Green Options

This week, I’m headed to Red Rocks in Colorado, for four nights of music from Phish, at what is arguably one of the greatest outdoor music venues in the United States. And I will, at some point or another, be thinking about the New Deal.

South Korea yesterday announced plans to invest a staggering Won107,000bn ($85 billion) on ‘green growth’ industries over the next five years.

The government predicts the unprecedented cash-injection, around 2 per cent of the country’s entire gross domestic product, will create up to 1.8 MILLION new jobs in renewable energy and environmentally-friendly projects.

In a presidential statement, the country’s leader, Lee Myung-bak, said that the so-called Green New Deal will significantly boost growth and jobs in an effort to ride out the economic slump.

“The aim is for South Korea to become the world’s seventh most competitive country by 2020 in terms of energy efficiency and ability to adapt to climate change,” he said.

The G20 Global Summit, which will take place in the UK in April, stands to be an important factor in determining China’s stance on climate change commitments as Copenhagen draws near.

First, this meeting will provide the US and China a chance to meet behind the scenes, for the first time since Hillary Clinton visited China last month to initiate a discussion on robust bilateral coordination on energy and climate issues. Both Clinton and her Chinese counterparts suggested in February that the G20 meeting would give the two nations’ leaders a chance to move ahead with the compact. The next step may well be a US-China leader summit, which a recent policy think tank “roadmap” for collaboration, given to Clinton in advance of her trip, identified as a crucial building block in the process.

Secondly, this meeting will give other countries some signposts as to what they can expect from China in December. G20 participants have already expressed their expectation that China will ante up in this time of global economic need. Gauging the tone of China’s reaction to G20 participants’ financial demands will provide participating OECD countries – particularly those expecting China to make serious commitments on emissions reductions in the “Green New Deal” – some hint as to what a distressed China can be expected to deliver in environmental negotiation terms. The last two weeks’ NPC legislative session in Beijing definitively demonstrated that China’s first priority is repairing the economy, not the environment. Thus, China’s reaction to the key role G20 participants expect her to play in the summit may serve as an accurate litmus test for anticipated outcomes in Copenhagen.

George W. Bush sat just a few feet behind Barack Obama during the new President’s Inauguration address, delivered on a frigid yet sunny Washington, D.C. day.  The former President appeared warmly dressed but must have felt a distinct chill in the stern repudiation he was publicly receiving, however eloquently Mr. Obama delivered it.  CNN’s camera showed Bush, wearing his best poker face, flinch ever so slightly when Mr. Obama suggested, “We will restore science to its rightful place.”

It was not difficult to rebut the former President and his policies.  Indeed, many might attribute the Democrats’ sweeping victories last November to Bush’s final approval rating, which was worse than any outgoing President in history (22%, CBS/NYT Poll).  Obama chastised the former President’s policies, in no uncertain terms, on the Economy (”Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered”), Civil Liberties (”we [Americans] reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals”), Education (”our schools fail too many”), Foreign Policy (”each day brings further evidence that the way we use energy strengthen our adversaries…”), and the Environment (”…and threaten our planet.”).  He criticized Bush’s leadership (”a sapping of confidence across our land”), and his claim during the 2000 campaign to be a “uniter, not a divider” (”we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics”).

But what about looking forward?  Obama asked that when future generations look back,