1 April 2009: To mark the G20 Summit opening on 2 April 2009, in London, UK, Samuel DiPiazza, Chair of the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, and Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UN Environment Programme (UNEP), stressed the need for low carbon growth in an open editorial to the Jakarta Post.

In the editorial, the authors highlight the need to revive growth in the world economy and note that a recovery strategy based on high-carbon energy sources will not create the required sustainable economic growth. The editorial highlights an initiative led by the World Economic Forum, whereby over 100 chief executives from all sectors and regions prepared a detailed set of climate policy recommendations for G8 leaders, including a series of practical proposals to stimulate low-carbon growth opportunities. It also outlines UNEP’s Global Green New Deal, setting the stage for a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy for the 21st century. UNEP estimates that up to 20 million jobs worldwide can be created in renewable energy alone by 2030, twice the level of job creation that would be achieved with a fossil-fuel based energy.
The authors call for a set of practical policies and incentives to help remove the obstacles to low-carbon finance and technology, which would enable green recovery packages to have maximum impact both in the short-term and into the future. They further suggest that leaders at the G20 London Summit signal support for the development of a set of specific recommendations on these issues, thereby showing a clear intent among governments of the major economies for reaching an ambitious outcome in Copenhagen. [The article]