Person:

Cooper, Richard

This paper argues that the 2009 pledge of $100 billion in 2020 by rich countries for mitigation and adaptation should not be used for mitigation by commercial firms in developing countries, since that would artificially create competitive advantage for such firms and provoke protectionist reactions in the rich countries where firms must bear the costs of mitigation, thereby undermining the world trading system. The costs of heating the earth's surface should be borne by all emitters, just as the price of copper and other scarce resources is paid by all users, rich or poor. That will still leave scope for rich country help in adaptation to climate change and in bringing to fruition new technologies to reduce emissions.

Reform of the international monetary system is back on the official agenda, for the first time since 1974, 37 years ago. France's president Nicolas Sarkozy called last year for a "new Bretton Woods conference", and has set reform high on the agenda of the G-20, of which he is chairman in 2011. A start was made at the Seoul summit in November 2010, when the G-20 leaders requested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to identify "indicative guidelines" for large imbalances in payments. In accepted parlance the international monetary system is a narrower concept than the world economy or even the financial components of the world economy. Here's a proposal: let each country set a target level for its foreign exchange reserves five years hence. Then subject these proposed national targets to international discussion and review. Each country would be expected to defend its proposed target before peers, especially if it was unusually high or low.