Asia-Europe Public Panel on the Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Climate Change

Competing Crises: An Asia Europe Response to the Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Climate Change

The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), in partnership with the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC), presented the Asia-Europe Public Panel “Competing Crises: An Asia-Europe Response to the Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Climate Change”, on May 6, 2009.

The idea of using the current economic crisis and the financial stimulus packages to subsidise new technologies will hopefully have a double impact — creating jobs will help to stimulate economies, while, at the same time, investing in climate-friendly “green” projects across sectors will mitigate the effects of climate change and support the transition towards a low-carbon society. Organised as an initiative under ASEF’s new focus area on Economy and Society, the public panel aimed to propose and assess innovative ideas to position climate change at the forefront of the global political agenda during this era of global recession.

The panel brought together four high-level experts from the environmental and economic/finance sectors to share expertise across the two topics. The expert panelists were drawn from a variety of backgrounds and brought a wealth of experience to open dialogue on some of the inventive solutions for interlinking economic stimulation and environmental problems — such as a Global New Green Deal. The goal of the event was to stimulate dialogue between Asian and European experts to evaluate whether a dual response to the two crises can alleviate the short-, medium- and long-term social impacts, and effectively combine the financial incentives needed to boost the economy while ensuring investments in key green technologies.

The moderator of the panel was Mr Augustine Anthuvan, Editor, Channel News Asia

The panelists were:
Ms. Yurika Ayukawa (Japan), Executive Director, Office Ecologist & Special Professor, Osaka University Research Institute for Sustainable Science.
Ms. Brigid Gavin (Ireland), Senior Economic Advisor, European Institute of Asian Studies
Mr. Radoje Lausevic (Hungary), Deputy Executive Director, Regional Environmental Center        

The public panel encouraged participants to contribute actively to the public discussion and allowed members of the audience the opportunity to raise questions and concerns to the experts on the many facets of this pivotal issue. 

 “We must understand the mechanisms behind the economic crisis and climate change in order to provide a sustainable and global solution for future generations. This public panel offers an important opportunity to obtain an overview of the key issues” Marta Szigeti Bonifert, Executive Director, Regional Environmental Center

"The global economic crisis is diluting attention from other pressing issues such as environmental damage, poverty alleviation and the meeting of the Millennium Development Goals. ASEF pledges to devote a significant part of its resources towards addressing the crisis and its social impact and to create innovative responses to the major consequences, be it environmental, social or political.” Ambassador Dominique Girard, Executive Director, Asia-Europe Foundation.