In June 2009, the OECD Council Meeting at Ministerial Level (MCM) adopted a Declaration on Green Growth (OECD 2009a). The declaration invited the OECD to develop a Green Growth Strategy to achieve economic recovery and environmentally and socially sustainable economic growth. The MCM Declaration broadly defines “green growth policies” as policies encouraging green investment in order to simultaneously contribute to economic recovery in the short term and help to build the environmentally friendly infrastructure required for a green economy in the long term. In terms of resource economics, such policies firstly need to guide industry to delink environmental degradation from economic or sales growth by reducing resource use per unit of value added (relative decoupling). At the same time, it would be essential to aim at further efforts towards achieving absolute reductions in the use of energy and materials to a sustainable level (absolute decoupling).
This book presents the research and analysis carried out during the first phase of the OECD Project on Sustainable Manufacturing and Eco-innovation. Its aim is to provide benchmarking tools on sustainable manufacturing and to spur eco-innovation through better understanding of innovation mechanisms. It reviews the concepts and forms an analytical framework; analyses the nature and processes of eco-innovation; discusses existing sustainable manufacturing indicators; examines methodologies for measuring eco-innovation; and takes stock of national strategies and policy initiatives for eco-innovation.
This book draws on work from across several parts of the OECD and explores policy actions for the deployment of new technologies and innovations as they emerge: investment in research and development, support for commercialisation, strengthening markets and fostering technology diffusion. Competition will be essential to bring out the best solutions.
Key findings include:
Sustained growth in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa will be critical for the global economy in the coming decades. This volume, based on the proceedings of a conference organised by the Economics Department of the OECD on 24 September 2009, analyses growth performance in these five emerging market economies and the prospects for sustaining strong growth over the longer term. Drawing on contributions from distinguished policymakers and scholars, the volume discusses the specific drivers of growth in each of the five countries with which the OECD has had a programme of Enhanced Engagement since May 2007.