Towards a Green Economy - European Commission · Towards a Green Economy Visions 2050 - Greening...
Transcript of Towards a Green Economy - European Commission · Towards a Green Economy Visions 2050 - Greening...
Towards a Green EconomyVisions 2050 - Greening our Economy
Green Week Conference24 June 2009, Brussels
Moustapha Kamal Gueye
UNEP Economics and Trade Branch
Multiple crises
Fuel and food crises - 950 million people worldwide at risk of hunger and malnutrition
Financial and economic crisis - threatening jobs worldwide & poverty reduction gains
Climate crisis – exacerbating the others
Multiple Crises
The Economic Crisis and Employment
200 million jobs lost between 2007 and 2009
The Economic Crisis and Development
• Decline in trade, investment, and oversees remittances
• ODA contraction
• Slow growth – every 1% fall in growth in developing countries translates into an additional 20 million people in poverty
Discounting Natural Capital
• Global economic growth in past 50 years accompanied by accelerated environmental decline
• 1981 – 2005: global GDP more than doubled, but 60% of world’s ecosystems degraded/exploited unsustainably
Opportunity Amid Crisis
Rethinking the Economic Recovery
• Revive the world economy, create new and decent jobs, and protect the vulnerable
• Reduce carbon dependency, ecosystem degradation, and water scarcity
• Eliminate persistent poverty by 2015…achieve the MDGs
• Lower risks, higher returns
From : “Rethinking the Economic Recovery: A Global Green New Deal”, UNEP, Feb 2009
Green Stimulus Country Stimulus
$bn% of
GDP/GNIGreen
Stimulus$bn
% of green
stimulus
Green stimulus as% of GDP
Australia 26.7 2.49 2.5 9% 0.2China 586.1 13.88 221.3 38% 5.2Japan 485.9 10.03 12.4 3% 0.3Korea, Rep 38.1 4.44 30.7 81% 3.6France 33.7 1.12 7.1 21% 0.2Germany 104.8 2.74 13.8 13% 0.4UK 30.4 1.09 2.1 7% 0.1US ARRA 787 5.27 94.1 12% 0.6US EESA 185 1.29 18.2 10% 0.1Canada 31.8 2.03 2.6 8% 0.2source: HSCB 2009, CIA factbook
The Green Economy Initiative: A Family of Initiatives
Demonstrating that Greening is a new engine for growth,
sizing sectoral opportunities, addressing hurdles & enabling conditions
Demonstrating the value of ecosystems & biodiversity,
capturing these values, and reversing the vicious cycle
of environmental losses and persistent poverty
Sizing and incentivizing growth in
green & decent jobs
Green Economy Report
TEEBGreen Jobs
The Green Economy Initiative: A Family of Initiatives…
Eva
luat
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Eco
logi
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Infr
astr
ucture
Evalu
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g
Bio
diver
sity
Busi
ness
GG
ND
investment,
education & training,
metrics for green
employm
ent growth
Decent jobs from Community-based Conservation, PES/ IPES
implementation,
UNDP
UNEP
ILODemonstrating that Greening is a new engine for growth,
sizing sectoral opportunities, addressing hurdles & enabling conditions
Demonstrating the value of ecosystems & biodiversity,
capturing these values, and reversing the vicious cycle
of environmental losses and persistent poverty
Sizing and incentivizing growth in green & decent jobs
Green Economy Report
TEEB Green Jobs ITC
G8+5
Multilateral InstitutionsCountriesRegional
Forums
Business & Civil SocietyGroups
Universities
… under a Wide Global Network
CBD
UNIDO
Regional Commissions
Green Jobs
The Report found that:
Globally, > 2.3 million workers employed in renewables; by 2030, could be 20 million jobs
Greening buildings in EU & US would create 2 million jobs
In China, 10 million jobs in the recycling sector
Green Jobs
• “Where capital flows today, jobs follow tomorrow”
• How does ‘greening’ impact employment ?
• What are the key sectors at risk ? What are the key sectors of opportunity ? What is the net change?
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
• To motivate actions to significantly reduce biodiversity loss by 2010
• Results to feed into Green Economy Reports
TEEB Interim Report 3 Key Messages
• Economic size & welfare impact of losses is huge
• Strong link with poverty & risk of MDG’s failure
• Discount rates are ethical choices
The Green Economy Report
The Green Economy Report
The objective of the Green Economy Report is to make and communicate a
strong and convincing economic case for greening economies and creating decent
green jobs by investing in a new generation of assets (social, natural,
human, and financial).
A “green economy” is not …
• ‘Ecological Footprint’ already exceeds Earth’s regenerative capacity… our demands on the planet have doubled over the last 40 years…
• Global GHG emissions at 42 GtCO2 per annum are 5 times higher than the Earth can absorb …
…One which undermines natural capital.. Or risks human survival
UNEP ETB
Enabling Conditions
- Finance- Subsidies- Markets
-
Green Economy Report …. and its offshoots
GGND : A Policy
Brief
Regional / Country Reports
Regional / Country Reports
Green BuildingsEnergy efficient buildings:
Investments in improved energy efficient buildings = 2-3.5m jobs in Europe & USA.
In Australia a proposed US$ 3b green housing over 4 years is expected to reduce GHG emissions by 3.8mtons/year = 160,000 jobs
In the US it is estimated that US$ 100b to improve energy efficiency of building & cities over 4 years will generate 2m new jobs.
Sustainable Transport
• Shifting 25% of all air travel in 2050 under 750 km to high speed rail travel would result in savings of around 5 GT of CO2/year (IEA, ‘08)
• Shifting 25% of all road freight over 500 km to rail could save 4 Gt of CO2/year (IEA, ‘08).
Renewable Energy
• About 2.3 million jobs in renewable energy sector in comparison to 2 m employed in oil & gas refining industry in ’99.
• Projected investments of US$ 630b in renewable energy sector by 2030 would translate into at least 20 million jobs.
Sustainable Agriculture• Organic agriculture sustains health
of soils, ecosystems & people
• Provides more than 30% more jobs per ha than non-organic
• China increased its allocation of land for organics from 300,000 ha in ‘05 to 3.5 mill ha in ’06
• In Ethiopia, 6 bn is being invested in land management over 15 years.
Engaging Global Policy Processes
Engaging Global Policy ProcessesGreen economy presence at strategic policy junctures:
• G 20 meetings
• Sessions of the Commission on Sustainable Development
• G8 Summits
• World Climate Conference 3 in Geneva (August-September 2009)
• Global Renewable Energy Forum in Mexico (October 2009)
• UNEP Finance Initiative 2009 Global Roundtable in Cape Town (October 2009)
• UNFCCC COP 15 and Kyoto Protocol MOP 5 in Copenhagen (December 2009)
• International Association for Impact Assessment 2010 meeting in Geneva (April 2010) among other targeted events. Etc…
Fostering Global Consensus
Fostering a Global Consensus on Green Economy
• Engaging governments on a global policy report on Green Economy, modelled on the “IPCC Synthesis Report”
• Objective of adoption of the policy document at the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in 2011
Regional Initiatives on Green Economy
• Regional initiative for “East Asia Low Carbon Green Growth”
• Regional initiative on Green Economy in West Asia, in collaboration with Arab Forum for Environment and Development
• Regional Initiative on Green Economy in Africa
Country Initiatives on Green Economy
• Korea: UNEP is organizing an independent review of “Korea Green Growth National Vision” initiated in 2008.
• China: UNEP is supporting policy research on green economy that will feed into China’s national five-year plan.
• Other processes in Dubai, Kuwait, UAE, Uruguay and other countries.
UNEP Green Economy Website
http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/
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