green New Deal

Killing King Coal is the First Step Towards Halving Our Emissions

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As I have spent some sleepless nights since the latest IPCC report on how Mankind has to halve its carbon emissions by 2030. For both the European Union and the United States of America, the first step in doing so is killing King Coal. As we shall see, this is already currently happening, it is the moral … Read more

European Energy ministers to meet this week

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Some great people are making a difference. Among them is Alice Stollmeyer, one of my most recent “discoveries” on Twitter. Alice is an independent energy policy advisor and specialist in European public affairs. Her first blog post is on the incoming European Energy ministers meeting which will take place between Wednesday and Friday in Denmark. … Read more

Spineless leaders and our common collapse

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Let’s talk about the current economic and financial downturn, shall we ? With my educational background in international management, I am following the events quite closely. Besides, I am personally concerned by the economic situation…

If I have been referring to a triple crisis for some time now, Thomas L Friedman from the New York Times noted recently that he believes we are in a quadruple crisis with America, Europe, China and the Arab world at the core.

Now, The Economist, in its October 1st edition is talking about ” spineless leaders “. The article is just incredibly frightening and an absolute must read and must share.

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Precarity is another reason for a green New Deal

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I seldom write about social or economic issues on this blog as I am more prone to tackle environmental ones, and this even if they are part of the sustainable development triptych.

But each time I blog about social topics it seems I am watching Rom burn and collapse. My last post here was on youth unemployment. And the situation on this front haven’t changed for the good but for the worse.

One of the latest issues of Courrier International [Fr] (see the cover above) is on youth unemployment and the massive precarity.

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The triple crisis : why we need green jobs

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I believe we are beginning this decade with a triple crisis as our economies are crumbling, our climate is warming and our energy supplies are getting scarcer.

This assessment of our situation seems pessimistic but it couldn’t be more accurate as it is based on the +700 articles I published here over the past three years. But nothing is lost yet. We still can act massively and fast worldwide.

The decade that just started will either be remembered as a time where people stood up to collectively address the problems or just failed at grabbing the opportunities we are offered.

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Forum des Emplois Verts

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As I am still looking for a job in the cleantech sector I am attending today the Forum des Emplois Verts (French Green Jobs forum) in Paris where up to 2,000 jobs positions are proposed. This is a fantastic opportunity since as I noted earlier the Boston Consulting Group believes the Grenelle de l’Environnement could … Read more

India rejects carbon reduction plans

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taj-mahal-indiaAccording to the Financial Times : ” India on Sunday night rebuffed an appeal (…) to embrace a low-carbon future in which the two countries would work together to devise new ways of consuming and producing energy. “

This puzzles me as I am sure the world’s largest democracy could with the proper government incentives become the biggest player in the cleantech sector as it already did in IT for the past 20 years.

I am currently reading Nandan Nilekani’s book Imagining India and the least I can write is that this book finishes to convince me that India could soon well become a major economic power.

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The Grenelle could create up to 600,000 jobs

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The Grenelle Les Echos [Fr], the French leading financial newspaper brought my attention to a study published by the Boston Consulting Group stating that the Grenelle de l’environnement could create up to 600,000 jobs in France in the very next years.

The majority of the job creations are due to occur in the building sector as up to 20 million of apartments and houses need to be retrofitted in our country. The transportation and renewable energies would add  most of the other jobs.

But this study doesn’t stop there as it also notes that greenhouse emissions would decrease by 2020 by 27 % compared to 2005 levels, or 14 percent by 1990 levels.

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Cleantech investments quadrupled since 2004

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Global trends in sustainable energyThe United Nations published this week a compelling report on the investments in the green energy / clean tech sector last year. This shows that a real green New Deal is under way.

No less than $155 billion (110 billion €) have been invested last year in low carbon energy sources and efficiency. All this money added to the global grids 65 GW of solar, wind, hydro and other renewables.

This “arms race” will most likely continue for decades as many countries like India and China have plans to increase their reliance on these technologies.

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Spain is going green

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Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez ZapateroBy reading the French daily Le Monde, I came across an interesting interview [Fr] of the Spanish Prime Minister, M. Zapatero. There he stated that one of the solutions to get his country out of economic trouble is green growth.

Several other countries including the United States, China and South Korea already did so and as much 430 billion dollars have been already allocated to green New Deals worldwide.

Well advanced in biotechnologies, the country is willing to work much more on energy efficiency and conservation, renewables and high speed trains.

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Looking for a green job ? Read on

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Green jobs now !If like many people you believe that green jobs are necessarily in the renewable energies industry or entitle you the position of Chief Sustainability Officer I have good news that will help you in your quest.

Indeed, both CleanTechnica and Earth2tech recently published articles on this very topic and their findings are interesting as they bring detailed analyzes of current and future trends.

Contrary to what many believe, green jobs aren’t reserved to engineers as many blue and white collars could become green.

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The imperative of a Green New Deal

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dollarsA recent Financial Times article caught my attention as it was written by both two eminent economists: Joseph Stiglitz and Nicholas Stern. This alone would represent an important event.

But the topic was even more interesting as it is an important call for action to tackle both the economic downturn and the climate change crisis. It is nice to see that  renown economists advocates such practices.

A Green New Deal has begun, but as I stated previously, we need to significantly increase the amounts of money allocated to sustainability.

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