Insights Blog

Traffic congestion, air pollution, accidents – the negative externalities from car transport are not just a popular field of economic research, but also a daily arduous reality for millions of commuters around the world. However, there is more: carbon emissions and climate change may be a less visible externality from road transport, but the economic and social costs will be substantial and borne at a global scale.

When dealing with such externalities, pricing instruments (such as carbon or fuel taxes) are the policy response favored by economists: if car users paid the full cost of driving, they would adjust their driving practices and thus reduce the negative environmental and social impacts.

UNEP's Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System has produced a new paper and an open invitation to those with experience, expertise and interest to contribute to the Inquiry’s work and outcomes.

This week, the transition to a green economy and other critical environmental issues are taking centre stage at the inaugural session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA). UNEA is forging new ground by emphasising that environmental concerns are at the core of governmental agendas.

What is UNEA?

Leading government officials are convening at the first meeting of UNEA in Nairobi, Kenya at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters .  UNEA is arguably the world’s most important platform for environmental policy-making, with over 1,200 participants, including environment ministers, government delegates and representatives of civil society in attendance.

UNEA aims to raise awareness of the role of environmental governance as an indispensable tool in sustainable development and the creation of a green economy. 

Najib Saab, Secretary General of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED), GGKP's newest Knowledge Partner, discusses how green economy can help to navigate a sustainable transition in the Arab countries.

2014 is the year of the Small Islands Developing States – SIDS. Steven Stone, Chief, Economics and Trade Branch (UNEP) reflects upon the meaning of this particular class of countries, and the common challenges we all face.

The concept of environmental capital is thoroughly entrenched in policy discussions but largely missing from mainstream economic curriculum. This column by Carlo Cararro, Marianne Fay and Marzio Galeotti argues environmental externalities, climate change, and constraints on natural resources will constantly and deeply affect humankind’s future. The teaching of economics, especially growth economics, should stop ignoring them.

WWF and KnowlEdge Srl (KE) review the existing methodologies and models being used to inform-decision making and craft an approach that merges existing knowledge to understand if there is a way to make use of the strengths of each tool in an integrated way.

Moustapha Kamal Gueye, Policy Specialist on Green Jobs at the International Labour Organisation, explores the emerging evidence that green economies create jobs.

Finance experts Iain Henderson and Johan Kieft, in Jakarta for the Forests Asia Summit; and Sean Kidney, at the Abu Dhabi UN Ascent, look into all the exciting around green bonds as a mechanism to finance sustainable land use.

Scott Muller of the LEDSGP working group on Sub-national Implementation shares some of the themes discussed during the parallel session on Sub-national Governance and Climate at the GGKP and Africa LEDS Partnership workshops in Kinshasa, DRC last April 2014.