Reuters examines the green trends in governments all over the world.
Just as Bill Clinton used the battle cry “It’s the economy, stupid!” to keep his 1992 presidential campaign focused, political leaders worldwide are chanting a new mantra based on growing alarm about global warming.
Mainstream parties in Germany, Britain, France, Canada, the United States and Austria believe tackling climate change is a vote winner while established Green parties in Germany and Austria are experiencing a renaissance.
“Climate change, if presented the right way, is a topic that voters are definitely opening up to,” Manfred Guellner, managing director of Germany’s Forsa polling institute, told Reuters. “We’re seeing you can score points with it
“Sustainable development and the defence of the environment is a question so fundamental that it can’t be the property of one political party, even if it’s green in colour,” the front-runner for ruling conservative UMP party told parliament.
“Showing a commitment for the environment has once again become fashionable and deemed worthy of public recognition,” said Udo Kuckartz, a University of Marburg researcher in a recent study of the public’s view for the German government.
“We haven’t seen that in a long time.”
Germany is home to the Greens party, one of the world’s most successful ecology parties which has had seven years in government. Their support has climbed from 8.1 percent in the 2005 election to around 11 percent in opinion polls.
Government intervention is important in the fight against global warming mainly because pollution is an externality and that means free markets cannot solve this issue by themselves. Green votes are the way forward.
