There is enough money in the world both to stop climate breakdown and meet all human needs. But it tends to be in the wrong hands, or is spent on the wrong things.
In recent years, however, it’s been shown that huge sums of money can be found by governments overnight, or created, when they think something is important enough. Once hard-set policies can change just as quickly. Both happened after the banking crisis of 2007-2008, with trillions, globally, used to stimulate economies and save the financial system.
Innovative ways are emerging everywhere to fund fair and rapid low-carbon transition. From bond issues for community-based, small- and medium-scale renewable energy projects, to new financial institutions to support new large-scale, low-carbon infrastructure, people are finding the money to make rapid transition possible. More and faster is needed, and how it should be directed is a crucial question for all, but momentum is growing.
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Story of change
Transition Towns – the quiet, networked revolutionThe Transition Network began in 2006 in the small rural UK town of Totnes, Devon. It was initially a response to the twin threats of climate change and peak...
Story of change
Iceland – independent economic policy, holding finance accountable and experimenting with local democracyIn 2019 Iceland is in the news for erecting a memorial plaque to its glacier, known as Okjökull, or Ok, which shrank so much due to the raised temperatures...
Commentary
Given Half a Chance: Ten Ways to Save the WorldEnvironmentalist Edward Davey’s new book, Given Half a Chance: Ten Ways to Save the World shows how little it would take to set a rapid transition in...
Story of change
New money meets the cost of change: how local currencies save economies and communities, and help them flourishIn times of crisis and other upheavals, local communities have discovered that one answer to being failed by the mainstream economy is to print your own...
Story of change
From financial exclusion to financial revolution: the story of mobile moneyUpdate Since publishing this story of change, we have seen an interesting critique of the original paper that underpins much of the narrative, ‘The...
Story of change
The New Deal and a Green New Deal – turning economic and environmental disasters into an opportunity for national, public renewalA proposal for a Green New Deal from the dynamic new Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become a rallying point for progressive politics...
Story of change
The Medellin miracleIn the early 1990s Medellín, the second largest city in Colombia, was the most violent city in the world. The homicide rate reached an unprecedented and...
Story of change
The Rise and Rise of Green BondsIn 2013, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) packaged and issued a new financial instrument – a so called “green bond” – which was identical...
Report
How did we do that? The possibility of rapid transitionA booklet which collects stories of rapid transitions to show what we can learn from history and the present day about how people adapt to rapid change.
