Greening the Budget

Please click here to RSVP

At the September 2009 Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Pittsburgh, world leaders agreed to eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels. As the G-20 said, “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, reduce our energy security, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with the threat of climate change.” They also waste taxpayer money. Yet a year later both the United States and Germany continue to spend huge sums of money on harmful subsidies for fossil fuels.
 
Fossil fuels subsidies are only some of the environmentally harmful subsidies that waste taxpayer’s money. This event will highlight the array of environmental harmful subsidies on both sides of the Atlantic. The event will provide an overview in the areas of energy, transport, infrastructure, agriculture, biofuels, and public lands. Speakers from the U.S. and Germany will discuss paths forward to make environmental and fiscal responsibility a priority, using the current financial and economic crisis as a major window of opportunity. German environmentalists demonstrate that they do not only claim money for more environmental protection, but that they can in fact be an ample source of cutting wasteful expenditures.
 
The new report Greening the Budget by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung will be released. The report comes up with lessons learned in Germany on cutting environmental harmful subsidies. The report Green Scissors 2010 by Friends of the Earth and Taxpayers for Common Sense analyzes wasteful spending that is harmful for the environment will also be distributed.
 
Speakers:
Ryan Alexander, President, Taxpayers for Common Sense
Ben Schreiber, Climate and Energy Tax Analyst, Friends of the Earth
Kai Schlegelmilch, Founder/Vice-President of the Board, Green Budget Germany/Europe
 
Moderator:
Arne Jungjohann, Program Director, Heinrich Böll Stiftung
 
A light lunch will be provided. For questions, please contact Lisa Grau at lisa@boell.org.
 
Please click here to RSVP