Green Credit For Green Growth

EDM number 265 in 2007-08, proposed by Austin Mitchell on 14/11/2007.
Categorised under the topics of Climate change, Environmental protection and Public expenditure.

That this House is concerned that the costs of dealing with the recent floods is only a foretaste of the much larger sums that will be necessary to cope with climate change and to deal with extreme weather conditions; believes that instead of raising the money by taxing or borrowing, the Government should now increase the proportion of publicly-created money in the economy by issuing interest-free green credit to finance both these problems; notes that the proportion of the publicly-created money in circulation has fallen from 20 per cent. of the money supply in 1964 to three per cent. today; further notes that the benefits of seignorage are overwhelmingly taken by the banks not the public exchequer, if this decline were reversed the use of publicly-created money would substantially cut the cost of public investment by eliminating the need to pay interest; considers that such a policy of using publicly-created money to finance carbon neutral measures and conversions could be adopted to create additional economic growth; and recommends that the Treasury should use its powers to create non-interest bearing money so as to fund activities to combat climate change along the lines developed by the submission of the Forum for Stable Currencies' response to the United Nations Development Programme's call for new approaches towards adaptation to climate change.

This motion has been signed by a total of 14 MPs.