The complex inter linkages between trade and climate change governance are increasingly recognised. Examples in point are emissions trading schemes, border carbon measures, and carbon labelling schemes, and various support measures for clean energy—all climate related policies with possible implications for trade and trade law. Against this background, this information note explores the potential for synergy and cooperation between the trade and climate change regimes. This paper will help those working on climate change to better answer questions such as: How can trade measures better address climate change mitigation? Can current climate response measures restrict trade? And how can a strengthened trade and climate governance make them more constructive?
Cities concentrate a large part of the world economy today. Understanding how the urban economy and its decision making function as well as how they are connected to a larger world (regional, national, global) is fundamental to create governance mechanisms and the institutions to move the world towards a green economy. This paper analyses the city through its key economic processes of the transformation of space; circulation (transport); consumption and production and social, knowledge and ecosystem services. Transforming urban processes will only be achieved with better urban governance. As governance is embedded in institutions, it is the foundation for building the legitimate political and social mechanisms to green socio-ecological and economic systems. Yet the question of whether or not current governance systems in these processes are steering cities towards a greener economy, or if they are, how are they affecting people and ecosystems is yet to be addressed.
This literature review assesses the extent to which developing countries can make the transition towards low or lower patterns of growth. It explores the potential impacts of climate change on economic growth and the investment needs for increasing growth resilience. The paper outlines the challenge of establishing patterns of low carbon growth and discusses the cost of greenhouse gas mitigation. The feasibility of low carbon growth in developing countries is explored, including a review of the evidence, the economic impacts, its limitations and possible next-steps. The literature suggests that significant mitigation levels can be achieved without having a major impact on growth objectives. The paper presents the various aspects of climate resilient growth patterns and how to realise them respectively. Topics covered include a review of the evidence and methods, understanding the political context and the matter of technological deployment.
The notion of green growth emerged in 2009. Since then, policy makers and practitioners have largely adopted the term. Although rather intermittently, there have been academic observations on green growth, with the term often being cited as a paradigm and a policy guide for generating new sources of growth. The most important reasons for the surge in green growth today as a new trend and an international agenda item are the rather unsatisfactory results and pitfalls of sustainable development, which has failed at promoting a tangible international environmental principle or a concrete policy framework. Green growth has been proposed as an alternative simultaneously to foster the dynamics of global environmental governance and to reinvigorate the world economy. This study examines to what extent green growth plays a complementary role in existing global environmental governance. Available evidence provides reasonable grounds for arguing that a positive outcome may well be expected from the evolution of green growth architecture and followed by practical policies. It became a global agenda out of a few influential national governments’ control.