Korea, which has had the highest growth rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the OECD area since 1990, adopted an ambitious Green Growth Strategy in 2009. It aims at reducing emissions by 30% by 2020 relative to a "business as usual" scenario, implying a 4% cut from the 2005 level. The Strategy also includes a Five-Year Plan with public spending of 2% of GDP per year to promote green growth. Korea is planning to establish a carbon price through a cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme. Such an approach, combined with a carbon tax in sectors not covered by the scheme, is necessary to reduce emissions in a cost-effective manner and foster innovation in green technology. In addition, each sector should face the same electricity price based on production costs to promote efficient energy use. Given market failures, the government has a role to play in green R&D, particularly for basic research, in fostering green finance and in developing renewable energy resources.
This is the third edition of Dual Citizen’s annual Global Green Economy Index (GGEI), an analytic tool designed to help governments, international organizations and investors improve their “green” branding and communications strategies. This report provides an overview of the 2012 analysis of the GGEI. The GGEI measures perceptions of green reputations of 27 selected countries as judged by hundreds of expert practitioners and benchmarks these against a green economy performance index. These 27 countries represent over 90 per cent of the international green economy.
For governments, having a clear assessment of resource constraints and ecological risks they face, as well as a sound understanding of sectors of their economies that offer the largest potential for green growth, employment creation and efficiency gains, while securing public support, are critical to orient public policy. UNEP’s green economy advisory services are geared towards providing tailored support to countries for them to take appropriate responses.
The future of renewable energy is fundamentally a choice, not a foregone conclusion given technology and economic trends, according to this report. It examines the future of renewable energy in the context of: total energy share by sector; integration between utilities, buildings, industry and transportation; business models and investment; urban planning; national and regional policy; and technology, cost and market growth. The report is based on the opinions of 170 leading experts and the projections of 50 recently published scenarios. It finds a wide range of expert projections of the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2050, with low estimates below 20 per cent to high estimates upwards of 50-95 per cent. Experts predicted that the expansion of renewable will accelerate through 2020, particularly in leading developing countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa and Thailand.
This report includes case studies on market growth and policy support for the European Union, the United States, Japan, China and India.