Green Economy is key catalyst for growth and poverty eradication, says UNEP-report

UNEP has launched a report entitled Towards a Green Economy, Pathways to a Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, in advance of Rio 2012, that focuses on innovative ways to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development.
The report aims to ”demystify” two myths about greening the global economy. First, sustainable development and economy go together. A green economy does not inhibit but rather provides opportunities for employment and wealth creation, it argues. Secondly, a green economy is not the prerogative of wealthy countries.
According to the report, this investment will set up the transition towards a green economy, defined as low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. A large part of this transition, however, implies policies and investment that dissociate growth from the current intensive consumption of materials and energy use.
The report also seeks to motivate policy makers to create the enabling conditions for increased investments in a transition to a green economy. Investing 2% of global GDP into ten key sectors can kick-start a transition towards a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy, a new United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report suggests. The sum, currently amounting to an average of around $1.3 trillion a year and backed by forward-looking national and international policies, would grow the global economy at around the same rate, if not higher than those forecast under current economic models.
In his foreword to the report, UNEP Executive Director Acheim Steiner writes: ”New ideas are by their very nature disruptive, but far less disruptive than a world running low on drinking water and productive land, set against the backdrop of climate change, extreme weather events and rising natural resource scarcities. A green economy does not favour one political perspective over another. It is relevant to all economies, be they State or more market-led. Neither is it a replacement for sustainable development. Rather, it is a way of realising that development at the national, regional and global levels and in ways that resonate with and amplify the implementation of Agenda 21”
Sources:

http://www.unep.org/GreenEconomy/Portals/93/documents/Full_GER_screen.pdf

http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/GreenEconomyReport/

http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article3261

http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/en/trackback/id/6181

Filed under: Development, economy, green, growth, report, unep

Green and growth go together, says OECD

The OECD Green Growth Strategy , and the new report, Towards Green Growth, provide a practical framework for governments to boost economic growth and protect the environment.
Governments must look to the green economy to find new sources of growth and jobs. They should put in place policies that tap into the innovation, investment and entrepreneurship driving the shift towards a greener economy. Green growth makes economic as well as environmental sense. In natural resource sectors alone, commercial opportunities related to investments in environmental sustainability could run into trillions of dollars by 2050.
Two broad sets of policies are essential elements in any green growth strategy: the first set mutually reinforces economic growth and the conservation of natural capital, including core fiscal and regulatory settings and innovation policies. The second includes policies that provide incentives to use natural resources efficiently and make pollution more expensive.
Replacing natural capital with physical capital is expensive and the infrastructure needed to clean polluted water can be costly, but the cost of inaction can be higher still. Greening growth now, the report argues, is necessary to prevent further erosion of natural capital, such as increased scarcity of water and other resources, more pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss, all of which can undermine future growth. In addition to the Synthesis Report, the document Tools for Delivering on Green Growth outlines options available to policy makers for developing green growth strategies. The report Towards Green Growth – Monitoring Progress: OECD Indicators outlines ways to measure progress. http://www.oecd.org/greengrowth

Filed under: Development, economy, environment, green, growth, oecd

UNEP Report Spotlights Enormous Economic and Human Benefits from Boosting Funding for Forests

Investing an additional US$40 billion (0.034 Percent of Global GDP) a year in the forestry sector could halve deforestation rates by 2030, increase rates of tree planting by around 140 per cent by 2050, and catalyze the creation of millions of new jobs according to a report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Backed by the right kinds of enabling policies, such an investment – equivalent to about two-thirds more than what is spent on the sector today – could also sequester or remove an extra 28 per cent of carbon from the atmosphere, thus playing a key role in combating climate change.
Forests in a Green Economy: A Synthesis was unveiled during this year’s World Environment Day (WED) celebrations. The theme, Forests: Nature at Your Service, underscores the multitude of benefits that forests provide to humanity. http://tinyurl.com/6x83hzq

Filed under: Development, economy, forest, unep

Governing Development in Africa – Economic Report on Africa 2011 – Focused industrial policy

To catch up and, more important, to meet its own development objectives, Africa needs to promote rapid industrialization that will promote innovation, technological adoption, entrepreneurship, high value added and employment-generating manufacturing. This will enable the continent to overcome the low contribution of industry and manufacturing to GDP and employment. The formulation and implementation of industrial policy will enable African governments to target particular activities or sectors for support. Each country will have to identify niche industries where it has competitive advantages or the capability to develop dynamic advantages. This in turn will contribute to Africa’s industrial development. However, unlike most countries in post-independence Africa, which thwarted the emergence of a capitalist class, the 21st century African developmental state has to vigorously attempt to build an indigenous capitalist class.
Also, unlike the experiences of the 20th century developmental States elsewhere, industrialization in Africa in the 21st century will have to be sensitive to environmental sustainability (chapter 3). The development of renewable energy and a green economy as part of Africa’s overall development strategy cannot be over-emphasized. Renewable energy in particular and the green economy in general offer Africa a basis for transforming the structures of its economies and to create sustainable jobs and livelihoods.
The industrial strategy of the developmental States of East Asia suggests that creating industrial winners through fiscal incentives to facilitate enhanced productivity and some form of protectionism were critical for the growth of local manufacturing. While protectionism may be difficult and largely unfashionable in a globalized economy regulated by WTO, nonetheless, as part of their industrial policy, African States should ensure a phasing-out process to protect local industries, which is necessary for their growth and consolidation. This will enable them to compete, over time, in the global economy.

http://www.uneca.org/era2011

Filed under: Development, Africa, competitiveness, economy, industy, Trade