The value of nature is increasingly visible as business demand for natural capital grows. This demand can cause environmental events and phenomena such as water scarcity, directly linked to lower profitability. Indirect effects can include social pressure that prompts changes in demand and regulation, with little or no warning. This study builds on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Business and Enterprise and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation by estimating in monetary terms the financial risk from natural capital that is currently unpriced, across specific business sectors at a regional level, and through supply chains. It demonstrates that opportunities from sustainable business practices can be private as well as collective, and therefore how, by taking pre-emptive action, businesses may gain a competitive advantage while meeting corporate sustainability goals.
This working paper assesses opportunities and policies for green growth in the Chicago Tri-State Metropolitan Area. It first examines the Chicago metro-region's economic and environmental performance and potential constraints to regional growth, and identifies emerging regional specialisations in green products and services. This is followed by a review of sector-specific policies that can contribute to green jobs, green firms and urban attractiveness, with particular attention to energy-efficient buildings, the wind energy industry, public transportation, and the water and waste sectors. Finally, the working paper considers the role of workforce, innovation and governance policies, focusing on skill shortages and skill mismatches in the regional labour market, ways to make the most of the region's innovation assets, and opportunities for regional institutional co-ordination.
In less than a decade, clean energy transitioned from novelty products to the mainstream of world energy markets. The sector emerged not so much in a linear fashion as episodic – in fits and starts associated with the worldwide economic downturn, continent-wide debt crises, national policy uncertainty, and intense industry competition. Through it all, however, the clean energy sector moved inexorably forward, with overall investment in 2012 five times greater than it was in 2004.
Although 2012 investment levels worldwide declined 11 per cent, to US$ 269 billion, the clean energy sector weathered the withdrawal of priority incentives and initiatives offered by governments in numerous key markets, demonstrating its resilience. Reliable clean energy investment data have been collected for nine years now. Looking at the data in three-year increments, average clean energy investment increased by at least US$ 90 billion triennially – from an average of US$ 64 billion in the 2004-06 period to an average of US$ 156 billion in 2007-09 and US$ 245 billion in 2010-12.
The publication is a result of the February 2013 workshop organised by the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) partners LIFE and GENANET, together with the German Ministry of Environment, in Berlin. The aim of the workshop was to discuss how women’s unpaid work and care economy can be incorporated into sustainable development to achieve gender justice. Different voices and perspectives, from scholars and activists from the global North and South, discussed the growing concern about the emergent terminology of “green economy” in development agendas that ignore its social and environment dimensions.
In the full recognition of the seriousness of climate change problems, Korea announced a new policy towards greening its economy. In his address marking the 60th anniversary of Korea’s foundation in 2008, President Lee Myung-bak declared ‘Low Carbon Green Growth’ as the country’s new vision to lead the country’s development for the next decades. In 2009, the government announced the ‘National Strategy for Green Growth’ up to 2050, to be gradually implemented through five-year plans.
The national strategy envisages three main objectives: (1) mitigation of climate change and the strengthening of the country’s energy independence, (2) creation of new growth engines, and (3) improvement of the quality of people’s lives and enhancement of Korea’s international status. These goals are pursued by 10 designated policy directions, such as mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, development of green technologies, creation of a green homeland and others.
The private sector is increasingly seeing the opportunities that come along with ‘green growth’ as well as the relevance of mitigating environmental and social risks to which they are exposed.
This paper’s central message is that high quality information is necessary to support decisions that drive green growth. Accordingly, the paper aims to:
- survey the landscape of corporate reporting relevant to green growth, including the key user groups, the business rationale for reporting and examples of corporate reporting;
- discuss the existing guidance that supports business in corporate reporting relevant to green growth;
- identify the key barriers to corporate reporting relevant to green growth; and
- identify research gaps.