This compendium explores greening the economy on four levels – individual, business, city, and nation. It looks at the relationships between these levels and gives many practical examples of the complexities and solutions across the levels. Scandinavia, a pioneering place advancing sustainability and combating climate change, is a unique starting point for learning about greening economies. The study includes many initiatives implemented in Scandinavia since the 1970s that are all potentially useful for other countries and contexts. Throughout this compendium, the user will find many examples with links to relevant websites, documents and films.
This article looks at how China has moved forward in embracing green technology development, the government’s role in that growth and whether its support is truly harmful on a global scale. It highlights key laws in the United States and the WTO involving trade - specifically subsidies, countervailing duties and anti-dumping regulations. An examination of recent trade cases involving the United States and China is followed by an analysis of America’s recent trade-oriented actions and legislation. Lastly, this article considers the legal implications of recent trade developments between these countries as well as policy implications, including the effect on the green and renewables industry.
Current models examining the possible implications which changes towards a low-carbon economy may reflect for low-income countries include a look at best practices from countries such as Kenya, Cambodia and Nepal, some of which may also prove relevant for the Caribbean context. To this end, ten key measures were identified by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) which could help such countries to remain competitive in a future low-carbon global economy. These ten measures further assisted in examining the Caribbean context and may be seen to sum up the various observations and recommendations already examined within this paper.
Building on the case study of the shea butter supply chain in Burkina Faso, this article proposes an original approach consisting of improved energy use for a more competitive and sustainable activity. The traditional butter production process consumes a great deal of energy from firewood and generates a lot of organic waste that could be used as an energy source. We examined the feasibility of using alternative energy techniques that could be taken on board as they are simple and designed from local resources, whilst using by-products from the shea butter production chain as biofuels to partially replace firewood. The study shows that using alternative energy techniques, taken one by one or combined, can lead to lower energy use and thereby increase women's incomes, whilst helping to conserve forests.