Green economy

Contents:
 Meaning of green economy
 Principles
 Features
 Tools
 Myths about green economy
 Debunking of myths
 Benefits
 Economical soundness

What is a “Green Economy”?
A green economy is an economy
that results in “improved human
well-being and social equity, while
significantly reducing
environmental risks and ecological
scarcities”(UNEP 2010)

 One that helps to protect the planet and results in
social equality for people as well as animals.
 Creates jobs that contribute directly to reducing
environmental risks and provide lower-skilled and
lower-income workers with pathways out of
poverty.
 Environmentalist Van Jones called such jobs
“green-collar jobs” in his recent best-selling book,
The Green Collar Economy.

Principles of a Green Economy
1. The Primacy of Human Need, Service, Use-value,
Intrinsic Value & Quality
2. Following Natural Flows
3. Waste Equals Food
4. Elegance and Multifunctionality
5. Appropriate Scale / Linked Scale
6. Diversity
7. Self-Reliance, Self-Organization, Self-Design
8. Participation & Direct Democracy
9. Human Creativity and Development
10. The Strategic role of the Built-environment, the
Landscape & Spatial Design

Features:
1. low-carbon energy (especially renewable
energy and resource of energy efficient
technologies);
• sustainable water supply systems, water and
sanitation, and waste management;
2. sustainable production of food (organic,
biodynamic farming and sustainable practices for
livestock)
• the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity;

contd…..
3 sustainable transport system, with an emphasis on public
transport, planting the automotive industry;
4. green jobs, sustainable lifestyles and livelihoods that provide
social justice and equality and establish concrete measures in
order to progress and prosperity;
• Reforming International Environmental Governance: global
policy and economic institutions.

Tools:
 - Appropriate pricing , including phase-out of inefficient
subsidy, assessment of natural resources in monetary
terms and the introduction of taxes that harm the
environment;
 - Public procurement policies that encourage the
production of environmentally friendly products and use
of the principles of sustainable production methods;
 - Reforming the system of "environmental" tax,
involving a shift from taxes on labor to taxes on pollution;

contd…….
 Increase public investment s in infrastructure, based on
SD principles (including public transport, renewable
energy, energy-efficient buildings) and natural capital to
restore, maintain and, where possible, increase the
volume of natural capital;
 - Targeted government support for research and
development related to the creation of environmentally
sound technologies;
 - Social policies to ensure consistency between the goals
in the social field and the existing or proposed economic
policies

Myths About the Green Economy
 “Greening” of the economy inhibits wealth creation and
employment opportunities
 Only wealthy countries can afford to develop a green
economy
 Renewable energy sources are
more expensive than fossil fuels
Fossil Fuels Renewables
[Note: Not drawn to scale]
Cost

Debunking the Myths II
 “Only wealthy countries can afford it”; “inhibits employment
opportunities”
 Case Study: Brazil
 Brazil recycling recovery levels matching or exceed those in industrialized
countries.
 Recycling in Brazil generates a value of almost US $2 billion and avoids 10
million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
 60,000 recycling workers (“pickers”) have been organized into
cooperatives or associations
 Their income is more than two times higher than that
of individual waste pickers, lifting families out of poverty.
 The plight of the Brazilian pickers was depicted
in the documentary movie “Waste Land”.

Green Economy Benefits, UNEP:
 stimulate economic progress
 new jobs
 at the same time reducing the risks of global threats such
as climate change, loss of ecosystem services and water
scarcity.
 In the short term "green economy" is able to provide GDP
growth, increasing per capita income and employment in
the same or even higher rates than the traditional
"brown" economy.
 In the medium to long term "green economy" will
overtake "brown" and also give much greater benefits for
the environment and reduce social inequality.

Why a Green Economy is Economically
Sound
 It invests in “natural capital,” meaning that it uses the
natural assets of ecosystems (e.g. forests, lakes,
wetlands) as a source of capital (e.g., the ability to
produce goods and services)
 The stability of these natural assets is vital to public
services such as recreation, food, and medicine

contd…….
 Furthermore, tourism in a green economy can support
local economic growth and reduce poverty
 Ecotourism currently enjoys a 20% annual growth rate, about six
times the industry-wide rate of growth
 Travel and tourism employ 8% of the global workforce, and the
creation of jobs in the industry creates additional jobs in the related
economy
Thus, the greening of the tourism sector will reduce the
environmental threats to the industry, and as a result will increase
local involvement and protect a valuable source of natural capital

sources
 Towards a Green Economy (A Synthesis for Policy Makers) – United
Nations Environment Programme, 2011
 “What is Green Economics?”
http://www.greeneconomics.net/what2f.htm
 Wikipedia- “The Green Collar Economy”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Collar_Economy
 Green For All- Website http://www.greenforall.org
 “Wasteland”- Google Images http://www.wastelandmovie.com
“The question is not whether a clean energy economy is our
future, it’s where it will thrive.”
-Barack Obama, shortly after assuming office

Green economy

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