New Economics Foundation lecture: The Great Transition

Andrew Simms, Director of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and UCL Geography alumnus, spoke at the UCL Environment Institute on 1 December. In his introduction, Professor Mark Maslin (Director of the UCL Environment Institute), noted Mr Simms? authorship of NEF?s 2008 report , which had been taken up in policy discussions by the United Nations Environment Programme and President Obama. Mr Simms spoke on the topic ?The Great Transition: How we get from here to there?, based on the NEF?s latest report of the same name. The report aims to provide a blueprint for building a post-global recession economy based on stability, sustainability and equality, and argues the case for creating a new kind of economy that is essential if governments are going to tackle climate change while avoiding the mounting social problems associated with the rise of economic inequality. Mr Simms spoke of politicians? and economists? determination and commitment to rescue collapsed banks, on the basis that no price was too great for governments to rescue major financial institutions. What about the biosphere, he asked, was that not also in the strategic category of ?too big to fail?? - The UK has spent 20% of its GDP in support of the financial sector, he noted, but nature does not do bail-outs. The UK compares poorly with several other developed economies in terms of the share of national spend committed to green measures, at 7%, against the US (12%), Germany (13%), and Korea (80%), with an international average of 15%. The world needs a new economic model, Mr Simms observed, that recognises that a resumption of global economic growth along its pre-recession trajectory is not ecologically sustainable ?