Sustainable Economies
Our goal is to create a sustainable, just and diverse economic and financial system that serves the human well-being and the environment. A new financial system is vital for a new economy where the global challenges - increasing poverty, climate change and deterioration of natural resources - can be equally managed. The WFC requires funding to continue working in this field.
What we champion
The WFC's Future Finance Commission is working out the causes of the current crisis and developing new approaches which make sustainable economies possible, including:
- Spreading laws which promote small and medium-sized banks, break the dominance of the financial world over the real economy, and facilitate social and environmental cost considerations in the finance and business world
- Spreading laws which support credit for sustainable projects, stabilise financial markets, and prevent speculative bubbles
- Facilitating "Business-to-Business"-currencies, such as the Swiss WIR Bank model, which make small and medium-sized businesses more resistant to massive economic crises
- Using new special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund to finance the global transition to renewable energies
Future Finance
Financial markets and the monetary system are at the heart of the world economy. A new financial system is therefore the core of a new economy that is able to cope with the global challenges of poverty, climate change, and the destruction of natural resources. The current crisis widens the political space for change. Given that the financial crisis is linked to the food crisis and the ecosystem crisis, a fundamental rethink is urgently needed. Starting with a reassessment of the rules of finance, the World Future Council Finance Commission will identify the systemic drivers of our current crises and develop concrete policy proposals guiding the transition towards sustainable and equitable growth.
Goals
The World Future Council works on a new definition of the financial system and develops concrete policy proposals. Money and the economy should serve people and the planet; financial markets and the economy should provide opportunities to develop individually, social security and well-being for all – including future generations. And this new economy should protect the environment and our resources. The World Future Council's policy proposals for a new international regime are pointing the way towards a sustainable financial and economic system, step by step.
Activities
- Report on best policy practice and mini-brochures on concrete policy recommendations will raise awareness, engage decision makers and support policy implementation
- Speeches and media work at international conferences will build high-level awareness
- Strategy workshops with opinion leaders at important international events will encourage debate and provide practical policy advice
- Online policy platform will widen debate and build communities for change, connecting decision makers with civil society
Recent events
Now online: Future Finance Blog
Our new Future Finance Blog takes a sober look at the real workings of the monetary system. Who controls our money, and who should actually hold the reins? Keep up-to-date at www.futurefinanceblog.org (in German)
UN Climate Change Conference
Following our presentation at the UN Climate Change Conference COP16 in Cancun in December 2010, the World Future Council again organised a side event at the SB34 in Bonn in June 2011 to demonstrate that it is feasible to finance the renewable energy transition in less industrialized countries by pre-distributing new money instead of redistributing existing funds. Experts outlined how the $100 bn per year promised to the Green Climate Fund in Cancun can be generated through the issuance of new non-repayable Special Drawing Rights of the IMF without increasing debt and inflation and how these financial resources can be channeled to ensure a rapid uptake of renewable energy. An economic model was presented on how the real economy and the monetary system in developed and developing countries are likely to react to the SDR-issuance.
Publications
- Brochure: "Breaking the funding deadlock" was presented by the World Future Council at the UN Climate Conference COP15 in Copenhagen. It contains policy proposals to finance climate protection on a global scale by bridging the gap between the financial requirements of developing countries and the current political inability of rich countries to provide the funding.
- FAQ: Funding the Global Renewable Energy Transition with Interest Free New Money. A proposal from the World Future Council to issue new Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of the IMF
- Discussion Paper May 2011: Financing climate protection with newly created SDRs
- Discussion Paper November 2010: Adjusting Regulation to Systemic Risk in Banking and Financial Markets
Expert Commission
The Future Finance Commission is developing proposals for a sustainable and just future financial system. What would a system that supports sustainable activities for promoting well-being and social justice for both present and future generations on this planet look like? In view of the international financial crisis, these questions are now more pressing than ever.
Councillors: Prof. Stephen Marglin (Harvard University), Prof. Manfred Max-Neef (Pioneer of "Barefoot Economics"), Francisco Whitaker (Co-Founder of the World Social Forum), Anders Wijkman (Member of European Parliament)
Advisors: Marcello Palazzi (Taellberg Forum), Anthony Simon (World Business Council on Sustainable Development) and Hans Zulliger (Foundation Third Millennium), and external experts like Falk Zientz (GLS Bank).
Living Economies
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Our planet is already stretched to its limits and more than a billion people continue to live in hunger and poverty. The path of development has been unequal and unfair. While some enjoy excesses and unthinkable wealth, the majority has been excluded from the benefits of globalisation. This majority also bears most of the costs of our development path, for instance through pollution and destruction of nature, climate change and resources conflicts leading to mass migration and war and devastation of communities.
Read the latest vision paper on Living Economies.
Goals
Our goal is to develop new economic thinking and governance recommendations built on respect and responsibility for natural and social wealth and fundamental human freedoms. These recommendations range from indicators to monitor “real” value developments and ownership models fostering democracy and equity to mechanisms guiding investments towards products and processes in line with the needs of people and planet.
Activities
The World Future Council is building an international network of multi-disciplinary experts, researchers and practitioners engaged in groundbreaking work in line with the Living Economies vision. The Living Economies Network will not only generate new thinking but also research how to design the necessary policy proposals and practices that will bring living economies into reality. This will be achieved through:
- Workshops among experts to debate and agree core principles for Living Economies;
- Print and online publications on theories and practice for Living Economies;
- Lists of Academic Ambassadors, course syllabuses and engagement at academic conferences
- Online presence to link with existing networks in all sectors of society;
- Non-academic training sessions and business engagement to give momentum for implementation
- Strategy workshops, coalition building and policy support during political summits;
- Regional strategy meetings bringing together academics, lawyers, civil society activists and policy makers
- Parliamentary hearings on policy solutions
Expert Commission
Councillors: Ibrahim Abouleish, Maude Barlow, Riane Eisler, Prof. Stephen Marglin, Prof. Manfred Max-Neef, Frances Moore-Lappé, Vithal Rajan, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Sulak Sivaraksa, Francisco Whitaker and Anders Wijkman
Advisors: Anthony Simon and Hans Zulliger
