Sustainable Energy and Economy Network

Very small taxes on trades of stock, derivatives, currency, and other financial instruments would help curb speculation and generate massive revenues for urgent needs.  This report looks at how such taxes could’ve made a difference if they’d been in place before recent financial fiascos, such as the May 6 stock market “flash crash.” It also rebuts common arguments against the tax.

After the first 100 days of the Obama administration, the Institute for Policy Studies introduced our Change Index to evaluate the policies and performance of the new president. Did the candidate who promised change deliver on his promises?

The World Bank’s Strategic Framework on Development and Climate Change, a three-year ‘flexible’ framework for the Bank's institutions, makes a strong case for urgent action on global warming. It goes so far as to say that climate change will potentially undo development gains made in recent decades in many countries, implying that climate change can trump development, no matter how much money is spent trying to achieve the United Nations’ eight poverty-reducing Millennium Development Goals.

With this rhetoric, it appears that the Bank really wants to address climate change. But the Strategic Framework’s climate solutions suggest something different. In the name of technological and political neutrality, the Bank does nothing substantial to prioritize “new” renewable energy sources or decentralized, locally-driven mitigation or adaptation efforts. The Bank continues to stall on promises to account for its own greenhouse gas emissions, and it continues to increase financing for fossil fuels.