 |
PRESS RELEASE
| Evian Group and Friedrich Ebert Foundation call for candidness in trade and climate change negotiations | |
|---|---|
| About | IMD is a leading global business school based in Switzerland. For over 60 years IMD has worked with leading global companies to develop and retain management talent. IMD is the “global meeting place”: the most international of business schools worldwide. IMD offers learning based on innovative and highly relevant research. Learning that can be applied to business challenges - immediately. This is IMD's "Real World. Real Learning." approach. (www.imd.org). The Evian Group at IMD is an international coalition of corporate, government and opinion leaders, committed to fostering inclusive and sustainable globalization in a rules-based multilateral framework. For more information on the Evian Group go to www.eviangroup.org. |
| Contact | Alessandro Sofia Kevin Anselmo
|
| Location - Date | Lausanne, Switzerland - September 28, 2009 |
| Text | A three-day Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue convened by the Evian Group at IMD and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung warned against the inertia and mistrust that fester multilateral efforts to conclude substantive agreements in the realms of international trade and climate change. Attended by individuals from business, labor unions, international organizations, universities and civil society, the meeting underlined the imperative of fostering long-standing sustainable relationships in grappling with trade discriminations and curtailing greenhouse gas emissions. In the course of the event entitled Trade, Climate Change and Development: a Fresh Look at Dilemmas and Reconciliation, panellists underlined the failure of leadership which has caused an all-round breakdown in trust. The economic crisis we are presently facing, of considerable gravity and distress to many households around the world, is a hiccup compared to the disaster that awaits us in a generation or so should we remain in a state of institutional paralysis. “We should stop engaging in wishful thinking,” emphasized Professor Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Founding Director of the Evian Group. “It is essential that sustainability be embedded in a company’s business model.” For this to happen, governments must set the appropriate domestic and international regulatory frameworks that guide market interactions in the direction of a just transition towards low-carbon and inclusive growth. Michael Grubb, Professor and Chair of Climate Strategies, at Cambridge University, stressed, “if damaging externalities are not internalized in prices, there is no basis to assume that economic liberalization and free trade will ultimately improve human welfare.” Yet the measures for regions to achieve this in the absence of global participation are complex and imperfect. Warning of a “race to the bottom” from free emission allocations – which themselves are a form of subsidy – he said that “all options should be open to consideration and multilateral negotiations on these would clearly be preferable to unilateral actions.” Domestic subsidies are also an area in need of far greater transparency to evaluate their effectiveness in addressing the public policy goals they are officially intended to serve. The inescapable reconfiguration of energy systems, aligned with the necessary technology transfer and financial mechanisms geared at climate mitigation and adaptation, will require a degree of international coordination of unprecedented scale. “Value-based change driven at the individual level should help our governments understand the expense of their short-sightedness,” said Türkan Karakurt, Director of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Geneva Office. The troubled Doha Round of trade negotiations at the WTO must find a conclusion. The beleaguered UNFCCC Copenhagen process must be given greater push. Ultimately, the linkages between trade and climate change rest on our understanding of the world we wish to bequeath. The Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue was held at IMD in Lausanne. |
Your next step
UK/S.E. Asia/China/Middle East
 |
Call Kevin Anselmo: +41(0)21 618 0799 |
