The win-win opportunities connected to green growth are appealing to academics and policy makers alike, but empirical evaluations about the effectiveness of green growth policies are still scattered. Taking the Republic of Korea as a case study, which set up a highly ambitious green growth program in 2009, this research casts light on the extent to which the Korean Green Growth Strategy has been effective in decarbonizing the economy.
In Morocco, the potential for solar and wind energy generation is enormous and could be exploited for addressing not only energy security concerns, but also pressing social and economic needs. Smart policy design that integrates different policy objectives can have long-lasting effects, stimulating competitiveness across the economy.
When compared to other regions, Asia has the highest rate of policy innovations that can help in the transition to a green economy. Even though fiscal instruments in-use are to some extent already altering aggregate demand of resources and economic activities, resource allocation, and distributive capacity of the economy, instrument such as “carbon tax” that has the real potential to contain rising emissions and save economies from getting locked into carbon-intensive pathways are yet to be adopted widely. Sporadic adoption of fiscal instruments is not going to be enough, if Asia as a region, is to transition to a green economy. In addition, there are substantial implementation barriers that need to be eased for wide-scale adoption and diffusion of green fiscal instruments.
The benefits of hydropower as a source of clean energy with low greenhouse gas emissions are in stark contrast with its negative local social and environmental impacts. This briefing paper discusses this contradiction and the rising importance of affordable clean energy from hydropower in emerging and developing economies. Since hydropower is back on the development agenda this momentum should be used to invest in more environmental and social friendly schemes.