This publication informs policy makers and practitioners involved in developing and monitoring green growth strategies. It proposes a framework for green growth indicators that seeks to respond to the context of developing countries and their expressed policy needs. The proposed framework for green growth indicators is based on a wider concept of quality of growth, and puts attention on five main dimensions of economic development - equity and inclusiveness; efficiency and productivity; structural transformation; investment in natural capital; and planetary boundaries. ESCAP’s framework aligns with previous work on green economy and green growth indicators with particular attention to inequality and access to basic resources. It recognizes the need to assess and mitigate risks – to set targets to ensure that economic activity and its resource use consequences stay within planetary limits. The importance of governance for each element of the framework is also emphasized.
The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) emphasized the need for a balanced integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development. This publication responds to this call. It advocates a transformation in economic growth strategies and its underlying economic theories – a shift from a focus on quantity of economic growth, to quality of growth. Short-term growth strategies aimed at maximizing GDP growth has created a “vicious cycle” - growth driven by the exploitation of human and natural capital.
Financial constraints are among the most important barriers to proper municipal solid waste (MSW) management in the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific. The reform of fiscal measures and the adoption of economic instruments could help local governments by increasing revenue, causing MSW management authorities in the region to attempt to recover costs by levying fees for their services. However, the polluter pays principle is not easy to enforce in countries where the population has never paid the actual cost of public services aimed at mitigating environmental damage. Since it directly affects their available income, local people often do not understand why they should pay for these services while at the same time, rising public awareness of environmental issues is making it more difficult to implement low-cost solutions, such as the creation of new disposal sites. The fermentation of waste in open dumps and landfills generates landfill gas (LFG), a major component of which is methane, a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG). Proper management of MSW which includes utilizing this LFG, can thus contribute to climate change mitigation.

For an economy to “grow green”, investments must be made in natural capital. Natural capital provides both “direct” ecosystem services such as the provision of food and raw materials, and “indirect” ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, aquifer recharge and biodiversity habitat provision. Ecosystem services support human economies and societies. They are usually irreplaceable, or can only be substituted for at great cost. The savings achieved by protecting natural capital can provide convincing economic, in addition to the well-known environmental arguments, for sound environmental management. Incentives for sustainable management of ecosystems through payments for ecosystem services (PES) can boost action on sound ecosystem management.
Energy poverty - lack of access to electricity and reliance on traditional fuels for cooking and heating - remains an enduring problem. Globally, more than a billion people live without electricity and, nearly three billion depend entirely on wood, charcoal and dung for other domestic energy needs. Their search for energy fuels and services is an arduous, daily grind. Lack of access to modern energy has a broad impact. It not only limits economic opportunities for income generation and blunts efforts to escape poverty; but it also severely impacts living conditions for women and children and contributes to global deforestation and climate change. In a business-as-usual scenario, by 2030, the estimated number of deaths from dependence on traditional fuels will likely be greater than those individually from malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, underscoring the necessity of finding more sustainable forms of energy supply.