Achieving global goals for poverty reduction, economic growth and environmental health will require widespread innovation and implementation of new and appropriate “green growth” technologies. Establishing a sufficiently large suite of innovative options, suitable to all economies, and at the urgent pace required will involve unprecedented innovation activity not only from developed regions, but also from new clusters and enterprises in emerging economies and least developed countries. Stronger international cooperation can play a critical role in facilitating this transformative process. In this paper, we look at areas for new partnerships or cooperation that could most effectively accelerate a green growth transformation. We do this by reviewing the components of a successful innovation “ecosystem,” assessing the current status and prospects for green growth innovation, compiling and analyzing existing international initiatives, assessing the needs and pragmatic constraints on international institutions, and recommending an integrated approach to spur global green growth innovation partnerships, especially within developing countries.
This paper discusses some of the challenges and opportunities in infrastructure investment in developing countries. Infrastructure investment in emerging and developing countries will need to more than double over the next decade. This means a significant step-up in the amount of public and private finance flowing to these countries. Such investment will be crucial not only to ensure that emerging and developing countries meet their growth and development aspirations, but also to ensure that they lay the foundations for sustainable growth, which entails low emissions and resilience to climate change.
A new Development Bank for Infrastructure and Sustainable Development could provide a new channel through which developing country governments could borrow to finance economically productive infrastructure assets - whilst still remaining within prudent levels of debt. In addition, a new institution could make up for the deficiencies of the existing architecture and help catalyze the private sector investments required.
ICTSD senior fellow and Professor Emeritus Thomas Brewer, addresses the issues associated with technology transfer used by firms, namely international direct investments, licensing, and trade in services and goods. The author makes a case for the creation of a new international institutional architecture built around a sustainable energy trade agreement (SETA), with a view to enhancing such transfer. The paper considers a wide range of related topics that need to be addressed in designing and negotiating a SETA, especially four key elements: subsidies, government procurement, standards and intellectual property rights.
Climate change is an unprecedented challenge facing humanity today, one that requires a quick and concerted response. With this context in mind, a rapid scale up in the deployment of renewable or sustainable energy sources is essential in order to reduce the emissions responsible for global warming. In this paper, Gary Hufbauer and Jisun Kim examine the conditions necessary for achieving a credible, low cost alternative to fossil fuel-based energy, placing an emphasis on how trade policy can be used to spur development in the sector, and the key issues that need to be addressed in order to accomplish a sustainable energy trade agreement (SETA). This publication is a joint effort by ICTSD, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGI) and the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).
This paper analyses the existing legal frameworks within which a possible Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement (SETA) could be negotiated to address energy-related trade governance and the resulting legal challenges and opportunities. It looks at a number of options under which a SETA could be given legal shape within and outside the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and assesses the pros and cons of the various approaches. It touches on a number of important considerations, such as the negotiating procedures, issues of accession, relationship to existing WTO rules and obligations, and dispute settlement. The paper also puts forward arguments as to why the WTO would provide the best forum to house such an agreement. The paper, produced by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), is part of a joint initiative on the promotion of sustainable energy, undertaken by the Global Green Growth Institute, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and ICTSD.
This summary was prepared by Eldis.