Taken from the December 2017 Green Economy Coalition Newsletter.
It’s clear now that 2017 was the year that the global economy finally reached long-awaited tipping points on the transition to a greener, inclusive future. Of course, Trump’s alternative direction has attracted most of the headlines, and there’s worrying news on emissions growth and fossil fuel use.
But, as our new Green Economy Barometer has found, global energy systems are undergoing profound, accelerating transformation. The coal industry is collapsing, renewables are booming, and the end of the combustion engine is finally in sight. New global leadership is emerging, with last week’s One Planet Summit in Paris the capstone of a year of green economy commitments from governments, institutions and businesses. And the GEC, together with our members, has stepped up our work to show leadership on the ground.
2017 was a great year for the GEC, as we grew in terms of profile, impact, projects underway, funding, staffing and capacity. Clusters of member organisations are now acting together with purpose and funding to forward the strategic aims of the Coalition and act as catalysts for change, and we’ve expanded our active regional hubs, bringing green economy dialogue to the Caribbean, India, Mongolia, Peru, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda. Three new staff members joined the team in 2017, and our new website was launched back in September.
Of course, challenges remain. Ten years on from the credit crisis, banking and finance systems remain essentially unchanged, dominated by institutions “too big to fail”. At the other end of the scale, small businesses and informal workers are being forgotten. And biodiversity is collapsing, with habitat loss, species extinction and ecosystem degradation all accelerating.
Recognising this, the Green Economy Coalition is stepping up our work in 2018 to address these issues. We’ll be launching the Santa Cruz Declaration on Small Green Enterprises, pushing for support and investment for these crucial engines of social change. Protecting and valuing nature will be a key focus, following on from the publication of our ground-breaking Wealth of Nature report at November’s World Forum on Natural Capital. And our capital markets work, led by partners Finance Watch, will capitalise on the momentum of the recently-launched Global Change Finance Campaign 2018 to build a banking system that works for people and the planet.
We’ll be bringing together all these strands together at our Global Meeting for 2018, held in Durban, South Africa, alongside the UN Partnership on the Green Economy Ministerial. Keep an eye out for more announcements early in the new year.
All of this adds up to a busy schedule in the new year, and we’re looking forward to taking green economy to the next level in 2018. But it’s only possible with the contributions of our outstanding and growing partnerships.
We thank all of you - and wish you happy holidays.
Oliver Greenfield
