International Economics: IB Economics

Really interesting editorial arguing that while President Biden's green revolution is welcome, he needs to go beyond focusing on the domestic agenda and look at ways to ensure that the poorest nations in the world can draw on US help in order to meet their climate change targets, rather than relying on private finance. 

More on Joe Biden's pledge to halve US carbon emissions by 2030 in response to the threats posed by climate change. 

It really is a remarkable turnaround in the face of the previous four years. 

Rarely in this life do turkeys vote for Christmas - so when the global shipping industry is calling for a new global carbon tax, you have to wonder why - not least because shipping isn't included in the Paris climate change agreement. 

However, the UN body responsible for regulating the seas, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), is targeting cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Some see the role of the Biden administration in the US, in signalling a willingness to tackle climate change more generally, may have driven this change.  

Another environmental outrage, or the cost of progress? There's controversy over the Ugandan government's decision to permit the creation of a sugar plantation next to Bugamo Forest. 

Environmentalists are up in arms, but supporters of the project say it will enhance developmental opportunities. However, there's been an alarming rise in deforestation in the country since 1990.

President Trump is at least consistent in one area - a lack of regard for the environment. He has approved plans to permit fracking near California's national parks. C'est plus ca change.

A global call-to-arms for the green movement, with Ann Pettifor suggesting that the Green New Deal might unite the disparate green movement, and provide for a radical new imagining of society.

The author notes that the absence of a coherent plan to unify the movement might have hindered the movement's emergence.

And here's one of the reasons why President Biden has taken such a pro-active position regarding US carbon emissions. In doing so, he increases the pressure on China to follow suit, and if it doesn't, well, it might be to China's short-term advantage. 

But it probably isn't in the longer-term, and equally, it allows America to assert moral leadership on this issue which is likely to become ever more pressing. 

Wow! Now there's a volte face - with President Biden announcing that the US will try to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in the next decade, in complete contrast to the views of his predecessor. 

It's yet another attempt at ensuring that the United States reclaims its position as a global leader in all sorts of spheres. 

Is Joe Biden preparing to take the lead in global climate change talks, by making a key emission pledge at COP26? Certainly some campaigners are hoping that hid envoy, John Kerry announces a sufficiently bold Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to force others into a more pro-active position on the issue.  

The Guardian argues that international financial organisations need a reboot, with a shift of emphasis away from their current neoliberal agenda and in favour of more environmentally-friendly credentials, perhaps culminating in looking to 'green' developing economies.  

This World Bank clip looks at the impact of climate change, and more generally human activity on the environment in Malawi - highlighting the extent of resource depletion and degradation - up to 60% of Malawian land is affected by soil degradation.

However, it also looks at the steps that the World Bank's Global Wildlife Program is trying to tackle the issues involved.

Joseph Stiglitz is quick to hail Costa Rica as a beacon of enlightenment, an economy committed to inclusive growth and appropriate concern for the environment and so on. So far, so Guardian.

However, whilst small states often represent good testbeds for new ideas, whether they are feasible in other economies is more debatable, and I'll reserve judgment for now. In lots of cases, we overlook context at our peril, and look beneath the superficial, short-term appeal of the data. If you read carefully, for example, you might note that "inequality" is "still a problem".