Spotlight G-20 & Rio+20: What We're Reading and Writing

As part of the Triple Crisis Spotlight G-20 and Spotlight Rio+20 series, we are running a special edition of our regular Reading and Writing update.

What We’re Reading
Johan Kuylenstierna, Environmentalism or human well-being? Rejecting a false dichotomy
Shengen Fan, A Green Economy and the Poor
Nature, Return to Rio: Second chance for the planet
FAO, Towards the Future We Want
IISD, Sustainable Development Timeline
IISD, Linkages: Coverage of Rio+20
SEI, Clinton outlines agenda to tackle climate, health and food security
Manish Bapna, Peter Hazlewood and John Talberth, Rio+20: Moving Ahead with the Sustainable Development Goals
Elizabeth Bast, Traci Romine, Stephen Kretzmann, Srinivas Krishnaswamy, Lo Sze Ping, Low Hanging Fruit: Fossil Fuel Subsidies, Climate Finance, and Sustainable Development
Stephen Leahy, Activists Call for Creation of High Commissioner for Future Generations at Rio+20
Rousbeh Legatis, Q&A: Battle for Human Rights in Rio Is “Far From Over”
Thalif Deen, Defining Green Economy May Stymie Rio Summit
Laura Carlsen, Mexico’s G20 Summit: In the Eye of the Storm
Peter Wahl, The G20: Overestimated and Underperforming
Liane Schalatek and Lili Fuhr, From promise to payment pledge: in Los Cabos, the G20 must act on long-term climate finance

What We’re Writing
Martin Khor, Key issues facing Rio+20 summit
Jennifer Clapp, G20 and Food Security: Keep the Focus on Economic Policy Reform

Spotlight G-20 & Rio+20: The G-20 Casts a Long Shadow over Rio

Peter Riggs, guest blogger

Part of the Triple Crisis Spotlight Rio+20 and Spotlight G-20 series.

What is the relation between the Rio+20 Earth Summit and the upcoming G-20 summit in Mexico?   These two events occur back-to-back, and both are at the ‘heads of state’ level.  This month should be an opportunity for serious international course-correction, right?

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Spotlight G-20 & Rio+20: The G-20 Casts a Long Shadow over Rio

Peter Riggs, guest blogger

Part of the Triple Crisis Spotlight Rio+20 and Spotlight G-20 series.

What is the relation between the Rio+20 Earth Summit and the upcoming G-20 summit in Mexico?   These two events occur back-to-back, and both are at the ‘heads of state’ level.  This month should be an opportunity for serious international course-correction, right?

Read the rest of this entry »

Spotlight G20: Ahead of the Curve: Asia takes steps to deepen regional financial architecture

Ilene Grabel

Financial crises often present opportunities as well as challenges. Sometimes they even enable fundamental institutional adjustment despite the political and historical obstacles that otherwise frustrate innovation.  In the early days of the global financial crisis it seemed that the new G20 Leaders’ meetings were going to serve as incubators for bold thinking.  That has not been the case. Aside from some reasonable statements on the use of capital controls, the G20 has failed to take on the challenge of reforming the deficient global financial architecture.

The next G20 meeting (in Los Cabos, Mexico; June 18-19) is likely to expose further the institution’s stagnation. At this point it is prudent to expect that G20 members will wring their hands over the fate of the Eurozone, say the right things, but fail to launch any major initiatives.

The logjam among the G20 stands in sharp contrast to the dynamism that has emerged in Asia.

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Spotlight G20: Will Mexico Lead Action on Biofuels, Food Crisis?

Timothy A. Wise

How much have U.S. ethanol policies pushed up corn prices? And how much have these higher prices cost developing countries dependent on imports for their staple foods? And if one of those countries is the chair of the G20, will it use its considerable influence over the agenda to demand policy changes?

The answers to the first two questions are clear from my new study, “The Cost to Mexico of U.S. Corn Ethanol Expansion” U.S. ethanol expansion has pushed prices up 20% or more in recent years, and that cost Mexico, which imports one-third of its corn, an extra $1.5-$3.2 billion from 2006-11.

The answer to the last question is less clear. Mexico is indeed the chair of the G20, whose vice ministers of agriculture meet tomorrow in Mexico City to set the G20’s food-security agenda in advance of the June 18-19 G20 summit. The Mexican government issued a report that suggests little ambition on food security, but hopefully our biofuels report will bring home why Mexico should lead and not follow on biofuels in the G20.

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Spotlight G20: The Food Security Agenda – Making positive change or passing the buck?

Jennifer Clapp

When it comes to food security and agriculture, the G20 seems to be all too willing to take the credit while passing the buck. It wants to set the agenda on world food security. But it has been reluctant to require the G20 governments themselves to coordinate regulatory changes to address high and rising food prices or put the kind of money needed into agricultural investment in the world’s poorest countries. Rather, it seems to be passing on responsibility for establishing rules and governance mechanisms to address food security onto others, while at the same time blocking others from discussing measures that might request changes to the G20’s policies.

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Whatever happened to the G20?

Jayati Ghosh

For a while, in the immediate aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of late 2008, the G20 came into its own. This group of (self-styled) leaders of the global economy, representing governments in nations contributing more than half of global GDP, came together in April 2009 to pledge a co-ordinated response to unprecedented global economic threats. This not only had a role in staving off immediate disaster through the implementation of broadly Keynesian responses, but also promise more for the future. This was not just vainglorious self-importance on the part of these governments. There was a genuine absence of global institutions that were sufficiently small as to be coherent (something that was not as possible in the United Nations, given its size and structure) or even seen as generally reliable, flexible and aware (given how the IMF has discredited itself by awarding good marks to so many economies just before they imploded financially).

But since then, the drama in the world economy could even have been Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark, as Act 2 of the global financial crisis unfolds. In its subsequent meetings, the G20 has been much more about style than substance – and sometimes the style has also been lacking. At least, in its Seoul meeting in 2010, the G20 committed themselves to promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. They argued that ‘for prosperity to be sustained it must be shared’ and also endorsed ‘green growth’, which promised to decouple economic expansion from environmental degradation.

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Eurozone crisis shows that regulations on cross-border finance are urgently needed

Peter Chowla, guest blogger

The storm brewing in Europe makes it all the more important that all countries prepare themselves for dangerous economic shocks. For developing countries, as we learned in 2008, shocks are transmitted through multiple channels, a key one of which is capital flows.

The exit of some countries from the euro, or even its break-up, is now a high probability. There are two big implications: capital flight within the EU and the risk aversion by global investors. Imagine the accelerated flight from Greek banks towards German ones if Greece no longer participates in the euro project. The most recent example would be the Icelandic banking collapse of 2008, at which the Icelandic authorities resorted to strong foreign exchange and capital outflow controls, controls that were even endorsed by the IMF. However, as the report explains, within the EU there are deeply entrenched policy hurdles, not least of which is the Lisbon Treaty, which would prevent the Greek authorities from trying to stem a run on their banks in the same way the Icelandic authorities did.

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