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"Our children and youth are angry. And they have every right to feel enraged... We have repeatedly called upon governments to put national agendas and short termism aside and honour their climate commitments... This radical transformation demands a profound systemic change, and we are all part of this system."
Who said this? A civil society leader? A fringe politician? No – it was Angel Gurría, the Secretary General of the OECD, an organisation long recognised as the bastion of mainstream economics. He went on: "The ‘green wave’ that dominated the recent European elections demonstrates not only a rising tide of awareness, but also muscle. So be it by political conviction or electoral convenience, leaders need to think big and act bigger."
We have yet to see a government elected explicitly on their commitment to transform their economies to green and fair. But the signs are there: it will not be long. Germany looks the most likely. We have known for a long time this is the defining issue of our age. It will not go away, the science is unarguable, the movement will deepen, accelerate and remove from power all that did not contribute.
GEC have risen to the challenge of thinking big and acting bigger. For five years, behind the scenes, we have convened the leading organisations including the OECD, the UN, the German development agency GIZ, the Global Green Growth Institute, and the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership. We have built trust, shared analysis, and started to collaborate.
And on July 16th 2019, we step out together at the UN Headquarters at the High Level Political Forum to launch – Partners for Inclusive Green Economies. We will launch with a shared script for economic transformation, a major new paper based on collaboration between this new partnership. The Principles, Priorities and Pathways for Inclusive Green Economies will launch on July 16th, and states our shared conviction: business as usual is over. Until then, you can get a sneak preview of the Principles here...
If you are in NYC, please join us.
We promised you a big year to celebrate GEC’s tenth anniversary. After launching this global partnership with its transformative script, there will be two more big announcements later this year. Please watch this space, or better yet, get in touch and join us.
- Oliver Greenfield, GEC Convenor
