Institute for Environmental Security
Advancing Global Environmental Security through
Science · Diplomacy · Law · Finance · Education
The Perfect Storm:
Trade, Finance and Climate in 2009
European Economic and Social Committee
Rue Van Maerlant 2 - B-1040 Brussels
15 September 2008
Programme || Background Reading || Registration
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to underpin an agreement
at the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties (COP) in December 2009
In the next 18 months the world faces simultaneous challenges to the stability of the financial institutions and the maintenance of world trade. The Doha Round has collapsed. The credit crunch restricts flexibility. Oil and food prices create domestic political problems. All these factors make it more difficult to reach a climate agreement in Copenhagen.
For any Copenhagen agreement to operate effectively there will have to be changes to the way the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) work. WTO changes will be needed on trade and environment and the transfer of green technologies. The WB and the IMF will need to make changes in the guidelines on lending to developing countries facing intense climate change.
The Seminar, organised by the Institute for Environmental Security and the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE-EU) and (GLOBE-Europe) in partnership with the European Economic and Social Committee and EurActiv, will look for practical ways of managing the process between now and Copenhagen. The Seminar will also seek to identify the longer term changes needed in a world reorganised around the priorities of climate change.
