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The uptake of renewable energy (RE) has been identified by a number of governments as a primary means for mitigating CO₂ emissions from the electricity sector, and for making the transition to a low-carbon economy. The electric power output of some RE technologies, however, including those based on intermittent wind and solar energy, can vary considerably over short periods of time and thereby introduce instability into the electricity system. The risk of instability increases with higher shares of intermittent power sources connected to the electrical grid. Different means have been used to deal with this intermittency problem. Cross-border trade in electricity appears to be one of them since it enables countries to gain access to a more diversified portfolio of plants, producing over a wider geographic area. Preliminary results from an examination of the European electricity market confirm the importance of cross-border electricity trade in increasing the effective capacity factor of intermittent plants in the context of a growing share of intermittent renewables in the power sector.

The chapter on green growth first seeks to place the concept of green growth within the history of recent discourses of environmental protection. It then distinguishes between a “standard” version of green growth and a “strong” interpretation which seeks to present a much bolder argument to policy-makers. Three different forms of this argument are identified and the evidence for them surveyed. Finally the chapter asks whether the idea of green growth is likely to be “successful”. Will its arguments prove sufficiently convincing, and the interests gathered around it sufficiently strong, to change the priorities of economic policy-making?

This report assesses how severely climate change will affect the three countries and stresses the necessity of considering the impacts of climate change in future development strategies.

Bangladesh seeks to attain middle-income status by 2021, the 50th anniversary of its independence. To accelerate growth enough to do so, it will need to undergo a structural transformation that will change the geography of economic production and urbanization. Critical to its transformation will be the creation of a globally competitive urban space, defined here as a space that has the capacity to innovate, is well connected internally and to external markets, and is livable (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD 2006; World Bank 2010). This study identifies what is unique about Bangladesh’s process of urbanization and examines the implications for economic growth. Through the lens of Bangladesh’s most successful industry, the garment sector, it describes the drivers of and constraints to urban competitiveness. Based on the findings, it provides policy directions to strengthen the competitiveness of Bangladesh’s urban space in ways that will allow Bangladesh to reach middle-income status by 2021.

Long-term projections suggest that without policy changes, the continuation of business-as-usual economic growth and development will have serious impacts on natural resources and the ecosystem services on which human well-being depends. This highlights the necessity for both developed and developing countries to move to a new growth path that is consistent with the protection of the environment and a sustainable use of scarce natural resources, while still achieving sizeable gains in living standards and reducing poverty...