thank you very much for attending our International Online Conference "Free Markets and Sustainability". With your active participation you have helped us to make it a very successful event. 236 participants from more than 50 countries have attended this conference. In 37 video statements experts from all over the world have presented their views on the role of free markets concerning questions of sustainability.  

I believe during this conference we have shown, that liberalism is willing and able to give an answer to environmental pollution and the increasing world-wide energy demand.

Please be so kind and give us a feedback to this conference: What did you like most and what should we improve in our next one?

All the best for you

Yours

Joachim Schulte
Head of division
Virtual Academy
Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom

It was a pleasure to discuss with you the last two weeks. I hope that our conference is a sustainable one and will have an effect. I very much appreciated our international perspective to our topic and I would like to state: the environment is in good hands of liberal minded people. Guided by the rule of law based on natural individual rights to life, liberty and property - free man and women will manage the ecology.

I would like to thank: Guido Axmann,Wolfgang Dirschauer,Anna Ehrke,Fredrik Erixon,Christian Flachsland,Siegfried Gelbhaar,EnnoHarders, StephanHeichel, Steffen,Hentrich,Michael Kauch,Oliver Knipping,Holger Krahmer,Mirko Krueck,Tibor Machan,Barun Mitra,Julian Morris,Fred Nel,Achim Nissen,Bright B. Simons,Jerry Taylor,Sebastian Wolf and two hundred others for their and your contribution.

Finding the right words to summarize what we learned is difficult. Therefore I will use the Liberal Manifesto, adopted by the 48th Congress of Liberal International:

We believe that the conditions of individual liberty include the rule of law, equal access to a full and varied education, freedom of speech, association, and access to information, equal rights and opportunities for women and men, tolerance of diversity, social inclusion, the promotion of private enterprise and of opportunities for employment. We believe that civil society and constitutional democracy provide the most just and stable basis for political order. We see civil society as constituted by free citizens, living within a framework of established law, with individual rights guaranteed, with the powers of government limited and subject to democratic accountability.

We believe that an economy based on free market rules leads to the most efficient distribution of wealth and resources, encourages innovation, and promotes flexibility.

We believe that close cooperation among democratic societies through global and regional organisations, within the framework of international law, of respect for human rights, the rights of national and ethnic minorities, and of a shared commitment to economic development worldwide, is the necessary foundation for world peace and for economic and environmental sustainability.

Our conference slowly comes to an end. What about your conclusions? Please select your favourite topic and post it into the final discussion forum!

I would like to give one of our experts Julian MORRIS a final chance to talk to you:

We just finished our Chat with Michael Kauch and Achim Nissen. But you have the chance to look at the chatlog.
Yesterday we were talking about business opportunities and the energy market. See therefore our chatlog. But I would like discuss with you the role of civil society and subsidiarity. In an era of globalization international cooperation is important. But shaping of globalisation and active environmental protection must however not be limited to the national level. A liberal agenda has to accept that decentralization and local government together with active civic participation is not only supporting international cooperation, it is the basis.

How is your opinion about decentralization especially in matters of environmental protection? Energy supply is in most parts of the industrialized world not a local issue, is it possible to provide local energy for villages and towns?

Several threads in our discussion forum panel#4 are already discussing on that.

Yankhoba SEYDI "environmental problems are global issues and therefore, need global solutions. Yet, regional approaches corresponding to specific realities seem, to me, more efficient. If global initiatives overlook regional ones, a solution will always be absent. So we can see that the backcloth is still liberal."

For further reading on that topic have a look at United Nations: guidelines on decentralization and the strengthening of local authorities

four days left for dicussion, so hurry up and bring up your points. For all those who already participated so much, thanks a lot.

At present our focus is on energy supply and the energy market.

Panel#4 and Panel#3 are active. We have threads on: corruption and environment, China tells rich polluting nations to change lifestyle, country case studies about Mexico, Hungary, Bolivia, Poland, Ukraine and Germany. Add some comments to them.

our next chat will on the 12th of November, at 13.00 CET with Michael Kauch MP and Achim Nissen/Clean Energy.

  Again on energy policy and civil society. Some observers say that energy supply is not a technical question. It is rather a political and civic question. Is the price signal for energy not sufficient that these observers are talking rather about politics and civil society, then free markets and cheap energy?

We are continuing our discussion about business seeking new opportunities for making profit while civil society has to set rules and define in what framework business can operate. Guido AXMANN on low carbon society:

But there are distortions. Like corruption, bad governance structure and then business action can harm the environment and citizens. Sebastian WOLF from Transparency International will give a statement in our discussion forum, on Corruption and Environment.

Fred Nel from South Africa is focusing on civil society. He already posted a statement in the discussion forum.  

What else? We will have two chats. One about our topic business opportunities on Wednesday, 12.30 CET with Wolfgang Dirschauer and others. The other on civil society with Michael Kauch MP, Thursday at 13.00 CET. We also have news for those who advised us to change the layout of our discussion forums. We implemented a new design. I hope everybody likes it!

We are now starting our second week and open # panel 4 Global Players or Regional Initiatives - Who should start? We are not closing our starting panels because there is still a lot to discuss and the topics are also interrelated. Nevertheless we will shift our focus to the role of civil society and business, because for a liberal agenda participation and subsidiarity and entrepreneurship and free markets are basic mechanisms to solve also the problem of environmental pollution and enable adaptation to the evolutionary process of comprehensive change in our world.

Business voice from Manfred DIRSCHAUER/Vattenfall:

 

I am glad that it turned out to be a big topic in the discussions so far, especially in panel one and three, that a crucial element is the governance structure in a country or in the world. And this is exactly what the agenda of Neo-Liberalism proposes. A debate about governance is essential. Arend LIJPHART found out in his great book "Patterns of Democracy" that consensus democracies score higher than majoritarian democracies in their environmental performance. And they also have better performance in energy efficiency. This is just one example of empirical research. The message is institutions matter, but liberals always question existing institutional structures and are ready for a change.

Barun MITRA expressed his fascination about this process of steady innovation, which is inherently a basis of liberalism:" the interface between liberal ethics, economic affordability and technological progress. In a stable and predictable legal and political environment, the boundaries of property rights, get continuously redefined. And this process is a critical element in the helping to internalise the externalities, and making enables privatisation of what was earlier thought of as public resource."

We should also talk about so called capacity building to enable policy making and found institutions (polity). Is the IMF, Worldbank or Regional Development Banks on the right way to establish such polities in the world that enable and maintain sustainable development? Where does all the adaption power come from? People want to improve their personal life and business tries to serve them and make money. It is an evolutionary process and nothing dictated. What is your opinion about these news:
China tells rich polluting nations to change lifestyle (Reuters) Chinese Premier Wen JIABAO said rich nations must abandon their "unsustainable lifestyle" to fight climate change and expand help to poor nations bearing the brunt of worsening droughts and rising sea levels. For further reading panel #4 – discussion forum.

Hello everbody, we had a chat on 8th of November. Thanks to everbody who particpated. Read what we have dicussed in our Chat-Log. We are now heading to our second week. Relax the sunday, we will start again on Monday. We will shift our focus to civil society and business opportunities. I strongly believe that only direct political particpation and democratic institutions provide the fundament for a liberal society. Change is always happening through people - not through politicians. Our topic is strongly related to these questions of democracy, freedom and individual rights. Because societies need to adapt to climate change and rising energy prizes.

I would like to shift our focus to liberalism and the value of nature. We already talked about incentives to enable environmental friendly behaviour. A popular example is property rights. But how can we develop a morality towards nature or does this automatically pops up out of our human nature? Bright B. SIMONS has an argument going in this direction. I am really curious about your reactions. He says: “the Environment cannot have any value external to 'human values. If that was not the case it will have been unethical to attempt to eradicate polio, malaria, the bubonic plague or any other pathogenic disease, since pathogens, strictly speaking, are part of the natural ecosystem, too. We can only interpret the value of the environment - i.e. determine the bounds of the ecological ethic - solely within the context of human ethic.” This is definitely #panel 1 – liberalism vs. environment.

Our chat with Fredrik ERIXON yesterday on trade policy brought up some very interesting points, which I do not want to hide. See the Chat-Log for that.

#panel2 has its focus today on CDM-Clean Development Mechanism. We have a video for you and Enno Harders in the FORUM.

These experts will answer your questions today: Enno Harders, Barun Mitra, Oliver Knipping, Anna Ehrke, Stephan Heichel and of course all participants, thanks so far for your comments. Last but not least, MAO, Shoulong has a very striking argument about the situation in China threat to liberty”:

We have had a chat with Fredrik Erixon (ECIPE), at CET 15.30. He is an expert on trade policy. Trade, economic development and therefore wealth and sustainable development are interlinked. We should develop some questions and arguments on that topic.
Chat-Log

What is going to happen?

#1 liberalism vs. environment?

Tibor Machan posted "Individual Rights & the Common Good: The Case of the Environment." He is ready for your comments. Julian Morris, Barun Mitra, Oliver Knipping are in the discussion forum.

 #2 market instruments

emissions trading and chat with Fredrik Erixon. Steffen Hentrich (IUF) posted a short-paper. Check this link on ETS (European Trading Scheme)  www.ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/emission.htm

If you have any problem with ETS our expert Enno Harders is in the discussion forum. Do you know what icap is?

 #3 international case studies

Thanks to those who send in videos and links. We are embedding them in our conference site. Please use the Wiki on your own. More countries needed!

Anna Ehrke and Stephan Heichel are waiting for your comments in the discussion forum. Interested in Eastern Europe?

Hallo and welcome to day 3 - This is an online-conference. Consequently we have all the resources of the World Wide Web within the reach of a mouse click. That’s why our conference is rather a discussion platform. We provide you with information and the opportunity to ask questions to experts in the field. To decide what is important there must be debate. What is going to happen in the #panels?

#1 liberalism vs. environment?
Tibor Machan (Chapman University, California, USA) is now available for you. Also Oliver Knipping from (IUF, Berlin), and Barun Mitra (president of the Liberty Institute and Julian Simon Center in New Delhi, India) they are all active in the discussion forum #1. Julian Morris, executive director of ipn (international policy network) will be in the discussion forum #1 on the 6th of November CET 11.00.
#2 market instruments
Today we will focus on emissions trading. Use the internet and our videos to collect questions to Enno Harder in the discussion forum. On the 6th of November, at CET 15.30 we will have chat with Fredrik Erixon. He works for ECIPE in Brussels. I am exited asking him about new legislation from the Commission or background stories from lobbyist and parliamentarians. You can post your questions to our new ranking-tool.

transcript

Two parliamentarians Michael Kauch (Member of the German Bundestag) and Holger Krahmer (Member of the European Parliament) will give their view on the prospects in environmental politics and sustainable development.

#3 international case studies
It is growing, but needs more participation.

And by the way, what does the next president of the United States of America say to our topic.

Now we are starting our three panels. That shouldn't be confusing, because each of them has its own objective. We have several experts who introduce themselves below and give an outlook on what will happen in the panels.

 

Panel #1: Liberalism vs. Environment?
Property rights -Forum discussions - Video statements

transcript

Panel #2: Market instruments in environmental protection
focused on market institutions – emissions trading – global and regional perspectives

transcript

 

Panel #3: International case studies
stories and videos from you country - wikipedia tool - upload - international case studies

transcript

Opening session with the FORUM ON CLIMATE CHANGE goes on.

Good morning and good evening to everybody. We are having now participants from all over the world. I hope everybody is getting used to our conference site. If you have any problem with navigation or any idea for improvement please contact me.

Please make use of our special FORUM, were you can post your expectations. I am going to summarize it and try to embed it in our conference later.

Our opening session goes on. Did you watch the video of Indur M. Goklany? Do you agree with his statement, that we should focus on bigger threats to human nature then climate change? What is your opinion about it? 

transcript

Watch therefore an answer from Christian Flachsland, who did not agree with Indur Goklany:

you can vote on that controversy
 vote

Hello and welcome to our online-conference. This is a place to ask questions, post answers, consume knowledge and argue. Do not hesitate to participate. We set up this conference to enable an open discussion about free markets and sustainability. Our welcome video gives a short abstract of the up-coming panels and has some hints of how we work together in the next 13 days. We also have a helpfile.

Tell us your opinion about sustainability and your expectations about this conference. Under what condition is sustainable development possible? FORUM

This conference is sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), and therefore free of charge. The chairman of the Foundation, Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt, has a message for us all. In his opening remarks he makes clear that liberalism is a universal approach and environmental policy based on market institutions is not a choice but a necessity.
transcript

Our second speaker for the opening session is Indur M. Goklany from the Cato Institute in Washington DC. He calls for realism vs. ideology within the discussion about climate change. He is a strong advocate of sustainable development. In his book "The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet" he opts for adaptation and innovation rather then mitigation and downgrading.

transcripts

Currently we have 180 registered participants from all over the world. You can still invite friends and colleagues to this conference, registration is still possible. For a pleasant atmosphere I would recommend that everybody updates his or her profile.
Throughout our conference we are going to upload more and more written text, videos and interesting links. How about yours? Send in your comments using the forum, point to interesting sites, upload documents, videos and audios. And please, report from your country about the issues in question. This is important because we strongly believe that the context were markets are at work, matter. Therefore there is no single-approach and no single answer.

We have great scholars and teachers ready to answer your questions. Take this conference as something you use for widen your knowledge.
And now? It?s your turn. What do you expect from our conference? Some words will do - Please write your expectations in our FORUM

 

Welcome to our new Conference website! Here you will find all the information you need. You might be interested in some General Information and especially in the Conference Agenda. Please check back with this page, we will update it as often as possible. You can also subscribe to this page with your RSS-Reader. You might also be interested in our Facebook Event Page.

From now on until the 4th of November you can register for the Conference. Please keep in mind that this International Virtual Conference is funded and there is no registration fee. So do not hesitate and Register Today

Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, Karl-Marx-Straße 2, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
Virtuelle Akademie, info@virtuelle-akademie.de

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