Economist calls for 'Marshall Plan' for global warming
As the recent climate talks in Nairobi demonstrated, while there is widespread agreement that something needs to be done to tackle climate change, there is little agreement as to how to go about it. Of particular concern are countries such as China and India, whose CO2 emissions are likely to grow rapidly in the coming years. In 2002, the American economist Dr Margo Thorning founded the International Council for Capital Foundation (ICCF), a think tank which focuses on economic growth, environment, job creation and retirement security. She has just completed a tour of Asia which took in Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and New Delhi. The aim of her tour was to promote a new piece of economic research carried out for the ICCF which looks at the link between the level of economic freedom in a country and its energy efficiency. The researchers looked at 90 countries in total, but focused on the countries in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, and the United States). In an interview with CORDIS News, Dr Thorning explained what the researchers found. 'We found that countries that rank pretty high in terms of economic freedom tend to be much more energy efficient and use much less energy to produce every dollar of output,' she explained. 'There's a real strong correlation.' According to Dr Thorning, if the best technology could be transferred to China and India, it would make a huge difference to their energy bills, it would save them money and their products would be more competitive. 'But as important they would have cleaner air, because their air is really bad and it's hard to breathe, and they'd emit less CO2,' she adds. Pointing out that China is predicted to become the largest global emitter of CO2 by 2010, she notes that 'without getting a handle on their emissions or India's emissions what we do in Europe simply doesn't matter. Technology transfer's got to be a key to that.' However there are barriers to technology transfer; in India's case these are mostly due to government ownership of key sectors such as energy and heavy bureaucracy, which means it takes a long time to set up a business there. By contrast China's main problem is its ongoing failure to protect intellectual property rights. 'Even now companies tell me that they just don't put their best equipment in China for fear their intellectual property will be stolen,' she says. What Dr Thorning believes is needed is a kind of 'Marshall Plan' for global warming, whereby developed countries would transfer technology to developing countries, in return for which developing countries would make certain reforms. Ultimately she sees the Asia Pacific Partnership as an experiment. 'If they can demonstrate some real results that help promote cleaner energy and slow the growth of CO2 I think that will be a positive thing,' she comments. Asked what role the EU could play in this, she responds enthusiastically. 'Oh I can see the EU being very important because the industries here have become highly efficient, and they're always trying to figure out ways to reduce emissions,' she says, noting that EU companies could offer their technology on a commercial basis and many are interested in doing this. 'Perhaps there's a chance for the EU and these six partners to align and move closer and closer together, especially as the EU faces what they will do after 2012,' she adds. As to how the EU could boost its own research and technology, Dr Thorning believes companies would invest more in R&D if the economy were growing faster. She is also supportive of the idea of promoting entrepreneurial spirit and suggests that Europe needs to adopt a more positive attitude towards risk taking. 'Failing is not a sin,' she says. 'In the US if you start an enterprise and you fail, just pick yourself up and try again,'
Countries
Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, United States