On Jan 20, the U.K.\u2019s CDC Group, the \u201cdevelopment finance institution\u201d\u2014actually the government-owned \u201cinvestment\u201d arm of the Foreign Office, founded in 1948, with a special focus on Africa and South Asia (and nothing to do with public health). On Jan.\u00a019, the Grantham Research Institute of London School of Economics and CDC Group hosted a webinar of the Just Transition Financial Roadmap, launched in 2018 by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment and Initiative for Responsible Investment at the Harvard Kennedy School. The webinar led like U.K. and U.S. gangs in establishing a $1 billion fund for \u201csustainable\u201d investments, in their words, \u201cfacilitate a just transition to zero emissions growth in the coal-dependent economies of South Africa and India.\u201d Joining these Malthusians in their launch were the \u201ceconomic researchers\u201d at the South African Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and the National Business Initiative (NBI); along with \u201cpartners\u201d Observer Research Foundation (of India), the London School of Economics\u2019 Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and Harvard Kennedy School\u2019s Initiative for Responsible Investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a webinar announcing the event\u2014which they disgustingly referred to as a \u201cfireside chat\u201d\u2014the speakers, led by the CDC Group CEO Nick O\u2019Donohoe, were united in their goal of not letting go this chance to ensure that what COVID has shut down not be allowed to re-open. While no specific programs were announced, they singled out of South Africa and India as the \u201ctwo of the largest coal-dependent emerging economies globally. Both economies\u2019 reliance on coal mining and coal-based energy production leaves related industries, workers and communities exposed to the risks posed by efforts to mitigate climate change.\u201d The 90 minute webinar is posted on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the gaggle of groups that have chosen to associate themselves with this venture, perhaps the most defining is the LSE\u2019s Grantham Research Institute. \u201cFinancial advisor\u201d Jeremy Grantham was an \u201cout and proud\u201d follower of Thomas Malthus, and Grantham\u2019s quarterly \u201cforecasts\u201d were closely read by the upper 1% who trusted him with the care of their fortunes. The issue for April, 2011 is titled, \u201cTime to Wake Up: Days of Abundant Resources and Falling Prices Are Over Forever\u201d\u2014where, among the leading bullet-points we find: \u201cThe problems of compounding growth in the face of finite resources are not easily understood by optimistic, short-term-oriented, and relatively innumerate humans (especially the political variety),\u201d and, following that, \u201cThe fact is that no compound growth is sustainable. If we maintain our desperate focus on growth, we will run out of everything and crash.\u201d Below that, in the chart of exponential population growth of the past five centuries, we find just two dates highlighted: The issuance of Malthus\u2019 Essay on the Principle of Population, in 1798, and in 1938, Grantham\u2019s birthday, labeled, \u201cI was born\u201d! No ordinary Malthusian, this Grantham, but Malthus reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps the character of the entire \u201cJust Transition\u201d event is best summed up by the (Freudian?) comment of NBI\u2019s South African CEO Joanne Yawitch, who may have revealed a bit too much as she reassuringly said, \u201cThe just transition in South Africa is an area of opportunity and not a place of threat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Jan 20, the U.K.\u2019s CDC Group, the \u201cdevelopment finance institution\u201d\u2014actually the government-owned \u201cinvestment\u201d arm of the Foreign Office, founded in 1948, with a special focus on Africa and South Asia (and nothing to do with public health). On Jan.\u00a019, the Grantham Research Institute of London School of Economics and CDC Group hosted a webinar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":67715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[842],"class_list":["post-67714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allgemein","tag-lang-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67725,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67714\/revisions\/67725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/2.schillermeet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}