Today’s financial system is in many ways too large, too complex, and too removed from the real economy. It has become focused on short--‐term profit maximisation, it does not pay enough attention to social and environmental risks, and it leaves 2.5 billion people without access to adequate or any financial services. Banks play an important role in the economy intermediating between savers and borrowers. As such the role banks can play in contributing to or undermining sustainable development is profound. Values based banking is purposively oriented towards the development of a sustainable economy.
This publication provides an opportunity for Asia and the Pacific policymakers and stakeholders, such as those from the private sector, academia and civil society organizations, to actively engage with the global negotiations, and to lay out the financing and partnership frameworks for the development agenda beyond 2015 from the regional perspectives.
The publication calls for the Asia-Pacific region to work together to raise and channel more substantial financial resources to invest in the social sector, infrastructure development and efforts to tackle climate change in order to ensure a transformative change to bring about inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Although there is progress in developing green sectors in North America and East Asia, the key challenge facing the expansion of economy-wide green innovation and structural change in these regions is the absence of relevant policy follow-up to the green stimulus enacted during the Great Recession. The boost to green sectors provided by such measures is waning quickly, given that much of the green stimulus focused on energy efficiency.
The biggest obstacles to sustaining green growth in North America and East Asiaare major market disincentives, especially the under-pricing of fossil fuels and market failures that inhibit green innovation. A three-part strategy to overcome these obstacles would involve: first, removing fossil fuel subsidies; second, employing market-based instruments to further reduce the social costs of fossil fuel use; and third, allocating any resulting revenue to public support for green innovation and investments. Such a strategy would ensure that green growth is not about promoting niche green sectors but instigating economy-wide innovation and structural transformation in North America and East Asia.
This paper examines the public finance underpinnings for an enhanced focus on different types of long-term investments as well as on operations and maintenance of existing investments. It first introduces the public finance envelope and revenue generation, then analyses alternative investment instruments and fiscal implications. After that, it focuses on the overall revenue challenge and addresses issues from taxation levels, tax instruments, and administrative and intergovernmental implications of efficient tax policy design. Followed by that, it explicates related governance and accountability issues and draws conclusions.
This paper is part of the working paper series "Infrastructure Finance in the Developing World" and is a joint research effort by GGGI and the G-24, exploring the challenges and opportunities for scaling up infrastructure finance in emerging markets and developing countries.
This report serves as a starting point to address the calls from Rio+20 and the United Nations Environment Programme Governing Council to share the South’s various experiences and national-level initiatives for transitioning to sustainable and socially inclusive economies. Four unique national initiatives – all taking place in countries in the South, and at different stages of implementation - are highlighted: Ecological Civilization in China, Sufficiency Economy in Thailand, Green Economy in South Africa, and Living Well in Bolivia.
By emphasizing their common economic, environmental and social aspirations, as well as challenges and available resources, this report aims to benefit countries by sharing experiences that they may find relevant to their own particular challenges. In addition to providing concrete examples, such exchanges can empower countries to share and learn from home-grown responses to sustainable development challenges. In this report, sub-sections describing four national sustainable development approaches are drawn from contributions from the four project countries themselves.