The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a Green Economy Initiative in 2008, which aimed at encouraging investment in improving the environment as a new engine for economic growth. The initiative resonated with policy makers such that “green economy” was adopted as a major agenda item for the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Governments and businesses are intuitively attracted to the notion that investing in clean technologies, clean water, and clean mobility, etc. can improve the environment while creating jobs and markets. Some of them acted upon this notion accordingly, such as in China and the United Arab Emirates.
This textbook attempts to offer a systematic framework for the green economy model. It builds on and extends from the traditional economic growth model by articulating the contributions to productivity from investing in natural capital, clean technologies, and green skills, enabled by fiscal, finance, trade, and labour policies. It also addresses the importance of institutions and progress measurement for ensuring that transition towards a green economy is pro-poor, inclusive, fair, and just.