Principal, Gateway Planning Group, Austin, TX; Graham Richard, Principal, Graham
Richard Associates, Ft. Wayne, IN.
Outreach to State
Governments.
Co-Chairs: Phil Angelides, Chairman,
Apollo Alliance, Sacramento, CA; Mary Jo
Waits, Director, Social, Economic, and Workforce Division, National
Governors Association, Washington, DC.
Outreach to Sustainability Organizations. Co-Chairs: Lynne Barker,
Program Director, STAR Community Index, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, USA
Office, Seattle, WA; Stephanie McClellan, Policy Director,
Office of the Governor, State of Delaware, Dover, DE.
Outreach to Urban and Regional Organizations. Co-Chairs: Andre Pettigrew, Executive Director, Office of Economic
Development, Denver, CO; Kim
Walesh,
Chief Strategist, Office of the City Manager, San Jose, CA.
Promoting Innovative
Technologies and Policies. Co-Chairs: Jackie Roberts, Director of
Sustainable Technologies, Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC; Richard Swett, CEO, Climate
Prosperity Enterprise Solutions, Concord, NH.
Former Climate Prosperity Alliance Working Group
Co-Chairs
Lucy Blake, Joe Cortright, David Engel, Seth Fearey, David Feehan, Robert Ferguson, James Lopez,
John Melville, Shelley Poticha, Richard Seline, Ron Sims
Climate Prosperity generates
substantial economic and employment growth and sustainable business and
community development by demonstrating that innovation, efficiency, and
conservation in the use and reuse of all natural and human resources is the
best way to increase jobs, incomes, productivity, and competitiveness. In addition, Climate Prosperity is the most
cost-effective method of promoting renewable energy and clean technologies,
protecting the environment, and preventing harmful impacts from global warming.
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin
Franklin
“Less is the new more.” – Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe
“No problem can be solved from the same level of
consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein
GLOBAL COAL TRANSITION AND CLEANTECH INVESTMENT
INITIATIVE
James Nixon, President, Global Urban
Development, Jigar Shah, CEO, Carbon War Room,
and Marc Weiss,
Chair, Climate Prosperity Alliance
January 2010
FOUR KEY ELEMENTS OF THE GLOBAL
STRATEGY:
1)
Phase out burning coal worldwide by 2050
2)
Establish a fixed global price on all coal exports
3)
Raise funds to finance the transition to non-coal energy sources
4) Support private investment in a sustainable economic transition, particularly in developing countries
The
post-Copenhagen outlook for an international treaty under the auspices of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) appears to be
quite bleak. This is mainly because the
original 1992 Rio/1997 Kyoto approach is no longer working. National governments negotiating a new treaty
are in conflict over both of the two key elements of Kyoto: 1) mandatory
greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by country, to be implemented
primarily through cap-and-trade regulatory systems; and 2) direct transfer of
resources from developed country governments to developing country
governments.
A
viable alternative or supplement is to focus on a more unconventional strategy
from the perspective of global diplomacy, but one that can be more effective
both politically in terms of gaining support, and more importantly,
economically and environmentally, in terms of actually preserving a global
climate that supports healthy and prosperous lives for people and communities
everywhere, as well as for other animals, plants, and living organisms
throughout the world.
The
two key elements of this new approach are:
1) completely and permanently phasing out all burning of coal worldwide
by 2050, with an internationally agreed upon 40-year schedule for progressively
phasing out all coal burning; 2) promoting $100 billion annually to be invested
in energy and resource efficiency, renewable energy production, and clean/green
technology infrastructure and companies in developing countries. These
investments mainly will be made by the global private sector, with the support
of financing, regulations, and other policies and programs from national
governments and international agencies.
The
best diplomatic framework for the coal phase-out and global investment strategy
probably consists of bilateral negotiations between the US and China. Once the US and China reach agreement, then
negotiations can be extended to major coal-exporting countries, and later to
the UNFCCC.
The
progressive coal phase-out will be financially enhanced by establishing a
global fixed price on all coal exports by every nation. No country will have a competitive advantage
over any other country in terms of price competition. The global fixed coal market export price
will deliberately be set at a level that includes measurable transition costs,
higher than current market prices. Coal
companies will sell their product internationally, collect the revenues and
profits, and then pay portion of the premium as a coal transition tax to their
national government. National
governments will disburse some portion of these funds to the UN and the World
Bank.
The
global fixed market price on coal exports will rise over time, and the national
government tax will be scaled up accordingly.
National governments can use such funds to subsidize an economic
transition for the coal industry (including research and development on
alternative economic and environmental uses for coal), for the electric
utilities industry, for the shipping industry, and for coal workers and
communities, as well as utilizing funds to invest in promoting and developing
renewable energy, clean technologies, and sustainable infrastructure.
The
UN and the World Bank will use their portion of the coal export funds to
subsidize the economic transition for developing countries whose economies
depend on coal imports, enabling them to generate alternative power sources and
increase their overall resource efficiency, technological innovation, and
sustainable economic competitiveness.
The
reason that the global fixed price on all coal exports will serve as an
effective policy tool is it will provide a market-based economic incentive for
countries that have large coal reserves to discourage domestic coal consumption
and encourage coal exports in order to raise domestic incomes, increase
domestic jobs, expand public revenues to be reinvested in stimulating resource
efficiency, and improve their nation’s global balance of payments and
trade. Similarly, countries that do not
possess large coal reserves but who depend on importing coal for cheap energy
will now have a strong incentive to minimize coal imports and develop
alternative power sources. This one
vital market incentive will strongly support a more rapid and relatively
smoother transition to the post-coal era.
In
a sense the phasing out of coal-burning, as a communications campaign, can be
compared to the campaigns in many countries to discourage smoking cigarettes
and other tobacco products for public health reasons (“thank you for not
burning coal”). For example, the State
of Maryland utilized the funds received from the settlement of the tobacco
company lawsuit to enable the state’s tobacco farmers to voluntarily either
sell their farms at a favorable market price, or to accept payments in exchange
for switching to the cultivation of alternative crops or converting their
farmland to alternative land uses. From
the perspective of global diplomacy, phasing out the burning of coal can also
be compared with treaties and other international agreements to reduce nuclear
weapons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO,
Global Urban Development, and Chair, Climate Prosperity Alliance
December
2009
Global
Urban Development and the Climate Prosperity Alliance propose to help organize
and serve as among the hosts of "salons" that will meet for several hours
on a weekday evening every two or three months in cities around the world.
These gatherings will be open to people from the communications media
industries and performing arts-related professions who want to participate. The
purpose will be to engage in wide-ranging conversation about how to more
effectively create and promote a new paradigm of advanced technological
environmental sustainability, something that has never existed since the modern
industrial revolution began more than three centuries ago.
Through
the media and the arts, we aim to identify new ways to create and present
images of a future society of "Climate Prosperity" that is in
relative harmony and balance with the cycles of nature based on conserving and
reusing all natural resources (not only fossil fuels, but water, land,
materials, etc.), rather than overusing and wasting them. In other words, under
Climate Prosperity, people, places, and organizations worldwide actually get
richer (or stay rich) by becoming greener, and earn more money by using fewer
resources and reusing more. Everyone will be better off economically and
environmentally, with greater prosperity, improved health, enhanced quality of
life, and much more stable peace (because people won't be killing each other over
increasingly scarce resources).
There
are three ways that media/arts professionals can enlighten and entertain the
general public about this new paradigm of sustainable industrial development,
and "Be the Change" as Mahatma Ghandi
famously said:
1) Create
futuristic stories and scenarios, especially with visual elements, which
portray people throughout the developed and developing world, living in
advanced technological sustainability. Regardless of what drama or
comedy, science fiction, documentary non-fiction, or video game content is in
the foreground, the background will be digital and other images of modern
sustainability. For example, there will still be Times Square in the
future, but it will be based on LED lighting powered by renewable energy, and
there will still be people driving cars to work and play, but they will be
driving plug-in electric vehicles powered by renewable energy. All businesses
and jobs will be "green" in the sense that their revenues are shaped
by technological innovation and resource efficiency based on Green Savings,
Green Opportunities, and Green Talent.
2)
Present interesting and compelling images of current sustainability efforts,
such as the amazing story chronicled in Ray Anderson's recently published book,
Confessions of a Radical Industrialist,
about how a corporate CEO of a petroleum-based industrial carpeting
manufacturer and installer that was a wasteful polluter, decided to become a
sustainable company and succeeded over 15 years in becoming far more environmentally
friendly both in terms of the production processes and the products, and along
the way substantially expanding market share, revenues, and profits. Ray
Anderson's Interface Corporation definitely got richer by becoming greener and
earned more money by using fewer resources and reusing more.
3) Identify, document, and share experiences
about the most resource efficient, conserving, and recycling ways to produce
telecommunications media and performing arts events and products. Media
and arts professionals and businesses should also be getting richer by becoming
greener, and demonstrating that innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the
use and reuse of all natural and human resources is the best way to increase
jobs, incomes, productivity, and competitiveness. In the Climate
Prosperity/Sustainable Development/Green Economy paradigm, both the production
process and the media/arts/educational content are at peace and in harmony with
Mother Nature. Sustainability will be the guiding principle in theory and
practice to the mutual betterment of everyone and everywhere.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For
Immediate Release:
NEW GLOBAL CLIMATE PROSPERITY SCOREBOARD FINDS OVER $1 TRILLION INVESTED IN GREEN SINCE 2007
Washington,
DC – December 4, 2009
– Ethical Markets
Media (USA and
Brazil) and the Climate Prosperity Alliance
today launched their Global Climate Prosperity
Scoreboard® which tracks private investment in companies growing the
green economy globally. This new, never before reported number, showing
$1,248,740,645,993.00 (over $1.248 trillion) in total investment since 2007, indicates how investors and entrepreneurs are leading
governments in promoting sustainable growth. The scoreboard totals
investments in solar, wind, geothermal, ocean/hydro, energy efficiency and
storage, and agriculture. We purposefully omitted nuclear, "clean
coal," carbon capture and sequestration, and biofuels.
We indicate which investments have been publically announced and committed by
major companies for 2010 and beyond.
Dr.
Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO of Global Urban Development and Chair of the
Climate Prosperity Alliance, said, "This $1.248 trillion of investments
are not only from North America and Europe, but also from China, India, Brazil
and other developing countries. They indicate that the private sector
currently is ahead of governments in understanding that during the 21st
century, people, places, and organizations can only get richer by becoming
greener and only earn more money by using fewer resources and reusing more.
Private capital investment is now leading globally in promoting technological
innovation and resource efficiency that will accelerate environmentally and
socially sustainable industrial growth and economic development throughout the
world."
Dr. Hazel Henderson, futurist, author of Ethical
Markets: Growing the Green Economy (Chelsea Green, 2006) and president of
Ethical Markets Media, serves as vice-chair of the Climate Prosperity Alliance
together with vice-chairs C.S. Kiang (China), Rodrigo Loures
(Brazil), Lawrence Bloom (UK) and James Nixon (USA). Dr. Henderson said,
"Ethical Markets Media's mission is reforming markets and growing the
green economy globally. Our Global Climate Prosperity Scoreboard® will be
updated regularly to show progress toward the ecologically sustainable
economies that are vital to our common future. Societies are
transitioning from the 300-year old, polluting, fossil-fueled Industrial Era to
the advanced technologies of the information-rich Solar Age."
The
Climate Prosperity Alliance, a volunteer, global network of financiers,
businesses, economic development authorities, scientists and NGOs is based on
earth systems science, showing the widespread evidence of destruction caused by
the now-obsolete technologies of the combustion-based Industrial Revolution and
its extraction and exploitation of the Earth's capital: oil, coal, gas, minerals, forests, water, land and
biodiversity. Human societies are now gradually re-industrializing our
economies using the Earth's income
– the renewable energies of sun, wind, ocean/hydro,
geothermal and non-agricultural biomass – based on human capital: new knowledge of planetary processes and
ecosystems, designing our economies with Nature.
The
Climate Prosperity Alliance uses the Climate Solutions 2 computer model of
Australia's Climate Risk Pty., showing how $1 trillion invested every year for
the next 10 years can assure the global transition to sustainable prosperity
and job growth. This $10 trillion is less than the bailouts of failed
banks in the USA and Europe and less than 10% of the world's pension and
institutional funds of $120 trillion. Institutional fund managers can
shift 10% of their assets away from hedge funds, risky derivatives and
commodity speculation to real investments in a greener global economy, thereby
assuring their beneficiaries a healthier future.
"While
we encourage progress toward directly investing in growing the green economy,
we urge government officials meeting in Copenhagen December 7-14, 2009, to
follow the lead of these private investors that have already committed $1.248
trillion. We applaud our pension fund colleagues of the UN Principles of
Responsible Investing who have joined in pledges to allocate more of their
members' $19 trillion of assets into similar green companies. Now,
governments must go beyond arguing over targets, caps and carbon-trading – and
follow the lead of China and the USA in their comprehensive plan for
cooperation on clean energy and climate change. Such a general agreement
in Copenhagen can promote and underwrite more direct investments and growth of
the green economy," said Dr. Henderson.
The
new Global Climate Prosperity Scoreboard® is researched and compiled by the
Ethical Markets Media expert team: Timothy Nash, M.Sc., principal, Strategic
Sustainable Investments, Toronto; Rachel Tubman, M.Sc., senior
researcher/futurist; assisted by The Cleantech Group
and members of the Ethical Markets Sustainability Research Group. As
these investments increase, the scoreboard will track totals, providing
investors and governments with tangible evidence of the growing green economy.
Contacts:
·
Dr. Hazel Henderson, President, Ethical Markets Media, www.ethicalmarkets.com, hazel.henderson@ethicalmarkets.com,
1-904-829-3140
·
Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban Development, www.globalurban.org, and Chair, Climate
Prosperity Alliance, www.climateprosperity.com,
marcweiss@globalurban.org, 1-202-554-5891
·
Rosalinda Sanquiche, Executive Director,
Ethical Markets Media, rosalinda.sanquiche@ethicalmarkets.com, 1-904-826-1381
·
Timothy Jack Nash, Co-founder, Strategic Sustainable Investments,
nash@ssinvest.com, 1-416-821-9179
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GLOBAL
CLIMATE PROSPERITY AGREEMENT:
“THE
ONE TRILLION DOLLAR DEAL”
Dr. Tariq Banuri,
Director, Division of Sustainable Development, United Nations Department of
Economic and Social Affairs,
and Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Global Urban
Development, and Chair, Climate Prosperity Alliance
March 2009
The
Global Climate Prosperity Agreement -- “The One Trillion Dollar Deal” -- can
become the worldwide game-changer that will demonstrate the positive path
forward for human civilization in the 21st century, namely the
peaceful transition from the current globally unsustainable economy to an
advanced technology-driven and environmentally sustainable industrialized
society. Key private sector executives are organizing this completely
voluntary, market-oriented, public-private investment and development strategy
whereby corporations, financial institutions, insurance companies, pension
funds, equity investment funds, and others will commit to invest one trillion
dollars in developing countries over the next decade to build a new and modern
infrastructure based entirely on renewable energy and clean technologies,
including plug-in electric vehicles and “smart” and “super” electric grids.
These investments and related projects will be supplemented and enhanced by
additional funds, tax incentives, and regulatory policy support from
governments, along with funds that will come from international donor agencies,
official development assistance, and private philanthropy. The United Nations
and World Bank, including various UN agencies and regional development banks,
can play a key role in enabling these investments to succeed.
The
Global Climate Prosperity Agreement will help achieve the Millennium
Development Goals in developing countries, by raising living standards and
promoting sustainable economic and employment growth and sustainable business
and community development through innovation, efficiency, and conservation in
the use and reuse of all natural and human resources. It will benefit developing and developed
nations alike, generating a dynamic upward cycle of sustainable economic
prosperity, job creation, and income growth worldwide, while simultaneously
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, through increased production and
distribution of renewable energy and clean technologies that optimize overall
resource efficiency. Under Climate
Prosperity, economic livelihoods and well-being, quality of life, public health
and safety, and peace and security, will improve for billions of people in
every place throughout the world. It
will revive the global economy from its current market recession, stimulate
massive long-term employment and income growth, and protect the economy and
environment from resource supply shortages, catastrophic climate change, and
other major threats and challenges.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS BY POTENTIAL INVESTORS
ABOUT THE GLOBAL CLIMATE PROSPERITY AGREEMENT
Q: Is this philanthropy?
A:
No. All of the one trillion dollars worth of investments will be based on
typical market rates of return for the type of risk category according to your
financial institution’s underwriting criteria and fiduciary responsibility.
Q:
What type of investments will we be making?
A:
Investments will be in infrastructure based on renewable energy and clean
technologies, with physical asset value and dedicated, predictable revenue
streams with which to repay both debt and equity investments, but primarily
debt instruments such as normal capital market bond financing to build and
operate basic infrastructure. Investments also will be in renewable energy and
clean technology businesses located and operating in developing countries,
including venture capital, shares of stock, and other equity investments, in
addition to debt financing.
Q:
Will we be contributing money into some type of managed fund?
A:
No. Your institution will directly make all of the investments. You will
control the decision-making process as to whether or not to make any particular
investment, choosing from a broad and diverse range of types of investments by
country and region, by technology, by governance, by rate of return, by risk,
by growth potential, and many other key decision factors.
Q:
Will there be any kind of credit enhancement, loan guarantees, or public
subsidies?
A:
We expect that for each investment opportunity there will be public
intervention by national governments, international agencies such as the UN and
World Bank, and international donors ranging from official development
assistance from developed country governments to private foundations, to ensure
the safety and soundness of these investments both as to definite returns to
the investors and as to the effectiveness of the infrastructure and
technologies in promoting Climate Prosperity.
Q:
If I make a commitment, is it legally binding?
A:
No. Your commitment is a statement of
intent. You are stating that your financial institution, in its strategic
portfolio investment planning for the decade 2010 to 2020, intends to make a
certain dollar amount of investments in renewable energy and clean technologies
in developing countries, provided that each and every investment meets all of
your institution’s underwriting criteria as to safety and soundness. You will
not be required to make any investments that do not fully satisfy all such
criteria, meaning that by the end of 2020, you might not fulfill your original
commitment in terms of the total dollar amounts invested, or alternatively, you
might also exceed your original commitment and invest more money than you
initially intended.
Q:
How do you define developing countries?
A: We use the United Nations definition of
developing countries, all of which will be eligible for investments under the
Global Climate Prosperity Agreement. In
addition, $200 billion of the total one trillion dollar deal will be targeted
to the Least Developed Countries, as defined by the UN.
Q:
How do you define renewable energy?
A:
The Global Climate Prosperity Agreement follows the definition of renewable
energy according to the official Statutes of the International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) signed by 136 countries worldwide. Eligible investments include
solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, tidal, wave, biomass, biofuels,
and energy efficiency.
Q:
How are clean technology investments defined?
A:
The specifics will change over time as new technologies emerge and can be
scaled up, but the bottom line is that clean technologies are defined as being
environmentally sustainable in terms of the overall ecological footprint based
on how the resource inputs are obtained, the production process in the use of
the materials, the deployment and environmental impacts of the technologies,
and the ability to completely recycle all of the component resources in harmony
with the cycles of nature such that essentially there is no waste.
Q:
Why do you take this approach?
A:
We agree with the business sustainability movement’s argument that Resource Efficiency
and Energy Productivity, as defined for example by McKinsey and other
management consultants, is the only way for companies or communities to survive
and thrive. As we say, in the 21st century people, places, and
organizations can only get richer by becoming greener, and can only earn more
money by using fewer resources and reusing more.
Q:
What is the main purpose of the Global Climate Prosperity Agreement?
A:
The overall purpose of Climate Prosperity is to enable people, places, and
organizations worldwide to achieve and maintain a high standard of living based
on innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all natural
and human resources, thereby moving the global economy by 2020 from its current
system of resource-wasting industrialism to a new economically and
environmentally sustainable resource-saving industrialism. Climate Prosperity
is about the wise and efficient use and reuse of all resources in relative
harmony and balance with nature. This includes, of course, reducing the use of
fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal, and drastically reducing emissions of
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, as well as removing carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere through natural and sustainable processes. However,
it also involves water, land, air, trees, plants, animals, and every other
resource, especially people.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Climate Prosperity: Why Marx was wrong and Mother
Nature is right
Marc A. Weiss
During the 1840s, two young German scholars, Karl Marx and Frederick
Engels, applied George Hegel’s dialectical philosophy of history to economics
and politics. They envisioned modern history in three distinct phases:
Phase 1
Economy: agricultural feudalism and urban
mercantilism
Governance: monarchy or dictatorship
Phase 2
Economy: industrial capitalism
Governance: monarchy or dictatorship,
with limited experiments in democracy
Phase 3 Economy: industrial socialism/communism
Governance: proletarian dictatorship
While Marx and Engels later strongly supported European Social
Democratic political parties and movements, they never modified their basic
historical framework. They could not envision in 1848 how democratic capitalism
would provide unprecedented human freedom, civil rights, and economic
opportunities for millions of people worldwide by 2009. Once people taste the
fruits of liberty, they never want to return to living with tyranny.
This one simple explanation, more than any other
factor, accounts for the dramatic decline of communist and socialist ideologies
during the past three decades, as I discovered while working in Prague after
the Velvet Revolution.
It later turned out, as we now know, that there is a big problem with
contemporary capitalism, namely the massive and inefficient utilization of a
wide variety of natural resources both for industrial production and for human consumption.
Resource depletion and environmental challenges were generally ignored
until the second half of the twentieth century. Only a few earlier commentators
such as the poet William Blake raised concerns about industrialization (Blake
called nineteenth-century British textile factories “dark Satanic
mills”). It took until the 1960s for rapidly accelerating physical damage,
diminishing supplies, and rising costs to finally place the issue of
sustainability on the global policy agenda. Climate change is really just the
tip of the iceberg in that all natural resources—land, water, and materials—are
becoming increasingly scarce, expensive, and dangerous to continue using so
excessively and wastefully.
Fortunately it is not too late to create an even higher standard of
living for every person and community throughout the world, by shifting from
resource-wasting capitalism to resource-saving capitalism. In the twenty-first
century, the only way to get richer is by becoming greener, and the only way to
earn more money is by using fewer resources and reusing more. In other words,
the global economy can significantly enhance prosperity and quality of life for
people everywhere by treating Mother Nature as our good friend and one of our
most precious assets, rather than as our enemy to be exploited and conquered.
The main challenge is for each of us to acknowledge the ancient wisdom
of two essential values: 1) new is not always better than old; and 2) more is
not always better than less.
Global Urban Development is coordinating Climate Prosperity, whose core
belief is that “innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse
of all natural and human resources is the best way to increase jobs, incomes,
productivity, and competitiveness.” The project’s main purpose is to creatively
use business sustainability concepts taken from Paul Hawken,
Amory and Hunter Lovins, Peter Senge,
Karl-Henrik Robert, William McDonough, Daniel Esty, and the McKinsey Global Institute, as applied by
companies such as GE, IBM,
This model has three key elements:
1)
Green
Savings—reducing waste and cutting costs;
2)
Green
Opportunities—expanding jobs and businesses by raising revenues and increasing
market share;
3) Green Talent—investing in
fundamental assets including technology, infrastructure, and most importantly,
modern entrepreneurial and workforce skills, because people are now the world’s
most vital economic resource.
Through state, regional, and local Climate Prosperity Strategies, places
like Silicon Valley and the State of Delaware are now using the three-part
business sustainability model to promote economic development that saves money,
creates jobs, raises incomes, and keeps us all safe from environmental harm.
This summer the International Economic Development Council will publish the
Climate Prosperity Handbook, describing the various strategies and explaining
how to develop and implement such approaches most effectively.
Currently there is talk of a Global Climate Prosperity Agreement, with
developed countries committing to invest one trillion dollars in developing
countries over the next decade to build renewable energy and clean
technologies, enabling living standards to rise and poverty to be eliminated
through sustainable innovation and resource efficiency. These investments will
generate substantial economic and employment growth for every nation throughout
the world.
The bottom line is that Marx and Engels
were wrong, because the real three-phase historical dialectic is as follows:
Phase 1
Pre-industrial
sustainability
Phase 2
Resource-wasting
industrialization
Phase 3 Innovative, efficient, sustainable,
inclusive, democratic, resource-saving industrialism.
Now that we can envision a healthier, more peaceful, and prosperous
future in harmony with Mother Nature, let’s all thank her for showing us the
one and only path that can definitely ensure our grandchildren will thrive.
(Dr.
Marc A. Weiss is Chairman and CEO of Global Urban Development and Chair of the
Climate Prosperity Alliance. He served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton
administration, and was a Professor of Urban Development and Planning at
Columbia University.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviving the Economy through Climate
Prosperity
Climate
protection and economic growth are not enemies.
Core strategies to create a vibrant economy – innovation, efficiency,
strategic investment, and finding better ways to use and reuse resources – are
exactly the same steps we need to cope with global climate change now. These actions will increase jobs, incomes,
productivity, and competitiveness, and
they’re green.
There
are commentators who advocate postponing investments in renewable energy and
clean technologies, suggesting this will somehow delay economic recovery. They’re dead wrong. In the 21st century, the only way
for people and places to get richer is by thinking and acting for sustainability, specifically aiming
to become “greener.”
How
do we get this message out to the cities and regions of
Climate
Prosperity was launched in 2007. It is coordinated by Global Urban Development
and Collaborative Economics, with financial support from the Rockefeller Brothers
Fund and the Environmental Defense Fund.
We’ve been joined by a highly diverse public-private partnership of
pro-business groups such as the International Economic Development Council,
American Chamber of Commerce Executives, Urban Land Institute, Council on
Competitiveness, International Downtown Association, and American Council on
Renewable Energy.
We
hope to get millions of people involved in learning the new 21st
century economic paradigm. Technology
companies, including Google and Applied Materials, helped launch the Silicon
Valley Climate Prosperity Strategy in partnership with elected officials such
as San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed.
Among
other cities, counties, and metropolitan regions working with us on Climate
Prosperity Strategies are King County/Seattle,
The
economics driving a shift to new approaches seem compelling. Oil prices have hit huge peaks in the past
year as global demand grows exponentially (hindered only temporarily by the
current recession). The
Fossil
fuels are not the only commodities becoming increasingly expensive. Steel prices, for example, have skyrocketed
by nearly 170 percent since 2002. As
economic development and population growth accelerate in
The
idea of moving from “resource-wasting capitalism” to “resource-saving capitalism”
is not new. Business development experts
such as Paul Hawken, Amory and Hunter Lovins, William McDonough, and Peter Senge
have long advocated this approach. The
business sustainability model works in three mutually reinforcing ways: 1) Green Savings — cutting resource costs; 2)
Green Opportunities — enabling businesses and jobs to grow and thrive; 3) Green
Talent — developing globally competitive entrepreneurial and workforce skills,
and attracting and retaining talented people.
Numerous
corporations, including DuPont, General Electric, IBM, and Nike, are practicing
innovation, efficiency, and conservation to enhance their productivity and
competitiveness. DuPont responded to
“peak oil” by switching from petrochemicals to life science bio-products,
substantially improving their profitability through saving $3 billion and
expanding revenues by producing goods that are better for the environment.
Fortunately,
we have some success stories in which these business sustainability principles
have guided economic development in place-based, area-wide economies. According to the California Green Innovation
Index, Californians saved $56 billion on electricity expenses over the past
three decades through improved energy efficiency, primarily from state and
local government policies requiring higher standards for buildings and
electrical appliances and providing financial incentives for utility companies,
businesses, and households to conserve energy and use renewable sources. Private consumers reinvested much of this
savings in the state's economy, directly contributing to higher economic growth
and greater prosperity by generating 1.5 million full-time jobs with total
annual income of $45 million.
Similarly,
people in metropolitan
So we know how to build more prosperous,
green, climate-protecting regions. Now
is the time to get serious and spread the message to communities, cities,
regions, and states.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Climate
Prosperity: Democratic Capitalism with a Twist
DOCUMENTS
Please feel free to read, download, and print out
the following documents provided in the links below. We will continue to update this section of
our website and add more documents.
Global Coal Transition and Cleantech Investment Initiative, January 2010
Climate
Prosperity Media/Arts Salons, December 2009
Global Climate Prosperity Scoreboard
Media Release, December 4, 2009
Global Climate Prosperity
Scoreboard
Investing in Climate
Prosperity
Scoreboard Documents
$1.25 Trillion of Private Investments in Renewables
and Clean Tech Since 2007
Global
Climate Prosperity Agreement: “The One Trillion Dollar Deal”
Frequently
Asked Questions by Potential Investors about the Global Climate Prosperity
Agreement
Reviving
the Economy through Climate Prosperity
Climate
Prosperity: Why Marx was wrong and Mother Nature is right
Silicon Valley
Climate Prosperity Strategy
State of Delaware Climate
Prosperity Strategy
Southwest
Florida Climate Prosperity Strategy
San Antonio Mission
Verde Sustainable Economic Development Strategy
Climate Solutions 2: Low
Carbon Reindustrialization (Executive Summary)
Climate Solutions 2: Low Carbon
Reindustrialization (Full WWF Report)
Access to Energy for
the Base of the Pyramid
The Clean Energy Economy: Repowering Jobs,
Businesses, and Investments Across America
McKinsey
Global Institute Report on Promoting Energy Efficiency in the Developing World
Tomorrow’s Climate: Beyond
Peak Carbon
Energy
Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California
The
Economic Impact of the Florida Energy and Climate Change Action Plan on the State’s
Economy
Blue
Green Alliance Report on How to Revitalize America’s Middle Class with the
Clean Energy Economy
Climate Policy and
Energy-Intensive Manufacturing: Impacts and Options
Manufacturing Climate
Solutions
International Economic Development
Council (IEDC) Climate Prosperity Handbook
IEDC Climate Prosperity Handbook Press
Release, July 6, 2009
Sustainable Economic
Development: Initiatives, Programs, and Strategies for Cities and Regions
Evolution of
Climate Prosperity, 2007-2009
Climate Prosperity Incorporated
Congratulations Letter, June 1, 2009
Silicon
Valley Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
State
of Delaware Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Metropolitan
Denver Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Southwest Florida
Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Metropolitan
St. Louis Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Montgomery
County (Maryland) Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Metropolitan
Seattle Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Metropolitan
Portland Climate Prosperity Strategy Presentation, Feb. 21, 2009
Climate
Prosperity Strategy Regional Economic Development Framework Presentation, Feb.
21, 2009
Silicon
Valley Climate Prosperity Concept Paper
San
Jose’s ‘Green Vision’ Climate Prosperity Strategy
California Green
Innovation Index 2009
California Green
Innovation Index 2008
CEOs for Cities Report on Portland's Green Dividend
CEOs for Cities Report on The
Young and the Restless: How Portland Competes for Talent
Global
Philanthropy Partnership Report on the Chicago Climate Jobs Strategy
Urban
Land Institute Report on Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and
Climate Change
Sustainable Urban
Development in the US
Sustainable Urban
Development in Canada
Metropolitan Economic Strategy and
Climate Prosperity
Curitiba Metropolitan Economic
Strategy Report
Portland
Metropolitan Economic Strategy Report
States,
Cities Step Up Climate Change Responses
Can America’s Mayors
Be World Players?
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Invitation Letter, Oct. 18, 2007
Economic Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Agenda,
Nov. 26-28, 2007
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Participants, Nov. 26-28, 2007
Climate
Prosperity Strategy Simulation Exercise, Nov. 26-28, 2007
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Meeting Summary, Nov. 26-28, 2007
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on Business Experience, Nov. 26-28,
2007
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on Green Innovation, Nov. 26-28, 2007
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on State Policy, Nov. 26-28, 2007
Economic
Benefits of Climate Action Presentation on Portland’s Green Dividend, Nov.
26-28, 2007
Climate
Prosperity, July 7-8, 2008 Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda
Climate
Prosperity, July 7-8, 2008 Strategic Planning Meeting Participants
Climate
Prosperity, Sept. 26, 2008 Leadership Strategy Meeting Participants
Cleantech
Venture Capital: How Public Policy has Stimulated Private Investment
Cutting Carbon Emissions at a
Profit: Opportunities for the United States
Cutting Carbon Emissions at
a Profit: Impacts on U.S. Competitiveness and Jobs
Climate
Group Summary Report on the Growth of the Low Carbon Economy
Climate
Group Report on Carbon Down, Profits Up
Climate
Group Report on Low Carbon Leader: States and Regions
Tallberg Foundation Report on Climate Change and Corporate
Strategy
Environmental Finance Article on the
Good News from the States
The American
Prospect 2009 Special Report on The Green Challenge
The American
Prospect 2007 Special Report on Emerald Cities:
The Promise of Green Development
Global Development, Climate Change,
and Population
2007 Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
U.K.
Government Stern Review on The Economics of Climate
Change
See for Yourself how
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions will Affect the American Economy
Putting Renewables
to Work: How Many Jobs Can the Clean Energy Industry Generate?
An Integrated Analysis of Policies that Increase
Investments in Advanced Energy Efficiency
Clean Energy: Jobs for America’s Future
The Work that Goes into
Renewable Energy
Jobs versus the Environment: An
Industry-Level Perspective
The Costs of
Greenhouse Gas Abatement: A Meta-Analysis
Carbon Abatement
Costs: Why the Wide Range of Estimates?
Environmental
Protection in Transitional Economies: The Need for Economic Analysis