This article I originally wrote for the Asia-Pacific Business and Technology Report in September 2009. The publisher of that magazine, Dr. Lakhvinder Singh, is a good friend of mine. The article is based on a paper I presented at the International Green Growth Forum sponsored by the Korean Ministry of the Environment.
On the campaign trail, Barack Obama made it clear that the environment and alternative energy would be central pillars of his administration. He has since put great effort into promoting an innovative approach to resolving environmental and energy issues, maintaining a focus on a matrix of innovation and policy reform for lowering emissions and reducing dependency on foreign energy supplies, even in the face of cries to address healthcare and economic growth first. Although inertia and political realities have slowed down some parts of the program, reinventing the United States economy and re-imagining the American economy remain important themes.
Some of these themes can be traced back to a report by John D. Podesta of the Center for American Progress entitled “Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy” (Nov. 27, 2007) that gave concrete suggestions as to how the auction of carbon permits under a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program could generate 2 million jobs. The Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, released a report entitled “Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy” in September 2008 that set out a concrete game plan for innovation and job creation through the embrace of green economic principles. Read more of this post
Circles and Squares 