Market Fundamentalism Gone Mad
THE LEAF COALITION IS WIRED, FROM WALL STREET TO THE BIDEN WHITE HOUSE
The LEAF COALITION
[Update below]
Last week, I read the Biden Administration’s COP26 “Nationally Determined Contribution”” greenhouse gas emissions reductions plan and was not impressed by the lack of substance and detail on how the 50% – 52% emissions reductions by 2030 pledge would be implemented and funded. All the sections of the plan that involved disclosure of these details were checked “not applicable” N/A.
I also was disappointed – but not surprised – by the extent to which the Biden COP26 plan ignored and downplayed any role for regulation, while repeatedly promoting market mechanisms. (Regulation has become so taboo, that now the term is not even mentioned, but instead the whole concept is Orwellian and euphemistically called “standards”).
The plan views the role of government as “spurring” private markets, and is devoted to the discredited notion of “progress”:
Strong and predictable policy frameworks support private investment in innovation and deployment of carbon pollution-free technology and infrastructure, spurring markets that drive continued progress.
The plan claims that “progress” in reducing emissions is driven by technological innovation and markets, not collective democratic action, or government intervention, and surely not by regulatory mandates:
The 2030 target represents increased ambition made possible in part through advances in technology and resulting market responses.
So, it’s clear that Neoliberalism (private markets, capitalism, incentives, deregulation, technological innovation, and endless growth) continues to be the US governing policy and ideology that controls the public realm.
About this same time, on BBC radio, I heard a story about a group called THE LEAF COALITION, which included an interview with a former Obama White House climate policy aid. Immediately, my corporate corruption radar detector went off.
The Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition’s goal to halt deforestation by financing large scale tropical forest protection. In 2021, the Coalition mobilized $1bn in financing, kicking off largest-ever public-private efforts to protect tropical forests.
I’m reminded of all this now because I just read an important piece on Bob Scheer’s website, see:
- Wall Street’s Latest Scheme Is Monetizing Nature Itself – Just in time for the UN’s policy push for “30 x 30” – 30% of the earth to be “conserved” by 2030 – a new Wall Street asset class puts up for sale the processes underpinning all life.
My corporate corruption detection bells went off again.
Connecting these dots, I like to drill down on concepts and illustrate how they are implemented in policy, so I immediately recalled a prior April Biden White House “America Is Back” announcement, and was surprised to see the inclusion and promotion of our friends from THE LEAF COALITION
FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate
- Investing in tropical forests to drive towards a net-zero world. Halting deforestation globally, and restoring forests and other ecosystems, is critical to reaching a net-zero emissions world by 2050. The United States is joining together with other governments and private sector companies today to announce the Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF) Coalition. The LEAF Coalition expects to mobilize at least $1 billion this year to incentivize tropical and subtropical countries in reducing emissions from forests by paying for verified emissions reductions that meet a high environmental and social standard. This is a crucial component to raising global climate ambition and to halting and reversing deforestation by 2030.
Imagine that: a former Obama White House climate aid – partnering with Wall Street vultures like Blackrock and tax avoiding billion dollar corporations like Amazon and Walmart – is written into the Biden White House climate market based plans.
Many mainstream corporate news outlets are already promoting this Wall Street corporate politically wired “public-private partnership”:
See how corporate power, political connections and media propaganda work?
Corporate Joe is not just a do nothing climate fraud on the domestic front.
It’s much worse than that.
He’s doing actual harm, by expanding corporate power, consolidating the discredited Neoliberal market fundamentalism model, and monetizing the world, including nature and the lands and forests of indigenous people, while allowing corporate carbon polluters to continue to pollute
Yes, Joe, it sure looks like “America Is Back”.
[Update: 11/9/21 – In terms of piecing Kabuki and understanding harm, Greta is an astute young woman. WSWS reported:
It is hard to argue with Thunberg’s characterization of the summit as “two-week-long celebration of business as usual and blah, blah, blah.”
She told the huge crowd, “The leaders are not doing nothing. They are actively creating loopholes and shaping frameworks to benefit themselves and to continue profiting from this destructive system. This is an active choice by the leaders to continue to let the exploitation of people and nature, and the destruction of present and future living conditions to take place.”
Wow.