Conference FCSD November 16th 2009

A Sustainable New Deal for Belgium

On this page you will find more background on the conference day and the preliminary programme. As appetizer we also metion some recent quotes.

background | programme | quotes | inscription | venue

FCSD forum 2011

REG n° BE-BXL-000022

Verified environmental management

Background

Sustainable new deal     The financial and economical crisis we are currently living, requires a well thought-out policy answer at international, national and regional level. This policy answer can not be based on a short term vision, but should make reference to a long term vision on a carbon neutral economy, aiming at reducing drastically green house gas emissions, using energy and resources at their rate of recovery and taking in to account the social impact of our production and consumption patterns. In short, a policy that really integrates the three dimensions of sustainable development.

UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, as well as UNEP Director Achim Steiner and many others pleaded in this context for a Green New Deal to face the current crisis, making reference at Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal which was a reaction to the great depression of the 1930’s and made way for the period of growth after the second World war.

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Programme

During the morning session we take a closer look at the concept of a Sustainable New Deal. While Olivier Deleuze (UNEP) and Jos Delbeke (European Commission, DG Environment) will present the international and European state of play, Geert Noels (economic-financial advisor and author of Econoshock) and Philippe Van Parijs (Hoover Chair of economic and social ethics at the UCL) will focus, each from his own background, on what a Sustainable New Deal can or should be for our country. Before lunch time, the speakers will form a panel to react to each others opinions and to questions from the audience.

In the afternoon the concept of a Sustainable New Deal will be made more concrete, starting from 3 themes: investing in a SND, innovation and technology and approaches on a local level. Raymond Van Ermen (Delegated Director of European Partners for the Environment (EPE) and of the European Platform on Finance and Eco-Innovation), Serge De Gheldere (Climate ambassador of Al Gore, guest lecturer at Groep T) and Amanda Smith (Senior Lecturer in International Studies, Nottingham Trent University, UK) third speaker will introduce these themes, after which the audience can react. Also a panel of stakeholders will have the opportunity to react on the policy propositions that were made. The Forum will be closed by Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy.

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Quotes

“Together, we face two crises: climate change and the global economy. But these crises
present us with a great opportunity—an opportunity to address both challenges simultaneously.Managing the global financial crisis requires massive global stimulus. A big part of that spending should be an investment—an investment in a green future. An investment that fights climate change, creates millions of green jobs and spurs green growth. We need a Green New Deal.
(…) We also urgently need a deal on climate change to provide the political, legal, and economic framework to unleash a sustained wave of investment. In short, our response to the economic crisis must advance climate goals, and our response to the climate crisis will advance economic and social goals.
( Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the UN, December 11th 2008)

“Living to the EU engagements for 2020 and responding to the current economical crisis, offer an opportunity to reorient policies and investments toward SD. Within the economic reform programs from the EU and EU member states, including the relance plan of the Belgian federal government, the Climate Change issue should be fully integrated. This would be for Belgium a first concrete step towards a sustainable New Deal, like Ban Ki-Moon Secretary General of the UN mentioned in his speech on December 11th 2008 at Poznan.”
(FCSD, Opinion on the national climate plan 2009-2012 of Belgium, February 5th 2009):

“The Global Green New Deal report, part of the UNEP Green Economy initiative, is being presented here to ministers from the North and the South as an anti-dote to the current economic woes. It represents an opportunity to accelerate towards innovation-led, low carbon, low waste Green Economy societies with decent employment prospects for many more millions of people. (…) This agenda - this locomotive for sustainable development - is as relevant to developing and emerging economies as it is to industrialized ones. Greening the economy is as much about greening overseas development aid development; bilateral and multilateral assistance; south-south cooperation and direct foreign investment as it is about national investment.”
(Achim Steiner, Executive Director UNEP, February 16th 2009).

“The council is therefore calling for a sustainable new deal: a structural and collective response to the economic and financial crisis that reviews our production and consumption by taking into account ecological challenges, social justice and a healthy economy.2 It concerns a comprehensive transition process involving both governmental authorities and actors, that cannot be achieved in the short term. It is moreover necessary to broach policy responses for today by starting from this vision. Because decisions that we take now regarding infrastructure, housing and energy supply will condition our social choices for decades, because of the life span of such projects and the direct and indirect consequences of investments.”
(FCSD, Opinion on the federal recovery plan, March 27th 2009)

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Inscription

Inscriptoin is free of charge but necessary. You can mail at mail@frdo-cfdd.be. We kindly ask to us as subject inscription forum november 16 and to mention in the mail your name, first name, organisation, address, telephone number and e-mail.

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Venue

The conference center Square Brussels is situated near the SNCB Central Station. You will find an itinerary at www.square-brussels.com.

There will be simultaneous translation in three languages (EN, NL, FR).

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