This report sets out WWF's perspectives on green economies – why they are needed, what they are, and how to get there – and shows how WWF is working around the world to make the shift to green economies happen. This report also suggests some priority actions that governments in the UK should take to foster the conditions for sustainable innovations to flourish in businesses and communities.
The concept of green growth rests on the idea of an efficiency revolution: green and climate-friendly innovations, huge investments to restructure the industrial, building and transport sectors, and a boost for using resources and energy more productively and efficiently. This study explores a fatal fallacy of the notion of green growth: while vast productivity increases do indeed incentivise a more efficient use of energy (and resources), they also raise demand. This rebound effect nullifies a considerable proportion of the savings potential of efficiency technologies and measures. Moreover, although the causal link between increased energy productivity and increased demand is well-established, rebound effects are still ignored in the majority of energy and climate studies and policies. This paper explores a range of possible rebound effects, outlines their quantitative extent and describes the difficulties encountered by political efforts to contain them. This summary was prepared by Eldis.
The paper explores the concept of ‘green growth’ as it has emerged in international policy discourse over recent years. Identifying the core meaning of the concept and sister terms such as ‘green economy’, it relates green growth to the prior concept of sustainable development. The paper distinguishes between a ‘standard’ version of green growth which asserts the long-run economic benefit of environmental protection and a ‘strong’ interpretation which claims, more boldly, that environmental policy can be a driver for growth. Three different forms of this claim are identified and the evidence for them surveyed. The first is a Keynesian argument for short-term ‘green stimulus’ in times of recession. Second, a revision of standard growth theory identifies the contribution made to growth by investment in natural capital and the correction of a variety of market failures through environmental policy. Third, the theories of comparative advantage and long waves of capitalism emphasise the importance of technological innovation in generating growth.
This report aims at providing the emerging lessons from a representative sample of case studies in 20 developing countries that could help policy makers to address implementation challenges, including overcoming political economy and affordability constraints. The sample has selected on the basis of a number of criteria, including the country's level of development (and consumption), developing country region, energy security and the fuel it subsidies (petroleum fuel, electricity, natural gas).
The purpose of the study is threefold:
(1) to shed more light on the gender dimension of green growth, especially in the context of private sector development and thereby fill an important knowledge gap in the green growth discourse;
(2) to validate women’s contributions to green growth and sustainable private sector development; and
(3) ultimately to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality.
The overall approach of the study combines three intersecting perspectives, which are dealt with independently as well as in tandem: a gender perspective with a focus on the (potential) participation of women, a greening perspective and a private sector development perspective.
The study contains case studies from Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Philippines, South Africa, Uganda and Vietnam.
Technological innovation can lower the cost of achieving environmental objectives, so it is important to understand how environmental policy design and technological innovation are linked. This is particularly true in the area of climate change where the estimated future costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions are affected greatly by the technological trajectory of the economy. While we suspect that public policy can play an important role in accelerating the development and diffusion of climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies, empirical evidence in this area remains scant. This book presents a series of papers that explore the extent to which technological innovation can lower the cost of achieving climate change mitigation objectives.