General Discussion

An early use of the phrase "Green New Deal" was by journalist Thomas Friedman.[16] He argued in favor of the idea in The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine.[17][18] In January 2007, Friedman wrote:

If you have put a windmill in your yard or some solar panels on your roof, bless your heart. But we will only green the world when we change the very nature of the electricity grid – moving it away from dirty coal or oil to clean coal and renewables. And that is a huge industrial project – much bigger than anyone has told you. Finally, like the New Deal, if we undertake the green version, it has the potential to create a whole new clean power industry to spur our economy into the 21st century.[18]

Friedman expanded upon the idea in his September 2008 book Hot, Flat, and Crowded.[19] This approach was taken up in Britain by the Green New Deal Group,[20] which published its eponymous report on July 21, 2008.[21] The concept was further popularized and put on a wider footing when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began to promote it internationally.