This paper explores in more detail the sustainability and economic challenges and opportunities of industrial development. In keeping with UNIDO’s mandate, the focus is on industry in the developing countries. How can enterprises in these countries become greener and lessen their environmental footprint while at the same time continuing to grow and deliver goods, services and jobs to their populations? What role should the governments of developing countries play in this process? Answers to these questions must take into account one overriding imperative: that industry in developing countries needs to grow. Industrial development is the only mechanism that will enable developing countries to reduce the level of poverty and hardship they face. The conclusion offers a strategy for the development aid community, designed to help developing countries bridge the gap between the present and the future.
Chemical leasing is a service-oriented business model that shifts the focus from increasing sales volume of chemicals toward a value-added approach. Chemical leasing forms part of UNIDO’s strategy to assist enterprises globally in a variety of aspects related to green industry. Over the past few years, this innovative approach has been implemented in a number of different sectors, processes and countries. Experience has shown that it is best applied to processes that are not the core know-how of the chemical user, such as cleaning, degreasing and painting, etc. In 2005, UNIDO launched the Global Chemical Leasing Programme, which is presently supported by the Governments of Austria and Germany. At the national level, it is implemented in close cooperation with respective National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs).
This report examines patterns and trends in resource use and resource efficiency in 16 selected emerging economies between 1985 and 2005. In order to facilitate comparison, the authors divided these countries into three different groups according to their dominant strategy of economic development since 1985: resource-based economies with a high ratio of raw materials in exports, including Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Morocco, Russia and South Africa; industry-based economies which have been expanding their capacity to produce manufactured goods and related services, including China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Mexico and the Republic of Korea; and services-based economies that have largely based their development since 1985 on services (e.g. tourism, financial or knowledge-based industries), including Barbados, Egypt, India and the Seychelles. While none of these three development paths is exclusive, they are useful categories for analytical purposes, as each is linked to specific physical or material profiles in terms of resource use and resource productivity.
The Road to Rio+20 publications, by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development provide a series of essay compilations, all based around the ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ of making the transition to a development‐led green economy. Road to Rio+20 comprises three issues released in March 2011, November 2011 and June 2012.
The first issue aims to contextualise the green economy, examine the pros and cons from different perspectives, identify the critical issues and provide a case study to look at a specific green economy initiative. The second issue provides a series of real world references for governments, businesses and civil society; what is referred to in this volume as ‘pathways to a development‐led green economy’. The third issue moves forward the debate, focusing primarily on commitments and outcomes and the potential of Rio+20 to generate innovative ideas, policies and to consolidate sustainable development strategies of governments.