In October 2013, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced her government’s plan to issue green bonds. The Government of Ontario will be the first province in Canada to issue green bonds, but not the first government agency in Canada to do so. Export Development Canada issued a green bond in January 2014, and TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority, has issued very similar bonds without adding the ‘green’ label. The Ontario government plans to use the bond proceeds for investment in "transit and other environmentally friendly infrastructure projects across the province." At press time, the Government of Ontario had not released further details regarding the specific allocation of the bonds’ proceeds.
In green economies, natural capital is incorporated into measurement of societal progress and equity, and recognized and managed as a fundamental pillar of economic and human well-being. The Lower Mekong region must demonstrate success in living up to commitments to maintain ecosystem integrity before claims to having ‘greened’ growth can be made. A first step in making this commitment is ensuring that there is adequate information available on the socioeconomic importance of ecosystems and the services they provide. Ecosystem services valuation is a basic component of the evidence base for decisions to invest or divest in maintaining natural systems.
This report advocates placing REDD+ into a larger landscape scale planning framework that can, and should, involve multiple sectors (especially those that are driving deforestation, sometimes inadvertently). This would go beyond forests to also serve the needs of energy, water resources, agriculture, finance, transport, industry, trade, cities, and ultimately all sectors of a modern economy. REDD+ would thereby add value to many other initiatives that are being implemented within these sectors. No longer simply an intriguing pilot effort, REDD+ would take its place as a critical element in a Green Economy.
A decent environmental quality is a necessary condition for survival of humankind in general and human development in particular. Environmental pollution is a great challenge in developing countries, where especially the poorest are most likely to suffer. Reflecting the state and the dynamics of the environment is essential for science and policy advice. Environmental indicators capture the physical, biological or chemical characteristics of the environment. Environmental composite indicators merge several environmental indicators in order to summarise the multifaceted state of the environment at national level into one single score. These composite indicators allow for cross-country comparisons. The analysis here includes four cross-country composite indicators: the Environmental Vulnerability Index, the Environmental Performance Index, its predecessor the Environmental Sustainability Index and the Ecosystem Wellbeing Index. In addition, the dimension Environmental Wellbeing of the Sustainable Society Index and the Living Planet Index are analysed. Currently, the latter has mainly been constructed at a global scale with only limited availability at national level.