This paper argues that least developed countries (LDCs) are greatly threatened by human induced climate change, because their dependence on rain-fed agriculture and forestry as sources of employment and income make them vulnerable to climatic changes and variability. Many LDCs are already subject to climatic stress due to their location in the tropics and other areas subject to a high incidence of weather-related shocks. The paper notes that the most important source of greenhouse gas emissions in LDCs is land use change, in particular deforestation. Halting deforestation is, thus, a key priority for low carbon development.
The world faces old and new security challenges that are more complex than our multilateral and national institutions are currently capable of managing. Publics around the world remain focused on material standards of living; leaders are reluctant to expend political capital on long-term, global risk issues; multilateral ‘bandwidth’ remains low; in many cases it is unclear what solutions would look like. This paper argues for the need to place unsustainability squarely at the center of larger debates about globalisation and the global economy – in particular by focusing on three key areas:
1. Greening growth;
2. Equity in a world of limits; and
3. Building resilience to shocks and stresses.
Green growth is an environmental policy strategy that aims at an absolute decoupling between economic growth and resource consumption. As far as the applied policy measures focus on direct enhancements of economy-wide resource efficiency levels, their overall achievements might however be weakened by their induced rebound effects. This paper seeks to investigate the nature and significance of such trade-off interrelationships with regards to material efficiency improvements within the German economy. To this, we present the outcomes of individual policy simulations by means of the PANTA RHEI model. Taxes, information, and regulation activities are considered as policy instruments. Our overall empirical findings cannot falsify the green growth paradigm as the observed magnitude of economy-wide rebound effects appears unable to inhibit future absolute decoupling trends.
Green growth strategies play vital roles in unlocking synergies between economic growth, environmental protection, and poverty reduction and enabling a transition to an inclusive green economy. By analyzing around 60 specific government programs from around the world, the GGBP demonstrates that green growth is actively practiced around the world as a dynamic pathway to achieve a green economy and sustainable development. The recommendations for effective green growth approaches, based on the experience of early movers, provides practical guidance for national and sub-national policy planning towards the sustainable development goals in the post-2015 development agenda.
This Synthesis of Key Findings elaborates on nine key actions that enable effective green growth policy:
Sustainable Energy is the sixth in the series of annual reports produced by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) on the state of Arab environment. The report highlights the need for more efficient management of the energy sector, in view of enhancing its contribution to sustainable development in the Arab region.