Climate crisis has added fuel to a debt fire. Global south countries borrowing costs have soared just when they need it the most. Many face impossible choices.
This is menu of what must be done. What are political blockages to action on these fronts? eurodad.org/a_tale_of_two_…
3/ Burdened by Covid, Debt & Climate crises, Latin & Central Am are at frontlines of 21stC system-level shocks. Green investment, debt write-offs, and bigger welfare states are solutions.
4/ The position of developing countries is analogous to the position of municipalities in rich countries. Both face extremely high financing costs in bond markets even though they need to do adaptation & decarbonization the most.
5/ Climate & finance ppl must grok geopolitics. "Interwoven into Anglo-American legal and financial wealth-defense networks is a transnational security apparatus"
6/ There have been a slew of proposals to reform IMF & World Bank governance as they empower put creditor interests.
Unequal country quotas at the IMF make climate-vulnerable countries underrepresented in decisions that disproportionately impact them. bu.edu/gdp/files/2022…
7/ Are there ways to break the deadlock? Can climate finance flow without changing intl finance architecture?
8/ In bombshell report @danielmunevar finds poor countries will pay an astonishing $330B in debt service on bonds worth $691B. What governs the size of the pound of flesh that global bondholders demand for lending money to poor countries? ht @policytensor policytensor.substack.com/p/global-polar…
9/ @rishirbhandary on how intl fin architecture is being pushed
">#COP27 called on MDBs to do more on climate finance
>Yellen has called for a World Bank evolution roadmap
>G20 report on MDB capital adequacy shows they could increase lending by billions" opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/…
10/ It is a rich irony that states who drilled the most oil and gas - US, Saudi Arabia, UAE etc - also have the money that is being used for climate finance
Unsurprisingly, they want to keep drilling & don't want to turn into "stranded countries". Thread
11/ Climate finance is riddled with greenwashing schemes.
Saudis and Emiratis are taking Biden's CCS and Hydrogen program to the developing world. The "Build Back Better world agenda", is brought to you by the gulf petrostates #GeopoliticsOfGHGs
Nothing in life is certain except destabilizing climate, 'uneven & combined development' & taxes.
Join us in a few hours (3pm EST) with an amazing panel to discuss Climate, global political economy, & power. There will be a recording if you can't make it bit.ly/money-and-clim…
"Problem of modernization has not gone away. In fact, it has returned with unprecedented urgency with #climatecrisis. The advanced nations of the world want a global energy transition. The Third World states have more urgent priorities..." @policytensor policytensor.substack.com/p/global-polar…
Cracking Polycrisis panel on Money, Climate, Debt is now live. Tune in here:
Fun & insightful Polycrisis panel. If you missed it,don't FOMO. Recording here:
-Financing & dollars are drying up for rest of the world just when they need it the most
-get domestic politics right & countries can creatively do a lot
2/ Ecology: With super hot oceans, we are very worried about this Atlantic hurricane season. THIRTY storms are predicted plus minus 5, depending on el nino
3/London, Zurich, Bermuda are home of reinsurance.
Insurance model rely on risks being 1 Uncorrelated 2 Calculable 3 Paid for by mkt returns elsewhere
But #globalwarming upends Insurance
It correlates risks (global!); creates catastrophic fat-tails; and crimps returns everywhere.
what reading one book by Brett Christophers does to a mf
‘while it is possible to prevent businesses from doing profitable things, it is impossible to make them do things they consider insufficiently profitable’. Why do all this 'market failure' nonsense ft.com/content/b2b6fb…
Brett Chrisopher's work on Rentier Capitalism has been eyeopening. Asset Managers like Blackrock now run the roads we drive on; the pipes that supply our drinking water; the farmland that provides our food; electricity & heat. Nice profile
Under capitalism, profit expectations drive companies’ invstmt decisions. Building solar/wind & selling the electricity they generate, however, generally is not a very profitable business What sort of returns do investors earn, asks Brett Christophers time.com/6958606/climat…
Yes, BJP still sets the terms in the Indian parliament. But it will not have the decisive electoral majority of 2019-2024 lok sabha where it ran bills with zero opposition or consultation. After this election it will have to respect India’s opposition and democracy
India's stock market slides. Their logic?
BJP not winning in a landslide -> forced to have a NDA coalition government that will inevitably have to be more pro-welfare
--> hence the BJP cannot do nakedly pro-rich liberal reforms --> Oops, sell sell sell
Adani's reversal tells you everything.
"In 9yrs of Modi’s tenure, Adani’s wealth grew from $8bn to $137bn. In 2022 alone, he made $72bn, which is more than the combined earnings of the world’s next 9 billionaires" ht @AnnPettifor
1/ "What's happening in Guyana isn't just happening there. All over the globe, oil companies are racing to tap as many of the remaining fossil fuel reserves as they can"
@jeffgoodell :
2/ This is not a a story of Guyana’s PM lecturing western liberals over hypocrisy climate, oil & Amazonian forests.
But a geopolitical story of developing country elites working with western firms (Exxon) to sell to western markets (oil goes to europe) phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offsh…
3/ "Guyana is now producing nearly as much oil as Venezuela -1 of the largest oil exporters since the 1920s & founder of OPEC
This amazing article on Exxon shows that the logic of imperial exploitation of natural resources is alive & kicking"-@GaraviniG phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offsh…
White House request to Congress for $106 billion in emergency funding for foreign aid.
A budget tells you more than words about actual priorities. Full breakdown in this PDF incl military aid to Ukraine, Israel, intl development (World bank) etc Thread whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl…
2/ UKRAINE: US so far has sent more than $75 billion to Ukraine. Of new $106B, Biden asks $61B for Ukraine.
~$50B military aid, loans for military gear, DOD stocks of weapons etc (Pg 4-27_
~$11.75B economic (pg 42)
3/Reminder why Biden's request for emergency funding looks the way it does-$106B for ukraine,israel,border, humanitarian. US congressional politics when governed by Dem president+Dem senate+Republican house makes funding requests look like a dogs breakfast