This paper studies the reality and the potential for green industrial policy. It provides a summary of the green industrial policies, broadly understood, for five countries. It then considers the relation between green industrial policies and trade disputes, emphasizing the Brazil-United States dispute involving ethanol and the broader United States-China dispute. The theory of public policy provides many lessons for green industrial policy. The authors highlight four of these lessons, involving the Green Paradox, the choice of quantities versus prices with endogenous investment, the coordination issues arising from emissions control, and the ability of green industrial policies to promote cooperation in reducing a global public bad like carbon emissions.
This book outlines the Republic of Korea’s goals for green growth, including its green growth strategy, legislation and plans. Commercialization of green technologies is highlighted as a key platform for economic growth and job creation. The book was initially published in January 2011 in Korean under the title, “The Right Way to Know about Green Growth” with the support of the Republic of Korea Presidential Committee on Green Growth.
What kind of clean-energy support measures can be maintained under international trade rules and what cannot? Policy certainty reflected within a clear and coherent trade and energy governance regime is critical for boosting investor confidence and fostering clean energy investments. Ambiguity on clean energy support measures within WTO rules could cast a chilling effect on domestic efforts to scale up sustainable energy. One way of dispelling such ambiguity is through a possible sustainable energy trade agreement (SETA). This paper emphasises the importance of understanding what are the types of clean energy subsidies countries usually provide, why countries provide them, and how they fit into existing legal mechanisms. A SETA, by simultaneously addressing these questions and clarifying existing WTO subsidy rules, would add to the certainty and predictability of a country’s trade and investment climate.
This paper, written for the United Nations High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons, seeks to 1) Explain the relationship between the sustainable development, green economy and green growth concepts; 2) Summarize the state of knowledge regarding the feasibility and ultimate potential of green growth; and 3) Recommend how the post-2015 international development cooperation agenda could be structured to maximize the contribution of green growth to sustainable development over the next two crucial decades.
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.