The concept of payments for ecosystem services (PES) has recently emerged as a promising tool for enhancing or safeguarding the provision of ecosystem services (ES). Although the concept has been extensively scrutinized in terms of its potential positive and negative impacts on the poor in developing countries, less attention has been paid to examining the role of PES in the context of adaptation to climate change. PES has some potential to contribute to adaptation to climate change, but there are also risks that it could undermine adaptation efforts. In order to maximize synergies and minimize trade-offs between PES and adaptation, it is important that the conceptual links between both are made explicit. The present article presents the main conceptual links between PES and adaptation to climate change and suggests ways of making PES pro-poor and pro-adaptation.
This publication provides a summary for policy makers of the OECD’s Towards Green Growth publication. The publication summarises the development of the OECD’s Green Growth Strategy and covers issues such as what green growth is and why it is needed, sources of green growth, a framework for green growth strategies, green growth initiatives, how green growth will affect employment, addressing distributional concerns, international co-operation, monitoring progress towards green growth, constructing green growth strategies and the next steps of the OECD Green Growth Strategy.
Policies that promote green growth need to be founded on a good understanding of the determinants of green growth and of related trade-offs or synergies. They also need to be supported with appropriate information to monitor progress and gauge results.
Monitoring progress towards green growth requires indicators based on internationally comparable data. These need to be embedded in a conceptual framework and selected according to well specified criteria. Ultimately, they need to be capable of sending clear messages which speak to policy makers and the public at large.
This report responds to these needs and accompanies the OECD Green Growth Strategy. It presents a conceptual framework, a proposal for developing green growth indicators and results for selected indicators derived from OECD databases.
The indicators presented in this report are a starting point: they will be further elaborated as new data become available and concepts evolve. They are accompanied with a measurement agenda that will help addressing the most pressing data development needs.
New business models can make an important contribution to the transition to green growth. While some new business models involve large firms, others are small start-up firms that seek to exploit technological or commercial opportunities that have been neglected or not yet explored by more established firms. New firms tend to engage in more radical innovation than existing firms, and scaling up new business models can therefore help reduce environmental pollution, optimise the use of natural resources, increase productivity and energy efficiency, and provide a new source of economic growth. Although the market for green goods and services is growing, the development of new business models is affected by a range of barriers, many of which can be addressed by well-designed policies.