The Green New Deal (GND) is a conceptual environmentalist movement that calls for public policy to address climate change, along with achieving other social aims like job creation, economic growth, and reducing economic inequality. The name refers to the New Deal, a set of changes and public works projects undertaken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933–1935 in response to the Great Depression in the United States.Jeremy Lovell (July 21, 2008) "Climate report calls for green 'New Deal'" , Reuters. The Green New Deal combines Roosevelt's economic approach with modern ideas such as renewable energy and resource efficiency.A Green New Deal: Discursive Review and Appraisal. Macroeconomics: Aggregative Models eJournal. Social Science Research Network (SSRN). Accessed March 14, 2019.Hilary French, Michael Renner and Gary Gardner: Toward a Transatlantic Green New Deal The authors state: "Support is growing around the world for an integrated response to the current economic and environmental crises, increasingly referred to as the "Green New Deal". The term is a modern-day variation of the U.S. New Deal, an ambitious effort launched by President Franklin Roosevelt to lift the United States out of the Great Depression. The New Deal of that era entailed a strong government role in economic planning and a series of stimulus packages launched between 1933 and 1938 that created jobs through ambitious governmental programs, including the construction of roads, trails, dams, and schools. Today's Green New Deal proposals are also premised on the importance of decisive governmental action, but incorporate policies to respond to pressing environmental challenges through a new paradigm of sustainable economic progress."
Starting in the 2000s and especially since 2019, proposals for a "Green New Deal" have arisen in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world. The first U.S. politician to run on a Green New Deal platform was Howie Hawkins of the Green Party when he ran for governor of New York in 2010. In her 2012 campaign, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein became the first presidential candidate to run on a Green New Deal platform and has continued to do so in each of her campaigns since then. A prominent 2019 attempt to get legislation passed for a Green New Deal was sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) during the 116th United States Congress, though it failed to advance in the Senate. In the European Union, a 2019 proposal from the European Commission for a European Green Deal was supported by the European Council and, in January 2020, by the European Parliament as well.
History
Throughout the 1970s and 1990s, an economic policy to move the United States economy away from nonrenewable energy was developed by activists in the labor and the environmental movements. During this period, the concept of green politics emerged as a result of increasing awareness and concern surrounding issues of climate change. The public contended that the US needed to address the climate crisis with a large-scale initiative, similar to the New Deal that was implemented under the Roosevelt administration. This sparked the emergence of various proposals on an international scale, particularly in the UK coalition and the UN Environmental Programme. In the 1980s, the UN promoted the concept of "sustainable development" to frame environmentalism as an economic and social policy, contributing to later efforts by the UK such as the 2008 Climate Change Act. This act was a targeted, preemptive measure against climate change and contributed to a sustainability transition within the US. The Green New Deal ultimately emerged as a result of an increasingly political historical context that was undergoing a sustainability transition.
An early use of the phrase "Green New Deal" was by journalist Thomas Friedman. He argued in favor of the idea in The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine. In January 2007, Friedman wrote: Friedman expanded upon the idea in his September 2008 book Hot, Flat, and Crowded. This approach was taken up in Britain by the Green New Deal Group, which published its eponymous report on July 21, 2008. The concept was further popularized and put on a wider footing when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began to promote it internationally.
In early 2008, author Jeff Biggers launched a series of challenges for a Green New Deal from the perspective of his writings from coal country in Appalachia. Biggers wrote that then-presidential-candidate Obama "should shatter these artificial racial boundaries by proposing a New 'Green' Deal to revamp the region and bridge a growing chasm between bitterly divided Democrats, and call for an end to mountaintop removal policies that have led to impoverishment and ruin in the coal fields." Biggers followed up with other Green New Deal proposals over the next four years.See for example: CNN, 10 October 2008 , Al Jazeera, December 2013 While the discussion of the Green New Deal was relevant and widespread during this time, there were limitations to fully implementing it within the context of the Obama campaign. The framework of this initiative was weak, and primarily existed as a response to growing concern surrounding the climate crisis that had been accelerated due to increased reliance on fossil fuel extraction and consumption. In 2009, the economist Edward Barbier authored the United Nations’ Global Green New Deal, which was a strategy for greening the global economic recovery after the Great Recession. He further elaborated on this strategy in a 2010 book. By the 2009 European Parliament election, the European Green Party's manifesto was titled A Green New Deal for Europe and called for: a Europe of solidarity that can guarantee its citizens a good quality of life based on economic, social, and environmental sustainability; a truly democratic Europe that acts for its citizens and not just narrow industry interests; a Europe that acts for a green future.
The Green Party of the United States and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein proposed a "Green New Deal" beginning in 2012. A Green New Deal remains officially part of the platform of the Green Party of the United States.
In late 2018/ early 2019, a series of extreme weather events led to the official "rebirth" of the Green New Deal, reflecting the sense of urgency that reverberated throughout the global population that struggled with addressing the consequences of climate change. The Green New Deal can be considered a product of a broader shift towards environmentalism and action against climate change. According to historian and urban policy specialist Jon Bloomfield, "the Green New Deal was reborn in February 2019 as a package of proposed US legislation linking radical environmental and economic programmes, presented by Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Edward Markey."
COVID-19 recovery programs
By 2019, international calls for a Green New Deal had already become more prominent. This reflected the popular support the GND had received in the US in late 2018, growing recognition of the global warming threat resulting from recent extreme weather events, the Greta effect and the IPCC 1.5 °C report. In addition to activity within conventional national & multilateral politics, there has been support for a Green New Deal within city diplomacy. In October 2019, the C40 committed to supporting a Global Green New Deal, announcing there will be determined action from all its 94 cities, with 30 cities having already peaked their emissions and progressing rapidly towards net-zero.
There were further proposals to include a GND, both in the US and internationally, in the recovery program for the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2020, however, the United Nations released a report saying that a high proportion of the world's COVID-19 recovery stimulus was not going towards clean energy. UN secretary-general António Guterres declared the world's governments were "doubling down" on fossil fuels. As of 2021, commentators such as the Council on Foreign Relations have noted that in addition to climate-friendly policies being enacted in the U.S. by Joe Biden, other major economies such as China, India, and the European Union have also begun "implementing some of the policies envisioned by the Green New Deal."
Environmental justice
In the context of the Green New Deal, environmental justice refers to the promotion of policies that recognize historical and ongoing injustices perpetuated against vulnerable populations such as communities of color, Indigenous populations, and low-income communities. Environmental justice also involves advocating for a just energy transition, job development, and the integration of economic policy and equity. Environmental justice is explicitly referenced as a crucial component of the Green New Deal, integrating various principles into its framework. Ensuring that communities of color, low-income populations, and Indigenous peoples are involved and represented within the policy of the Green New Deal is an important aspect of environmental justice. The Green New Deal commits to the equitable distribution of and access to resources, healthcare, and sustainable infrastructure in order to address systemic inequalities.
The 2019 United States congressional resolution Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal introduced by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey advocated a "just transition", counteracting previous systemic injustices that had disproportionally hurt vulnerable communities. A “just transition” relies on increasing social and economic equity and access to opportunity which are crucial components of the Green New Deal and principles of environmental and social justice. Specifically, this equitable environmental transition relies on the even distribution of clean energy investments throughout various communities in order to address issues of historic oppression and the exacerbation of environmental damage for vulnerable populations. The integration of multiple sectors and investments in climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience offers approaches to including climate justice principles in the mission of decarbonization efforts. The central argument is that the Green New Deal for Public Housing offers a persuasive plan for simultaneously addressing inadequate housing, climate threats, and economic injustice that exposes millions of Americans to public health issues. The plan proposes to increase spending to allow for zero-carbon homes to thrive, whether through decarbonization unit upgrades or new homes. Experts argue that through these methods, we could eliminate approximately 5.7 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to 1.26 million fewer cars.Kira McDonald, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Ruthy Gourevitch. “The Case for a Green New Deal for Public Housing.” Climate and Community Project, March 2024.
A 2021 academic paper led by climate policy scholar Alaina Kinol states that "all the GND proposals dedicate space in the introduction to reference research on historic environmental, economic, and social injustices that relate to climate and jobs investments." The preservation of public lands and resources, emphasis on community-led decision-making, and development of affordable healthcare, housing, and clean environments throughout various communities connects the Green New Deals to principles of environmental justice.