This paper, Promoting Eco-Innovation: Challenges and potential solutions for private sector development, begins with an exploration, in Chapter 1, of how eco-innovation is addressed in the current international debate. This refers mainly to the climate change negotiations and the recent Rio+20 conference. Chapter 2 then provides a working definition of eco-innovation and examines how it fits with the requirements of private sector development. Chapter 3 contains an overview of the general conditions under which eco-innovations are generated in developing countries, including both the supply side and the demand side. Chapter 4 discusses possible approaches in the context of German development cooperation, and asks which instruments can be used to foster new innovations and encourage their rapid dissemination.
The report includes case studies on the African continent, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, and India.
The latest edition of this annual report outlines the latest developments, signs and signals in the financing of renewable power and fuels. Full of statistics, charts and narrative, it explores the issues affecting each type of investment, technology, and region. Overall the report underlines the increasingly positive role renewable energies are playing towards an increasingly low-carbon electricity and power supply.
The report includes case studies from China, India, and Brazil.
Green growth, or environmentally sustainable economic growth, is imperative in light of current environmental crises and resource depletion. Green indicators and statistics can measure environmentally sustainable development; they thus enable evaluating green growth and support its integration into policy. As such, this study uses an OECD framework to select a set of 12 indicators, designed for cross-country comparisons of green growth strategies. These indicators are assessed for 30 countries, including South Korea. Current data for each international indicator is compared to the 10th percentile of OECD countries and evaluated on a scale of 1-10. South Korea ranked 17th among the 30: its natural capital and quality of life indexes are relatively high, but its economic activity scores (production, consumption, and trade) are relatively low. These findings suggest that production and consumption processes must be made more environmentally and economically sustainable. Given that South Korea's green growth strategy currently emphasizes economic value, the country is moving in the right direction and our analysis projects that economic activity scores will rise in the future.
Renewable energy together with energy efficiency, sustainable transport, sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, green building and waste management are economic sectors which are often considered capable of paving the way for a transition to a green economy and providing win-win solutions offering job creation, poverty alleviation and environmental protection. However, there are a number of obstacles and challenges that might inhibit these sectors in their contribution towards greening the economy. These include limited knowledge and awareness relevant to green economy and green jobs, gaps in policy and regulations, limited financial incentives to support green initiatives, and related awareness and skill shortages.
This study assesses progress in the Arab region towards the green economy. It reviews the adoption and implementation of policies to support the transition and examines the achievements of different sectors. The study identifies challenges and highlights potential opportunities for countries to green their economies. Given their vital economic role, the study focuses on the transition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to greener processes, products and services.
This study aims to provide a methodology for mapping the progress in the Arab region in the adoption and implementation of green economy policies. This mapping is proposed as a policy tool for governments of the ESCWA Region. As such, it is designed to identify the various challenges that the region faces as they still strive to achieve sustainable development, and to highlight potential opportunities for countries in the region to “green” their economies.
The study relies on a set of indicators that represent the transition to a green economy at the macro and micro level. Those indicators are based on those developed by the OECD, UNEP, and UNIDO, and adapted in such a way as to also reflect key social goals, such as the need for greater focus on social equity and poverty eradication. The papar includes a fact sheet of each of the countries in the Arab region, and detailed reports on four pilot countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Oman.
This report describes the progress achieved in relation to sustainable development since 1992 and the gaps still remaining. It draws attention to a pressing environmental, social, economic and institutional situation. Above all, however, it highlights the vast potential for advancing economic management towards a more comprehensive model in keeping with the notion of inclusive and sustainable development.
The paper is a working document on the current situation, outlook, best practices and requirements concerning access to information, participation and justice regarding environmental matters in Latin America and the Caribbean.
There is consensus that the three access rights embody the core standards of transparency, equity and accountability in decision-making and are the foundation of environmental democracy and good governance. The link between good governance, environmental sustainability and the eradication of poverty and hunger has been extensively examined in the literature. The core argument is that reducing poverty and empowering the poor requires a receptive government (one that is open to access to information, participation and justice) and a healthy environment.
The importance of principles of access has also been recognized by the business sector. The paper takes note of two voluntary initiatives for private enterprise information transparency are the Global Reporting Initiative and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.