This report provides the first comprehensive study of publicly capitalised green investment banks (GIBs), analysing the rationales, mandates and financing activities of this relatively new category of public financial institution. Based on the experience of over a dozen GIBs and GIB-like entities, the report provides a non-prescriptive stock-taking of the diverse ways in which these public institutions are catalysing private investment in low-carbon, climate-resilient infrastructure and other green sectors, with a spotlight on energy efficiency projects. The report also provides practical information to policy makers on how green investment banks are being set up, capitalised and staffed.
In Burkina Faso, more effective macroeconomic management based on policies to promote sustained and sustainable growth remains a priority goal. However, it is now recognized that maintaining rapid growth is not synonymous with structural transformation or a rapid reduction in poverty. To achieve the above-mentioned goals, growth must be deliberately oriented towards sustainable, inclusive development, predicated in particular on a process of agricultural modernization, industrialization tailored to national circumstances and economic diversification which creates jobs, helps to lower poverty levels and gives wider access to basic services. Accordingly, an inclusive green economy, designed in a spirit of structural transformation, is increasingly recommending itself in policy and strategy debates as the most suitable way of bringing about sustainable economic and social transformation.
This report Resource Efficiency: Potential and Economic Implications has been produced by the UNEP’s International Resource Panel in response to a request by leaders of the G7 nations in the context of efforts to promote resource efficiency as a core element of sustainable development.
This paper analyses the role of behavioural factors for the energy management of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Sub-Sahara Africa for the first time. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in Uganda, it finds that behavioural barriers impeding energy efficiency contribute to the limited performance of MSEs in Uganda. Limited self-control and short-term thinking, habits, a status quo bias and a lack of trust impede the uptake of energy efficiency, while first-hand experience with efficient technology, implementation intentions and social learning can be conducive. Behavioural insights on energy efficiency therefore present another piece of the puzzle on MSE performance.
Achieving the 2030 Agenda will be a challenge for all countries. It is however particularly salient for the 48 Least Developed Countries, where levels of deprivation are acute, infrastructure is inadequate, economies are vulnerable and capital is in short supply. Yet these are the countries we need to reach first if we are to meet the aspiration to “leave no on behind”.
This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the economic consequences of outdoor air pollution in the coming decades, focusing on the impacts on mortality, morbidity, and changes in crop yields as caused by high concentrations of pollutants. Unless more stringent policies are adopted, findings point to a significant increase in global emissions and concentrations of air pollutants, with severe impacts on human health and the environment. The market impacts of outdoor air pollution are projected to lead to significant economic costs, which are illustrated at the regional and sectoral levels, and to substantial annual global welfare costs.