Toward a Transatlantic Green New Deal: Tackling the Climate and Economic Crisis

On June 23, at a panel discussion in Washington D.C. with Juergen Trittin, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Worldwatch Institute released the English version of their new report Towards a Transatlantic Green New Deal: Tackling the Climate and Economic Crises. The report examines ways in which the current economic downturn is an opportunity to fight climate change while creating quality jobs.

"The key question for a green new deal is whether you can include economic and social costs in production and consumption. Only if you ensure that these are not externalized will you have a real market economy,"said Trittin, who is the former Minister of Environment of Germany and one of the two top candidates of the Green party in the upcoming elections to the German Parliament.

The panel discussion, led by Amy Fraenkel from the United Nations Foundation, also featured report author and Worldwatch Senior Researcher Michael Renner as well as Michael Peck, Executive Director of the wind turbine company Gamesa. Panelists discussed the findings of the new report and presented strategies to overcome today's joint environmental and economic crises and to create new green job opportunities for workers around the world.

"In the context of a green new deal we have the opportunity to not just make marginal improvements, but to take the bull by the horns and affect real change," said Renner.