This study provides an overview of development trends and environmental performance as well as policy strategies to promote green growth in seven Asian countries - China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Despite emerging green growth strategies and green industries in the region, Asian economies are far from becoming green, resource-efficient and sustainable. The emerging discourse on green growth and climate change offers both opportunities as well as new challenges for promoting a broader greening of Asian economies. There are various entry-points and recommendations for policy action, including an appropriate institutional framework and fiscal incentives as well as the support to environmental innovations and decent green job creation.
China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, has launched a ground-breaking report that sets out in specific and practical terms an ambitious agenda of how China can green its rapidly developing financial and capital markets.
The report, entitled “Establishing China’s Green Financial System”, is the outcome of a Green Finance Task Force which was tasked to develop policy, regulatory and market-innovations that would better align China’s financial system with the needs of green industry and sustainable development. The Task Force was co-convened by the Research Bureau of the People’s Bank of China (PBC) and the United Nations Environment Programme project Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System (`UNEP Inquiry`).
This Synthesis Report is based on an 18-month project, Greening China’s Financial System, carried out by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Finance Research Institute (FRI), Development Research Center (DRC) of the State Council, in association with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System, and with support from the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. The aim is to develop specific proposals for greening China’s financial system, based on an analysis of current practice in China and an exchange of experience with international experts.
This paper argues in favour of an approach that has growth-oriented climate investment and social inclusion at its core. It presents a roadmap to a green economy in South Asia where interventions are categorized under: i) priority programmatic interventions that can contribute to an inclusive green economy; ii) strategies for mainstreaming green growth in macro-economic development policy and planning; iii) upscaling of policy and technology innovations; and iv) regional cooperation. The challenge, however, would be to have the roadmap implemented in an integrated manner accompanied by equitable benefit sharing arrangements at the institutional level. The constraints arise primarily because of inadequate stakeholder awareness and engagement in the transition process, which makes the approach to a green economy in South Asia as much a socio-cultural challenge at the country level, as that of the political leadership at the regional level.
This document reviews literature to provide a background for the CDKN research project "Gender equality and Climate Compatible Development- Drivers and challenges to people’s empowerment". The project addresses major knowledge gaps in relation to the gender dimension of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and development. Its aim is to strengthen the evidence base of gender-sensitive approaches to climate compatible development (CCD). The project will explore to what extent gender-sensitive approaches contribute to greater gender equality and more effective CCD. It will therefore help to create more nuanced gender analysis of CCD projects, provide compelling evidence of the benefits of gender-sensitive approaches to CCD and translate usable insights for policy and practice while supporting people’s empowerment.