An Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) is a tool for delivering sustainable development and a response to three sets of challenges facing humanity: persistent poverty, inequitable sharing of the growing prosperity, and overstepped planetary boundaries. How does this tool work?
The IGE contributes to the overarching goal of poverty eradication and shared prosperity by safeguarding planetary boundaries, some of which - climate, freshwater, ocean, and land, for example - are mirrored in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in September 2015. The planetary boundaries are, however, not to be taken passively in an IGE; they should serve as drivers for innovative solutions that not only respect ecological thresholds but also contribute to reduced poverty and shared prosperity. In Africa, for example, where more than 600 million people lack access to affordable and reliable energy, off-grid renewable energy technologies are generating health care, education and economic opportunities while avoiding carbon emissions, all important components of SDGs.
Can small innovating firms drive the energy technological transition? Today, the electricity sector is responsible for 40% of the world’s CO2 emissions, twice as much as the transport sector. This is mainly due to the fact that 70% of electricity is still mostly produced from burning highly carbon-intensive fossil-fuels, such as oil, coal and gas. Transforming our energy system will require speeding up the rate of innovation in renewable technologies, so that they can compete with fossil-fuel technologies. New research sheds light on the central role of small innovating firms specialized in renewable technologies in moving our energy systems away from fossil-fuels.
