The new European Commission is sending a clear signal by tabling a “Green New Deal” within a month of its inception. But to be a true statement of intent rather than a mere public relations manoeuvre, it must speak to the urgency for action.  

#DevelopmentFinance #HeatlhPPPs #UniversalHealthCare #GreenNewDeal #EUParliament #BlendedFinance

The debate about a Green New Deal has recently been reinvigorated in both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, the Green New Deal is part of the priorities of the European Commission’s President-elect Ursula von der Leyen. And at the UN in New York last month, sustainable development was featured in a series of global Summits, including the Climate Action Summit. In response, UNCTAD used the momentum to  launch the 2019 edition of the Trade and Development Report (TDR) which analyses the new deal from a financing perspective, identifies constraints and outlines innovative financing options. 

Following the European elections in May, former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has assumed the role of President-elect of the European Commission. In July, von der Leyen, the first woman to take this post, released a concept paper titled “A Union that strives for more” and on Tuesday this week she unveiled the names of the new Commissioners.  And with these releases, the policy agenda of the next European Commission, mandated to govern until 2024, is slowly taking shape. In response, we ask what are the implications for development finance?   

The United Nations convened in New York last week for the Financing for Development Forum. While the outcome document has been negotiated in advance, the Forum itself offered lots of opportunities to discuss what change we need to finance the sustainable development goals. 

When the global financial crisis broke, the world looked to the G20 to find solutions. But as G20 leaders recently gathered in Buenos Aires 10 years on for their 2018 Summit, it was all too clear that ‘too big to fail banks’ have grown even bigger while we’re stuck with a vastly expanded shadow banking industry and a very worrying new wave of debt crises. Even though the G20 consider themselves to be the world’s major body for economic policy coordination, they are sleepwalking into the next crisis.

Eurodad member Bank Information Center in collaboration with Inclusive Development International, Accountability Counsel, The Oakland Institute and Urgewald, have released a report, Unjust Enrichment: How the IFC Profits from Land Grabbing in Africa.

A report authored by Eurodad partners GRAIN and RIAO-RDC looks at how European and US development finance is bankrolling a new round of agro-colonialism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Eurodad's member SOMO has published a new report titled Fool's Gold - How Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold destroys the Greek environment and dodges tax through Dutch mailbox companies. This report reveals that Greece’s economic recovery is being undermined by large-scale tax avoidance – enabled by the Netherlands. At the same time, Greece endures harsh austerity measures imposed by the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF which are supported by the Netherlands.