Responsible Investor

UN launches Green New Deal for sustainable investment

Roosevelt-style environment and market programme advocated for building future economy.

The United Nations is backing a global Green New Deal, which it says could be a ‘historical’ opportunity to rebuild economies debilitated by the credit crisis and target future investment for environmentally friendly markets. The initiative, launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is to receive $4m (€3.1m) in funding from the European Commission, Germany and Norway. But its impact could be felt far wider as it becomes a political catalyst at European and global talks for government and market-based investment into areas such as clean technology and renewable energy.
Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP and a board member of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, said that the Green New Deal report prioritises a number of key sectors for support it believes will generate the biggest transition in terms of economic returns, environmental sustainability and job creation.
The UN strategy echoes that of inter-war US President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was credited with kick-starting growth in the US economy in the early 1930s following the Wall Street Crash via a programme of investment and social welfare.

The UN says its priority sectors are:

• Clean energy and clean technologies including recycling
• Rural energy, including renewables and sustainable biomass
• Sustainable agriculture, including organic agriculture
• Ecosystem Infrastructure
• Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)

• Sustainable cities including planning, transportation and green building

Steiner said the report aimed to help governments make better choices and send the right market signals to investors, entrepreneurs and consumers world-wide. He said: ”The financial, fuel and food crises of 2008 are in part a result of speculation and a failure of governments to intelligently manage and focus markets. But they are also part of a wider market failure triggering ever deeper and disturbing losses of natural capital and nature- based assets coupled with an over-reliance of finite,

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