Convener of green jobs working group asks G20 Heads of State for 20 dates
Ditlev Engel, President and CEO of Vestas Wind Systems A/S and convener of the
working group for creating green jobs, is asking every G20 Head of State for a
date - one hour in their calendar over the coming months. Mr Engel and working
group colleagues offer to personally present tailor-made recommendations
specific to each G20 country.
The working group for creating green jobs (comprised of CEOs and Chairmen from
the following companies: Cisco Systems, Inc.; EDF; GDF Suez; Hyundai Heavy
Industries Co.; PGE Polska Energetyczna S.A.; Robert Bosch GmbH; Shanfari Group
of Companies; Siam Cement Group and Vestas Wind Systems A/S) has spent the last
three months developing a report including concrete and ready-to-go economy-wide
recommendations for creating green jobs.
The green jobs working group wants G20 leaders to commit to these four actions:
- Set a robust price on carbon - high enough and stable enough to change
people's
behaviour and investment decisions
- Scale up research and development - and do that dramatically
- Eliminate fossil fuel subsidies as quickly as possible - and within five
years at most
- Allow free trade in environmental goods and services
“It's not a one-size fits all approach,” said Mr Engel. “We have only a short
time with the leaders here at the G20. That's why for us, it starts here in
Seoul. Our offer to each of the G20 leaders is simple: give us an hour of your
time and we'll come to you. Give us a date in your calendar and we'll help you
create a tailor-made policy framework to meet your country's specific needs.
Instead of a 1 x 20 solution, we suggest a 20 x 1 solution, finding what works
best for each country.”
He continues: “Creating green jobs on a massive scale is a two-way street. Give
us the policy frameworks, and we'll give you the results. We'll make the
investments, we'll take the risks, and we'll create the jobs. But this requires
a policy framework that re-balances the incentives indisputably in favour of
green investment.”
The report provides additional details on four sectors - power, buildings,
industry, and transportation - with examples from around the world that work,
policies that have been shown to create results. Countries that have been
fastest to embrace the green economy have already created huge numbers of green
jobs and new economic growth engines that are not dependent on fossil fuels or
scarce natural resources.
“The ‘green jobs race' is on,” says Ditlev Engel. “The question is, how much can
each G20 member benefit? This is why we're asking each G20 leader to give us a
date, an hour of their time, so we can help them and their countries win.”
Ditlev Engel is available for a CEO open interview (press conference style) on
Wednesday, 10 November from 14.00 to 15.00 (KST - local time Seoul) in the
Business Summit Programme
You can find more about Vestas and the working group for creating green jobs
here:
http://www.vestas.com/en/g20.aspx
You can find the Vestas media kit online here:
http://www.vestas.com/en/media/media-kit.aspx
For interview booking or more information contact:
Jasmine Cargill
Press Office Coordinator
jacag@vestas.com
+45 22 27 77 85
Below are summaries of the global economy wide recommendations from the working
group for creating green jobs to the G20
Set a robust price on carbon
Carbon pricing is the foundation on which a truly successful green economic and
job creation revolution must be built. Consumers and industry at large will
respond rationally and efficiently to the carbon price signal, but to motivate
investment on the scale needed, the carbon price must be transparent,
long-lived, and certain (“TLC”). Emissions trading systems such as the EU-ETS
are not currently delivering these objectives. New measures are needed to
provide more certainty (e.g., a floor price) and longer horizons (e.g., carbon
price contracts for targeting key long-term investments such as renewables). In
some regions, a carbon tax could be considered. Even without a global climate
deal or a global carbon market, much can be done on a national and regional
level in G20 countries. Over time, as carbon prices stabilize and converge,
carbon markets can further integrate to create even greater market certainty and
efficiency.
Dramatically scale up research and development
R&D spending needs to be increased by a factor of four in order to get anywhere
near the optimal level. This will create highly skilled jobs directly as well as
generate positive ripple effects in other parts of the economy through faster
uptake of more advanced technologies, leading to lower costs and increased
efficiency. A range of delivery approaches will be needed, including public
subsidies, grants, partnerships, and co-investments. And we need market-based
technology transfer agreements to maximize the impact of this spending,
particularly in the developing world.
End fossil fuel subsidies
The G20 leaders have already committed to phasing out over the “medium term”
some of the US$ 557 billion spent annually (2008) on fossil fuel subsidies.
While this is an important start, we believe faster and broader action is
required in light of the clear economic and environmental benefits. We urge G20
leaders to end all such subsidies within the shortest possible time frame, and
not more than five years. Equity issues need to be addressed, but a number of
countries have already proven it is possible to protect the poor without
simultaneously encouraging over-consumption of fossil fuels.
Allow free trade in environmental goods and services
Existing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers such as local content requirements
restrict free trade in green goods and services and thereby increase prices,
reduce competition, discourage innovation, and inhibit green job growth.
Eliminating tariff and non-tariff trade barriers on environmental goods and
services will accelerate diffusion of green technologies, increase economies of
scale, lower prices, encourage competition and innovation, and result in faster
job creation. Therefore we urge G20 leaders to create a safe haven for the free
trade of environmental goods and services by urgently agreeing first to
eliminate such trade barriers among the G20 countries, and then using the power
of that leadership example to expand such a free trade safe haven to an
ever-greater number of countries.
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