This paper explores the relative average GHG intensity of production of selected goods in different world regions and the potential for regions to access low-GHG fuels and feedstocks needed to expand low-GHG production. While a complete analysis of shifting trade patterns would assess the economic implications, including the scale effect, the authors present a simplified approach which allows them to gauge what conditions might enable countries to be future low-GHG producers.
They begin by looking at the emissions embodied in trade (Section 2), based on a multiregional input-output model, to help identify significant trade flows for further analysis. Section 3 then examines differences in GHG-intensity among regions for some of the categories identified, while Section 4 asks whether and how shifting the location of steel production could reduce global GHGs. Section 5 assesses a range of national and international policies that could be used to shift trade patterns. Section 6 summarizes the results and identifies areas for further research.
The G20 Development Working Group (DWG) has tasked an informal group of co-facilitators with developing a Dialogue Platform on Inclusive Green Investment (G20 DPGI) to promote the increase of private investment related to green growth and climate-related activities in developing countries, with a specific focus on lower middle income countries. The G20 DPGI will hone in on stocktaking and lessons learned from existing initiatives, as well as an extensive literature review, with the aim to better identify the barriers to private investment and the mechanisms that have been successfully used to overcome these. Drawing on these ideas, the G20 DPGI may also wish to explore new initiatives to attract world-scale institutional funds that could finance large investments. To be successful the dialogue platform should advance mutual understanding between publicly funded, donor programs and the diverse range of potential private investors, in order to better design financing instruments that efficiently use public funds to best mobilize and leverage private funds.
The notion of green economies seems to have gained momentum in both developed and developing countries. For South Africa, the transition to a green economy presents a mix of challenges and opportunities. This stems from the fact that South Africa faces myriad socio-economic realities that force the country to maintain a generation of industries that contribute directly to the production of greenhouse gases in order to reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality. This paper provides an overview of South Africa’s attempts to migrate to a green economy. It specifically looks at the domestic and continental implications of South Africa’s reorientation of its economy towards a low-carbon growth path. While the country has managed to put together impressive policies meant to steer it onto a trajectory of low carbon economic growth, the realities facing South Africa point to an opposite direction.
This report evaluates the progress achieved in forest management by indigenous people and local communities, which was set as a key objective at the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It presents new findings and identifies what needs to done to protect global forest areas and ensure their contributions to social, environmental and economic development.
The paper argues that the amount of forests recognised as owned or controlled by indigenous peoples and local communities has increased globally from 10 per cent in 2002 to 15 per cent in 2012; in developing countries the increase has been from 21 to 31 per cent. It observes that the majority of governments continue to resist large-scale recognition of community land rights and many deny that indigenous peoples have any claim to their customary lands. Citing examples from Africa and Asia, the paper shows that no new areas of community rights have been recognised in the last several years.
Based on more than 40 interviews with energy sector CEOs and senior executives, as well as the 2012 Energy Sustainability Index, this 4th edition of the World Energy Trilemma report attempts to identify and describe what industry executives believe they need from policymakers. The report acknowledges that executives and policymakers urgently need to work together in order to achieve a transition to a sustainable energy system. Key to this report are the three dimensions of energy sustainability: energy security, social equity and environmental impact mitigation. These three core dimensions form a complex web of links between private and public actors, regulators, resources, economic and social forces, and environmental concerns that must be fully understood by all.