Green Money Working Group gmwg

1. Green Money Working Groupwww.gmwg.org Mission/vision/currency criteria/funding Shann Turnbull Phd sturnbull@mba1963.hbs.edu The 40 Foundation

2. Thanks to sponsors: Coops UK Ltd - Ed Mayo, Secretary-General The 40 Foundation – Hares Youssef, Founder Members of working group listed at: www.gmwg.org Attendees of round table event and ICAEW as host

3. Formation meeting 17 October 2011High tea, London, national portrait gallery rooftop cafe Ed Mayo Maksym Putiy Pat Conaty Shann Turnbull Hares Youssef Yurij Riphyat

4. Mission/Vision Provide emergency liquidity for business and/or reinvigorate the economy without taxes or debt Establish a sustainable financial system Establish non-profit sustainable criteria for public/government support Research, development and testing of implementation options

5. Notable quotes of Mervyn KingGovernor of Bank of England “Of all the many ways of organising banking, the worst is the one we have today” (Bagehot Lecture NY. 2010: 18) “Will future historians look back on central banks as a phenomenon largely of the twentieth century?” (Jackson Hole, 1999: 47) “There is no reason, in principle, why final settlements could not be carried out by the private sector without the need for clearing through the central bank” (Jackson Hole, 1999: 47).

6. How might a logical financial system look? Refer to paper by Shann Turnbull: How might the invisible hand handle electronic money? Posted at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1391812. Summary of paper is presented in a Table headed: “Mysteries of a failed financial system and how failure can be avoided” as posted my Ethical Markets athttp://www.ethicalmarkets.com/2009/04/19/mysteries-of-the-financial-system/

7. International Institute for Self-governance 7

8. International Institute for Self-governance 8

9. Financiële Studievereniging Rotterdam, (FSR Forum), 12:2, pp.14–17, 19-22, 24, 25, 28-29, February 2010, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Working paper (2008) available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1304083.

10. Volume 30, pages: 33-42, November 2010, http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract_id=1602323

11. Reasons for an emergency currency: Provide an emergency alternative medium of exchange in the event that: (a)  Access to money and credit becomes limited as it did in 2008 and/or (b)  Economies require stimulation without recourse to taxes or debt; (c) A reference unit of value is required to (i) settle/mediate contracts denominated in Euros that may adopt a different character and/or (ii) anchor local currencies;  

12. Suggested specifications for Emergency Currency (EC): • Issued by non-profit industry associations and/or by central and/or local government. Eg. (a) Industry associations such as Coops UK for 10 Million members and/or (b) British Chambers of Commerce and/or their members who employee 5.5 million (covering 25% of UK population) • Currency named in such way as issuer selects; • Issued in digital form through mobile phones as widely use in Africa. • Currency self-liquidating over 12 months through a demurrage charge obtained by issuer to allow money to be given away to qualified recipients as used in the Great Depression and proposed in 1933 US legislation (Fisher 1933)

13. Suggested specifications for Emergency Currency (continued): • 5. Qualified recipients could be: • (a) Individuals on welfare – (if government participates) • (b) Non-profit organizations, • (c) Small and intermediate size locally owned firms and firms entering into a commitment to become locally owned by stakeholders (if acceptable to BCC?) • (d) Local government instrumentalities to fund already budgeted infrastructure projects. • Size of initial allocation related to x % of current creditors and/or number of employees with extent of secondary issues determined by value of payments accepted in EC. • Currency redeemable into established official legal tender after 12 months.

14. Suggested specifications and/or options for sustainable alternative currency: • Only in electronic form mediated through cell phones; • Medium of exchange created independently of unit of account; • Unit of account established by a local service of nature that is a key determinant of the quality of life. Produced on a non profit basis so as to: (a) Connect nature to prices used by markets to allocate global resources; (b) Anchor economic values in a may that is not subject to manipulation; (c) Distribute the environmental cost burden of society according to the local carrying capacity of nature;

15. Some disadvantages of green money • Money no longer a store of value • Multiple units of value according to region • Inconvenience of requiring exchange agents • Exposed to takeover and/or competition from high tech firms introducing more user friendly regimes driven by profit making.

16. Suggested specifications and/or options for sustainable alternative currency (continued): 4. Medium of exchange established by those creating value by producing and/or trading goods and services – to create “positive money”. 5. Medium of exchange subject to guarantee requirements as established by local community with guarantee fee creating a demurrage charge.

17. Some advantages of green money (1) • Create a basis for a global unit of account but with a local unit of value; • Resist inflation as the purchasing power would increase relatively as the technology of converting renewable energy into electricity improved; • Crisis resisting as highly decentralised by environmental regions; • Introduces local democratic control of the nature and use of money • Increases the viability of renewable energy to reduce the need and/or extent of carbon taxing or trading (Turnbull 2010c);

18. Some advantages of green money (2) 6. Connects the value of money to the quality of life and/or standard of living as these closely correlate with energy consumption; 7. Removes the need for Central Banks to maintain stable units of account as the value of local money can be independently determined any where on the planet as renewable energy is available in some form everywhere; 8. Creates a market mechanism for distributing humanity on the planet to those regions that are most richly endowed with renewable energy; 9. Creates a feedback mechanism for nature to inhibit excessive ecological impact of humanity.

19. Development funding requirements • Liaison with potential issuers and users to determine their requirements and generate funding and political support. • Retain a project manager to co-ordinate development and trials; • Evaluate and test technology platforms • Evaluate regulatory constraints • Liaison with government and their regulators Funding for next six months: Project manager/office: £50,000 Consultants/advisers: £50,000 Contingency £50,000 Say £150,000