Green New Deal Leadership Determinants of the 21st Century: Teaching Economics of the Environment

Abstract

The future leadership on the Green New Deal (GND) will depend on teaching core concepts of the economics of the environment and evaluating the success of the transition implementation by monitoring and evaluation. The GND operates within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since 2008 to create jobs in green industries, thus boosting the world economy and curbing climate change at the same time. In 2019 over 600 organizations submitted a letter to the U.S. Congress declaring support for policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This includes ending fossil fuel extraction and subsidies, transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2035, expanding public transportation, and strict emission reductions rather than reliance on carbon emission trading. This paper describes the implementation of the GND but also underlying efforts to teach GND components for building a cadre of future environmental economists.