Green Economy: Making it work

8/9/2019 Green Economy: Making it work

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our

planetThe magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme - February 2010

GREEN ECONOMY

Mk k

LEE MYUNG-BAKLow cArBoN,

GrEEN Growth

hILDA SoLISGrEEN JoBS

GErArD KLEIStErLEELIGhtING thE PAth

ANGEL GUrrADoUBLE DIVIDENDS


2/362 OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK

UNEP promotes

environmentally sound practices

globally and in its own activities.

This magazine is printed on 100% recycled

paper, using vegetable-based inks and other

eco-friendly practices. Our distribution policy

aims to reduce UNEPs carbon footprint.

Our Planet, the magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: (254 20)7621 234

Fax: (254 20)7623 927

e-mail: [email protected]

To view current and past issues of this publication online, please visit

www.unep.org/ourplanet

ISSN 101 - 7394

Director of Publication :Satinder Bindra

Editor : Geoffrey Lean

Coordinator : Geoff Thompson

Special Contributor : Nick Nuttall

Distribution Manager : Manyahleshal Kebede

Design : Amina Darani

Produced by : UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information

Printed by : Progress Press

Distributed by : SMI Books

The contents of this magazine do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of

UNEP or the editors, nor are they an official record. The designations employed and

the presentation do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part

of UNEP concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its authority or

concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

* All dollar ($) amounts refer to US dollars.

Cover Photo: Corbis


3/363OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK

LEE MYUNG-BAK : Low carbon, green growthA viable sluin: siing paadigms addess limae ange and make geen enlgies

and indusies dives g.

HILDA L SOLIS : Green jobsA ne piiy a bee uue: building e enmy ile unding envinmenal damage.

GERARD KLEISTERLEE : Lighting the pathtinking dieenly spu a geen enmi evey.

PAVAN SUKHDEV : Natural Capital underlies everythingwa lies a e vey undain enmies and sieies needs be made enmially visible.

ANGEL GURRA : Double dividendsA geen evey an b slve e jbs isis and eae susainable g.

ARMANDO MONTEIRO NETO : Uncoupling = sustainabilityBeaking e link beeen emissins and enmi g is e pa susainable develpmen.

GUNTER PAULI : The Blue EconomyDevelping e geen enmy i enepeneusip a das n design piniples pvided by esysems.

NEVA R. GOODWIN : Good businessA ppsal ensuing a pains nibue e develpmen a geen enmy.

EBBE SNDERRIIS : Copenhagen first climate-neutral capitalradial ne plans by e ciy cunil ea abn neualiy iin 16 yeas.

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ALSO

bkseeins

vebaim and numbesaads and evens

peple

pdus

sa

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www.unep.og/pubicationsbooks

TEEB Report or National and InternationalPolicy Makers

This report is one o a series o reports prepared by TheEconomics o Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) initiativehosted by UNEP. This new report states that policymakerswho actor the planets multi-trillion dollar ecosystem

services into their national and international investmentstrategies are likely to see ar higher rates o return andstronger economic growth in the twenty-rst century. Itcalls on policymakers to accelerate, scale-up and embedinvestments in the management and restoration oecosystems. It also calls or more sophisticated cost-benetanalysis beore policy decisions are made.

UNEP Year Book 2010

The UNEP Year Book 2010 reports on new environmentalscience and recent developments in our changingenvironment. It looks at: progress in environmentalgovernance; the eects o continuing degradation andloss o the worlds ecosystems; impacts on the atmosphereleading to continuing climate change; harmul substancesand hazardous wastes that aect human health and theenvironment; environment-related disasters and conficts;and unsustainable use o resources. The purpose o theYear Book is to strengthen the science-policy interace.It presents recent developments and new insights oparticular interest to policymakers.

UNEP Annual Report

Providing an overview o UNEPs activities in 2009, thisreport looks at a broad range o activities carried out

by the organization as it ollows its mandate to provideenvironmental leadership and promote sustainabledevelopment. Taking the theme o Seizing the GreenOpportunity, the report provides an overview oUNEPs activities in 2009 through the green economylens. Highlights o the year include the emergenceo green growth initiatives around the world, theinnovative approaches to address climate change andecosystem loss, and the renewed eorts to strengtheninternational environmental governance.

Climate Action 2009/2010

This third annual edition o Climate Actionis producedto encourage and assist governments and businessto lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It eaturesa range o articles that encourage the sharing o bestpractice and the development o new technologies andinitiatives and illustrates the opportunities or businessand governments to reduce costs and increase protswhile tackling climate change. The articles cover topicssuch as human impact, policy, business and nance,technology, energy, transport, ecosystem services,built environment and a regional ocus on Canada.

Changing Climate, Changing Economy

Edited by Jean-Philippe Touut(Edward Elgar Publishing)

How did climate change become an economic issue?Why is economic discourse so infuential on thepublic policy o climate change? How can it bestcontribute to the scientic and public debates? InChanging Climate, Changing Economy, nine eminentscholars with a variety o viewpoints explainboth how economics has changed environmental

understanding and how the study o climate changehas modied the economy.

The Three Secrets o Green Business

Gareth Kane (Earthscan)

With the subtitle, Unlocking CompetitiveAdvantage in a Low Carbon Economy, this bookencourages businesses to look at the greenagenda as an opportunity rather than a threat.For those who want to introduce sustainabilityinto their business or organization quicklyand eectively, this is an accessible, practicalhow-to guide that presents a comprehensive

coverage o topics about making business greenand increasing prots.

Powering the Green EconomyThe Feed-in Tarif Handbook

Miguel Mendona, David Jacobs and Benjamin Sovacool(Earthscan)

Renewable energy is undamental or creating greenereconomies, new jobs and industries, securing energysupplies and or protecting the climate and environment.This book ocuses on eed-in taris as one o the mosteective policy measures or encouraging the movementrom planet-heating ossil uels to sae, truly renewableenergy. It shares many lessons on good and bad design

and implementation, as well as discussing the challengesaced by policy, and renewable energy in general.

A Case or ClimateNeutrality: Case Studieson Moving Towards a LowCarbon Economy

The publication presents casestudies rom within the UNEP-led

Climate Neutral Network (CN Net)that showcase initiatives undertakenby diverse actors in a variety osectors on moving towards climateneutrality. The publication presentsthe wealth o experiences bynational and regional governments,city authorities, businesses, UNagencies and NGOs in reducinggreenhouse gas emissions andmoving towards a resource ecient,low-carbon green economy o thetwenty-rst century.

4 OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK


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Realizing national Green Economies will be a keycornerstone of UNEPs work over the coming yearas countries, companies and communities wrestle with the multiple challenges but also multipleopportunities presented in the rst decade of thetwentieth century.

More than two dozen governments have requestedassistance and down-to-earth advice on how best

to tailor a transition to a low carbon, resourceecient economy within national developmentstrategies and economic planning.

A Green Economy Initiative for Africa has beenin preparation. Following the Third AfricanMinisterial Conference on Financing forDevelopment in Rwanda last May, a pilot project,involving six countries including Kenya, Rwandaand Senegal, will be launched shortly.

In China, UNEP is collaborating with the Ministry

of the Environment and relevant institutionsto produce a series of sectoral green economystudies, which will feed into the countrys ve-yeardevelopment plan. A further study is underway inEastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asialooking at the prospects for promoting organicagriculture, while research on priority areasfor green economy programmes is advancingin Azerbaijan.

And priority sectors for catalysing a green economyin West Asia have emerged following discussions

in countries from Bahrain, Dubai and Jordan toKuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. A regional

environment work programme on the theme is likely to beadopted for the region in 2010.

These exciting opportunities dovetail with this yearsacceleration of Technology Needs Assessments, supportedby the Global Environment Facility under the framework ofthe UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Up to45 countries will be helped to prioritize technologies formitigating and adapting to climate change, and to pinpoint andovercome legal, nancial, policy and other barriers to takingthem up. The rst wave of 15 countries have been selected,including Cote DIvoire and Mali in Africa; Bangladesh,Cambodia and Indonesia in Asia; Argentina and Guatemala inLatin America; and Georgia in Europe.

How best to bring these multi-trillion dollar services ofecological infrastructures into the engine room of national andregional economies will also form an important pillar of this

work. It builds on the UNEP-hosted Economics of Ecosystemsand Biodiversity study that will publish its nal report later thisyear in support of the UNs International Year of Biodiversity

and the Convention on Biological Diversitys meeting in Japanin October.

Few could have imagined that the Global Green New Deal/Green Economy Initiative launched during the unfoldingnancial and economic crisis of late 2008, would have gainedsuch rapid traction. Around 15 per cent of the more than$3 trillion-worth of stimulus funds worldwide are estimatedto be green rising to around 80 per cent in the Republic ofKorea. Terms like Green Economy and Green Growth haverapidly become common parlance in many capital cities and atkey international gatherings, including last years G8 and G20

summits and the ministerial session of the OECD.

The Green Economy Initiative, the logical extension of theGlobal Green New Deal, will also be a key feature of UNEPsannual gathering of environment ministers in Bali, Indonesia,as governments take stock of how far such a shift towardssustainable consumption and production is happening, and ofthe lessons learnt so far.

The urgency of the challenges facing all economies, fromclimate change to ecological losses become more apparent withevery passing year as does the need to deliver growth, overcome

poverty and generate decent employment.

Twentieth century economic models are unlikely to serve uswell on a planet of 6 billion people, rising to 9 billion by 2050. The global public is looking to its leaders and policymakersfor solutions.

The Green Economy Initiative represents one potent answer tothis request for transformative action. Indeed it is emerging asa powerful and practical opportunity for countering persistentand emerging threats. And it is demonstrating how intelligentpolicy choices, combined with supportive market mechanisms,

can perhaps provide a comprehensive route to sustainabledevelopment that has so far eluded humankind.

losAchim Steiner

UN Unde-Seeay-Geneal and Exeuive Die, UNEP

5OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK


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Lee mYUnG-BAK

Pesiden e republi Kea

Low carbon,green growth



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Without doubt the low-carbongrowth strategy is emerging as the

viable solution for todays globalenvironmental challenge.

With the worlds population

expected to reach 9 billion by 2050and the changing climatic system

threatening our one and onlyhabitat, it is imperative that wend a way to satisfy both economic

growth and address climate change.

That is why we have to make aparadigm shift. This is the choice

I made when I declared LowCarbon, Green Growth as Koreasnational vision on 15 August 2008.

For years, those who believed thataddressing climate change would

be a burden on the economy havedominated the debate in Korea.

Most business and governmentleaders argued that we must delaytaking action to combat it in order

to ensure global competitiveness as though inaction, in the longrun, would be in Koreas interests.

I felt a new paradigm of thinkingwas needed to break this deadlock.

If a new road to growth wasunavoidable, we should not

resist it, but rather embraceit wholeheartedly. This is the

philosophy behind the Low Carbon,Green Growth strategy.

Green growth is about addressingclimate change in an aggressive

manner while, at the same time,making the green technologies

and industries needed to combatit the driver of national economic

growth. But it is also much more

than that. It entails a new social andcivilizational paradigm shift away

from the business assumptions andlifestyles of the industrial age toa new path that satises the needfor economic growth, social and

corporate responsibility, and theintegrity of the environment. It is a

shift in thinking that no longer pitsgreen against growth.

In order to make green and

growth compatible, there arethree key requirements.

First, there needs to be strong

political will and leadership tomake the transition to a newparadigm. In Korea, I established a

presidential committee to overseeintegration of the green growth

vision in all sectors of society,from central to local governments

to businesses to civic groups. Inorder to ensure that the vision has

priority over all relevant policies,the National Assembly passed the

Basic Act on Green Growth withcross-party support. As part ofthe Governments ve-year green-

growth plan, we are spending 2 percent of our gross domestic product

per year to push the policiesforward higher than what wasrecommended by UNEP.

Second, the public needs toembrace the new paradigm and

discard old habits of thinking andacting. A new civic-mindedness

and an institutional commitmentto innovation must replace narrowself-interest and slavish adherenceto the status quo. From a policystandpoint, this requires measures

to raise awareness of green growthand provide proper incentives anddisincentives such as carbonpricing and taxation to help thepublic make the right decisions. Tothat end, the Korean government

is adopting stringent goals andmeasures to promote energy saving

o trigger action, there needs to be knowledge.So any discussion on climate change must encompass

not only how much we will reduce,but how we will get there.

All countries must ndtheir unique strategy

to achiee green growth.And because there is no clear map to ollow,

we must help each other as we go along.



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in public buildings. The public is

also becoming involved throughschemes, such as the carbon-pointsystem, where those who are willingto make the change are beingnancially rewarded.

Last but not least, there needs to

be a technological revolution tosupport the rst two requirements.

Breakthroughs in technology arewhat will enable the path to green

growth and allow the public truly totransform its lifestyle.

The Major Economies Forum onEnergy and Climate identied10 areas of transformationaltechnologies to combat global

climate change, where Korea isplaying the leadership role for

smart grid technology, identifyingbarriers and nding strategies

to make it a reality. Korea hasalso identied 27 Green

Technologies that will change the

world. By 2020, a quarter of allgovernment R&D spending will be

spent on green technologies.

At Copenhagen, I spoke on theneed to build a global partnership

on how to achieve global greengrowth. To trigger action, there

needs to be knowledge. So anydiscussion on climate change

must encompass not only how

much we will reduce, but howwe will get there.

All countries must nd their uniquestrategy to achieve green growth.And because there is no clear mapto follow, we must help each other

as we go along.

This is why I announced thecreation of the Global Green

Growth Institute to serve asa global hub of ideas, new

technologies and policies for thegreen growth initiative. Drawing

on our unique experience ofhaving moved from being abeneciary of international aidto becoming a major contributor

of it, I believe Korea can play ameaningful role in helping the

Institute bridge the divide betweendeveloped and developing countrieson climate change.

UNEP, as the leading

environmental agency in theUnited Nations system, has a

key role as the steward for greengrowth. So I welcome, and

continue to support, its GreenEconomy Initiative which

has made a huge impact onencouraging countries tomake the transition to a green

growth paradigm.

Korea will play an active role byadopting what I have called a

me rst approach. Too oftenin the past, the need to mobilize

global action to protect the globalenvironment has been stymied by

a reluctance of nations to act until

others act rst.

I believe it is time for all of us

to act together in this spirit ofme rst. In doing so, we recallthe Confucian saying, If oneundertakes right things voluntarily,

how can others not follow. Wemust all work together to forge the

path to green growth. And I trulybelieve that those who take the rst

actions will reap the fruits of thenew green world.


It is a shif in thinking

that no longer pits

green

against growth.

ChatRoberts/Corbis


9/369OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION 9OUR PLANET PRACTICAL ACTION

ba

Like all of us here its an existential question.

Dr Dipu Moni, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister, in reference to the people of her country, one

of the most vulnerable to climate change.

We could set the world on a course where we would see arguably the most

dynamic period of technologically driven growth in economic history probably

bigger than the railways or electricity.

Lord Nicolas Stern arguing for a transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy.

Theres something big happening in America in terms of creating a

clean-energy economy.

USA President Barack Obama, announcing government support aimed at modernizing the

nations power grid.

This is a huge morale booster.

John Hay, UN Climate Change Secretariat spokesperson, referring to Chinas

announcement on its CO2

emissions reduction target ahead of the Copenhagen

conference.

Just as we partnered each other in the shaping of the knowledge economy, we

have the opportunity today to become partners in developing the green economyof the future.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Indian Prime Minister at a November 2009 meeting with USA

President Barack Obama.

Dr. Tim Flannery, Chairman of the Copenhagen Climate Council.

... I think that China is in a position where, as manufacturer to the world, if it

goes down that green energy route, it will open up enormous new markets.

ubs80Percentage o Koreas economic stimulus

package aimed at promoting a greeneconomy Inte Pess Sevice

150,000,000,000The EUs recommended annual unding to

help poorer nations develop greenindustries and adapt to climatechange The Gobe an Mai

99Percentage o Icelands electricity demand

met with renewables The New Yok Times

60Estimated dollar value o the economic

return or every $1 invested inecosystem services Newsweek

440,000,000,000Dollars in Chinas 2009 stimulus package to

expand its renewable energy use COP 15 Copenhagen News

119Billions o dollars in global investments in

renewable energy in 2008 Business Times

1/3Chinas share o global solar manuacturing

capacity The New Yok Times

45The investment in billions o dollars in

protected areas across the world thatcould yield services worth $5 trillionannually UNEP

200,000,000The Stern Reviews estimate o permanently

displaced environmental reugees by2050 AFP



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The United States of America is moving towards a clean

energy economy that is both more robust and sustainable,and President Obamas commitment to this goal is part of

our work at the Department of Labor. In November 2009,we announced almost $55 million in green training grants thatwill lead to green jobs and help communities across the nation

spur economic recovery and begin the process towards gainingenergy independence. But that was just the start.

green jobs

hiLDA L. SOLiS

Seeay Lab, USA

OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK10


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In the rst quarter of 2010, we willannounce $750 million in additional

grants to train American workers for

careers in new and green industries,part of a larger initiative jump-started by our American Recoveryand Reinvestment Act. These

investments will help American workers succeed, while laying thefoundation for our countrys long-term competitiveness.

Many of our green grants will support

job training aimed at workers in

under-served communities, as wellas veterans, women, young people,

African Americans, Latinos,persons with disabilities and Native

Americans. We have also launcheda series of related programmes

within the Department of Labor

through our Womens Bureau, theOccupational Safety and Health

Administration and other agencies.We have held several seminars on

how to prepare women for green jobs,and co-hosted forums on increasingaccess to them by persons withdisabilities and on ensuring safety

within the green jobs industry. And we are looking forward to buildingon these important steps.

The Department of Labor has made

possible a long list of other keyprogrammes and assistance, through

our National Emergency Grantsand Trade Adjustment Assistance

initiatives, providing support forstates so they can oer free trainingand other services such as job

placement and transport assistance for workers who have lost theirjobs as a result of trade or natural

disasters. With their help many ofthese displaced workers will re-enterthe workforce, and a good number ofthem will transition into green jobs.

As citizens of the world, we have a

responsibility to halt and undo ourprior environmental damage. But,

while taking important steps to dothis, we also want to gure out ways

to benet our economy. Green jobs,therefore, provide the opportunityto do good while doing well. I recog-nized this when, serving as a UnitedStates Member of Congress, I made

focusing on ways to prepare greenjobs one of my legislative priorities,

and am proud to have authored theGreen Jobs Act, which authorized

millions of dollars in training. It wassigned into law by former President

Bush and is now being implementedby President Obama.

Our country was founded byimmigrants with varied backgrounds

and skills and Americans are hard working and deserve the best

opportunities our system can possibly

provide. A prepared workforce fornew green jobs is a win-win situation.Providing our workers with new andinnovative skills, enables them to re-enter our workforce upon completing

their training.

Strong partnerships are essentialto our success in strengthening

our training programmes, ouremployers and our industries. So

the training initiatives we supportat the Department of Labor

frequently involve partnerships withcommunity colleges, local businesses,and workforce development boards.

This is one way we ensure thateveryone is on board, guring outstrategic solutions to keep oureconomy strong.

These partnerships help prepare

our young people, and our displaced

and even elderly workers forthe economy of tomorrow, trainingthem for jobs in green occupations

including, weatherization specialists,solar panel installers, energy auditors

and hybrid automobile experts. Inshort, they are making good jobs safe, secure, green and paying family-supporting wages a reality formore and more Americans. And, inthe process, they are helping us meet

the goal of a clean energy future thatworks for all humankind.

As citizens

o the world,

we hae a responsibility

to halt

and

undoour prior environmental

damage.

But, while taking important

steps to do this,

we also want to gure out

ways to benet

our economy.

Green jobs, thereore,

provide the opportunity

to do good

while doing well.

OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK 11


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The global nancial crisis, Ipersonally believe, makes actingdecisively to solve our climate

challenge even more urgent. Takingit as an opportunity addressingthe energy and climate crises inthe right way will contribute toovercoming the economic downturnand create opportunities for green

growth. Tackling these challenges

requires a broad concerted eortboth in communicating the

solutions for climate change and inmeeting the massive challenge of

implementing them speedily.

At Philips, we support an ambitiousroad map for the battle againstclimate change. Signicant progresscan start to be made immediately

with existing knowledge andtechnology, allowing us to

accommodate global economicgrowth while buying time to let

renewable energy solutions cometo full maturity. Indeed, several

McKinsey studies show that thequickest and most cost-eective

way of reducing carbon emissionsis to invest in energy eciencymeasures, as in buildings, transportand lighting.

Energy-ecient lighting solutions

can play an important role in this,as they oer an immediate and

GerArD KLeiSterLee

Pesiden/cie Exeuive ofe Pilips

L


EdHonowitz/GettyImages


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Signicant progress can start to be made immediately with existing knowledge and

technology, allowing us to accommodate global economic growth while buying time to let

renewable energy solutions come to ull maturity.

actionable win. Lighting accounts

roughly for 19 per cent of the worldselectricity use, and about 75 percent of it is based on old, energy-inecient solutions. On average 40per cent of the electricity could besaved by switching existing lighting,

based on old technology, to themodern, energy-ecient lighting

now available. This is equivalent tosaving 120 billion on electricitybills and to the output of 600power plants or 1,800 million oilbarrels every year.

Through such solutions, we canoer a triple-win approach: savingpeople, businesses and government

money; reducing greenhousegas emissions; and creating new

green collar jobs for a greeneconomic recovery.

But this means we have to startthinking dierently. Moreexpensive and less available energymay lead to dierent businesschoices. Perhaps cheap labour

will be replaced by cheap energyas a driver in emerging markets,

leading to much more regionalsupply chains and perhaps even

production. Access to energy maybecome the single most importanturban development planning

criterion, since more than half ofthe worlds people now live in citiesand are responsible for 70 per centof global energy consumption.

It is amazing how much there is

to gain just from using availabletechnology better. That is why

we are teaming up with manypartners around the world, such

as the World Green BuildingCouncil, committing to makecities 40 per cent more energy

ecient in the next 10 years. Actionshould particularly be focused

on renovating buildings, and onnew construction, in developedcountries and on creatingtwenty-rst century energy-ecient

cities in emerging and developingones, where refusing to copyfossil fuel-intensive twentiethcentury city blueprints will beespecially benecial.

But new technological paradigmsalso require business modelsspecically designed for them. Mostsuccessful innovations take shape

not by inventing a new technology

but by integrating an enabling oneinto a system paradigm shift. So

we are looking not just at productinnovations but also, and more

importantly, at more systemicinnovations that help to reduce

energy consumption and improvepeoples well-being by takingthe eects of lighting controls,lighting architecture and planning

into account.

These facts and gures have acommercial avour, but I believethat we need them, and bestpractices, to enable us to act on

these unprecedented globalthreats, while boosting our

economic competitiveness.

Only radical and coordinatedglobal action will enable us reallyto have an impact. Business can

deliver technologies and nancialsolutions and improve awareness,

but governments have to provideeconomic stimulus and appropriate

policies and regulations. So we havebeen calling for policy measuresto spur energy eciency throughambitious performance andeciency standards. Introducingtarget setting and nancialinstruments, both internationally

and nationally, is the key factor forsuccess in implementing energy

eciency legislation.

There also needs to be broadrecognition that we need to addressthe emotional drivers as wellas the rational and legal ones creating understanding of, andbuy-in for, a sustainable future.Citizens and consumers do not have

a concrete view of what a sustainablesociety would look like and thereis also a lack of understanding about

why awareness of its benets isso important, through leveraging

public support and societal pressure.It is even more vital that business,

governments and non-governmentalorganizations work together to makecitizens and consumers aware that

their own personal contribution,however little it might seem to each

of them, becomes substantial whenmultiplied among manifold peoplemaking a dierence.

Nobody can solve these crisesalone not scientists, nor public orprivate stakeholders. So we welcomefurther collaboration in new types

of partnerships to accelerate actionsand concrete initiatives, bringing

us further down the path towards

a more sustainable, innovative andcompetitive society.



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nul l

udl vy

PAvAn SUKhDev

Speial Advise andhead UNEPs

Geen Enmy Iniiaive



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Over 800 experts in many eldsmet recently in Dubai to prepare

for the World Economic Forumsannual meeting at Davos. Noless than 75 major global problemareas or domains were identied,and each was assigned to a Global

Agenda Council of a dozen expertsto brainstorm and distill into broadlessons for global cooperation. I was

asked to chair a council on the lossof ecosystems and biodiversity ornatural capital but as we begandeliberating we soon found that theproblems of our domain were shared

by or, indeed, caused problems in no less than 40 of the others.

Councils evaluating global risks(freshwater scarcity, food scarcity,nutrition, pandemics, catastrophicevents, and illicit trade), for example,all saw ecosystem and biodiversity

losses as key underlying drivers. Thecouncil on migration found that its

biggest problem arose from the dyingtropical coral reefs and sheries

potentially producing 200million migrants. Security concerns(fragile states, human rights) were

connected to the availability of thegoods and services of nature to poorpeople. All regional councils from

Australia to Latin America hadbig issues rooted in misused naturalcapital. Climate change throughecosystem-based mitigation andadaptation and ocean governance

through questions over thesurvival of ocean sheries were alsoinextricably linked with ecosystems

and biodiversity.

When I mentioned this to a friend

from another council, he raised hiseyebrows, and said, Well, I am notsurprised. All the other councils live

inside yours! That says a lot: thatthe Earth is our only home, and

that its ecosystems and biodiversity

the physical and living fabric ofthe planet provide us with air,food, water, fuel, bre, and a hostof ecosystem services that make theplanet habitable for humanity.

Natural Capital ecosystems andbiodiversity providing benets forhumankind clearly underlieseverything. Yet, the annual loss ofland-based Natural Capital in

terms of lost human welfare benetsfrom forest loss alone has reached$2 trillion to $4.5 trillion. Why havesuch signicant capital losses escapedpublic scrutiny and adequate policy

responses? I believe it is largelybecause of the economic invisibility

of Natural Capital, as most of its goods and services are public

goods, delivered free directly to thebeneciaries, and also are mostlyunmeasured and unmanaged.

It is, for example, not reected innational accounts. As we know them,

these date back to World War II andthe Marshall Plan when economists

Richard Stone and James Meade with support from J.M. Keynes

designed them as a way of keepingtrack of economic activity. Given

the circumstances, their framework was necessarily industrial in its

essence: there was no space in it



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for environmental degradation and

sociodemographic developments.After the War, the same frameworkcarried on and was adapted to create

the GDP measurement now usedaround the world.

The creators of GDP realized its

limitations. The three pillarson which analysis of society

ought to rest are studies ofeconomic, sociodemographic and

environmental phenomena, saidRichard Stone in his 1984 NobelMemorial Lecture. He added thathis work had focused mostly on

economic accounting and that hehad not been able to spend much

time on its environmental equivalenteven though he understood that

environmental issues, such aspollution, land use and non-renewable resources oer plenty ofscope for accounting.

Thus the creators of the currentsystem of calculating GDP thought ofit as work-in-progress, and admittedas much 25 years ago. Unfortunately,

the world has continued to focusmuch of its energy on maximizingthis incomplete and out-of-dateparadigm.

Our economic compass is faulty andmust be updated, better to reectthe roles of human capital and

natural capital. We must ensure thatthe costs and benets of conservingnature are calculated as best possible,are recognized by leaders, businesses

and citizens alike, are included insocietys accounts, and are managedso as to be distributed more fairly

across communities and sustainablefor generations to come.

Presenting solutions to the econo-mic invisibility of natural capital

and describing ways in which theows from it can be recognized andrewarded is the main purpose of

TEEB, our project on The Economicsof Ecosystems and Biodiversity

now part of UNEPs GreenEconomy initiative which will

present its results to the Conventionof Biological Diversity in October.

TEEB reports and the Green

Economy Reportboth address modern

capitalism and its discontents, andrecommend many ways in which to

reform policy and organize marketsto produce greater wealth, more

decent jobs, and less poverty. NaturalCapital, its values, and better use, are

both at the heart of TEEB, and animportant component of the futureGreen Economy.

For capitalism to work, capital

itself must be recognized in all itsdimensions physical (nancialassets, other human-made assets),human (education, health), social(communal harmony, humanrelationships, etc.) and natural(rivers, wetlands, forests, coralreefs, etc. and their resident biodiv-ersity). This thought is not new: it

goes back to Adam Smiths basiceconomic resources land, labour

and capital. But in Smiths day, landand labour were plenteous andcolonization expanded their supply.Energy was not even a major factor

of production. The scarce resource was nancial capital. How timeshave changed!

We now need a three-dimensionalcapitalism, including natural and

human capital. We need a GreenEconomy, which harnesses theproductive potential of nature to

increase Earths biocapacity, andthus to ensure greater human well-being and its equitable distribution.We need to think of natural capitalnot as a subordinate asset class asource of stu for our productionengines but as a complex and

valuable ecological infrastructure

that simultaneously providesus goods (food, fuel, bre, etc.),services (air cleansing, freshwaterregulation, climate regulation, etc.)and ideas (bio-mimicry applications

which can radically transformproduction as we know it). We needa combined policy and businessfocus on rebuilding Natural Capital,

so that its largely free contributionsto human welfare can continue tobenet not just us and our children,but generations as yet unborn.

We need

a Green Economy,

which

harnesses the productie

potential o nature

to increaseEarths biocapacity,

and

thus to ensure

greater

human well-being

and its

equitable distribution.




Grassroots environmental projects

in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh,Colombia, Southern Arica, Indiaand Niger are winners o the 2009SEED Gold Awards. The SEEDAwards are presented annually bythe SEED Initiative, whose missionis supporting entrepreneurs orsustainable development. Theprize recognizes promising, locallydriven start-up enterprises thatwork in developing countriesto improve livelihoods, tacklepoverty and manage natural

resources sustainably. The winners willreceive individually tailored business

and partnership support services,worth $35,000 to help them becomeestablished and increase their impact.

www.seeinit.og

The Green Awards highlight thebest examples o green marketingand sustainability communicationsthat have made a real dierence inthe ght against global warming.The Green Awards recognizeexcellence in 16 categoriesrom Best Green InternationalCampaign, or global entrants,to Best Green Campaigner, orindividuals and small groupschampioning sustainability.The 2009 winners, announcedin November, covered a rangeo media and topics includingsustainable transport, sustainable

eating, waste reduction, energyeciency, animal welare and corporatesocial responsibility.

www.geenawas.co.uk/home

SEEDAWARDS2009

GREENAWARDSfORCREATIVITYAND

SUSTAINABILITY

Every year on 22 March, World Water Day aims toraise awareness o the importance o water and to

promote its sustainable use. The theme or 2010is water quality, and key events and activitieswill spread messages about sustaining healthyecosystems and human well-being by addressingwater quality challenges. Around the world a varietyo activities have been planned including a globalconerence on water quality, campaigns or actionon pollution prevention, clean up and restoration,international policy discussions, plus publications andassorted outreach activities.

www.unwate.og/wowateay

From 1325 March 2010, Doha, Qatar, willplay host to the Conerence o Parties (COP)or CITES, the Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species o Wild Faunaand Flora. The convention aims to ensure thatinternational trade in specimens o wild animalsand plants does not threaten their survival. The175 countries that are signatories to this convention will come together or2 weeks to review the implementation o the Convention with the aim oimproving its eectiveness.

www.cites.og

The 2010 International Year o Biodiversity,kicked o in January with the launch othe Play or Lie campaign, a joint projecto UNEP and the sportswear companyPUMA. The project will raise awarenessabout habitat and species conservationamong ootball ans and the generalpublic during worldwide ootball events,including the Cup o Arican Nations inAngola and international riendly games,leading up to the FIFA World Cup 2010in South Arica. It will also raise unds orbiodiversity conservation projects in Arica.

www.unep.og

Proessor Laurence Boisson de Chazournesreceived the 2008 Elizabeth Haub Prizeor Environmental Law on 22 October2009 in Stockholm. Proessor Boisson deChazournes was honoured or her exceptionalcontributions to the development ointernational environmental law throughher scholarship and teaching, as well as herpractical work at organizations such as the

World Bank, the World Trade Organization, theUnited Nations Compensation Commissionand the International Court o Justice.Sponsored by the International Council oEnvironmental Law and Stockholm University,the Prize is considered the most prestigiousinternational distinction to be conerredupon an environmental lawyer.

http://www.kssf.e/EHF/

T

HEELIzABETHHAUBPRIzE

WORLDWAT

ERDAY

CITESCOP15

PLAYfORLIfE


sawads

ad


18/36

Multilateral cooperation andcoordination were importantin ghting the nancial crisis.

They are equally essential nowas we set out to tackle other

global challenges. First andforemost is climate change.

Few issues loom larger than theneed to achieve growth that is

balanced and sustainable both inenvironmental and social terms.

At the OECD, we believe it ispossible to tackle climate change,

grow the economy and creategood jobs at the same time.

The Copenhagen Accord,

thrashed out in tough discussions,is still far from perfect. But with

most countries likely to sign, it isa breakthrough towards collectiveinternational action to limit global

emissions and help build cleaner,more resilient economies. In the

Dul dvdd

AnGeL GUrrA

Seeay-Geneal e oganisain Enmi c-peain and

Develpmen (oEcD)


developing a green-growthstrategy. This will require a

whole-of-government perspectiveusing labour and social policiesto promote the transition toa low-carbon economy, whileat the same time providing

support for those whose jobs andlivelihoods are threatened.

Some policies can pay a double

dividend by contributing both toemployment and green growth.Many of the scal packages thatOECD countries have introduced

to sustain growth includeinvestments in environment-related projects. These often havean important jobs dimension.

Yet the labour market impact ofthe transition to a low-carbon

economy will be more complexthan simply adding so-called

coming year, the OECD willcontribute to international

eorts to take things forward.

We will also focus on the greeneconomy and helping governments

to take advantage of it. At last

Junes OECD Ministerial Councilmeeting, we were tasked with


19/36

green jobs. As of now, we do not

exactly know how the transitionto green growth will impact uponjobs and workers. While green jobs

will provide new opportunitiesfor many workers, some existing

jobs will be eliminated and otherswill be transformed as skill sets

and working methods adjust tothe needs of a greener economy.Further in-depth work is needed to

guide policymaking in this area.

What is clear already is that

two broad policy areas willbe particularly important

for successful labour marketadjustment to greener growth.

Policies aimed at reconcilinghigh labour mobility with incomesecurity, such as by combining

adequate unemploymentbenets with eective activationmeasures, will be key to achieving

quick and smooth redeploymentof workers to support the

transition to green growth.Such policies are also needed to

ensure that the inevitable costs

of the transition are not unjustlyconcentrated on a minorityof unlucky workers whichis, in turn, a precondition ofbuilding and sustaining political

support for green growth.

Strengthening national educationand training systems is essentialfor the shift towards a low-carboneconomy. Green jobs includingpre-existing jobs which will needto be re-engineered will requirenew skills, and governments

have an important role to play in

helping workers to obtain them.Public training programmescan help people particularlythose moving between jobs toacquire green skills. But theycannot do it alone. Governments,

employers and vocational andtertiary education institutions

will need to work together toanticipate shifts in demand

for labour and to prevent skill

mismatches that could slow thetransition to greener growth.

In parallel, we are also investigatingmechanisms for innovativeinternational nance, to help

governments nd ways for theirdomestic policy frameworks toset the right price for carbon and

send the right signal to encourageprivate investment to support alow-carbon society. Accordingto OECD analysis, if the propermix of policies and instruments

to price carbon is put in place toreduce emissions by 20 per cent

in developed countries by 2020,this could raise the equivalent of

2.5 per cent of their GDP. While

there will be many competingdemands for using these revenues,a fraction of that amount would be

enough to supply the public moneythat developed countries agreed to

provide in the Copenhagen Accord.

Much of our focus will be on waysto assist developing countries to

best manage the risks and maketheir development resilient to

the impacts of climate change.We are advancing policy optionsto stimulate innovation, from

the early stages of technologydevelopment through to diusionand transfer. Easy and rapid accessto low-carbon technologies andtechnologies that can supportadaptation will be critical toensuring timely and eectiveaction in developing countries.

We are also looking at ways to

better inform consumer andindustry choices and working

with sub-national governmentsto identify and disseminate

good local-level policy practicesto reduce emissions.

The crisis has provided an

opportunity to take a decisiveturn toward greener growth.

Our bottom line is that green

and growth are compatible. Wecan and must have them together.


GillesMingasson/GettyImages


20/36

poplElINOr OSTrOM

On 12 October 2009, Elinor Ostrom, an American politicalscientist became the rst woman to be awarded the

Nobel Prize in Economics. Ostrom specializes in commonpool resources how people manage natural resources ascommon property. Her work has ocused on how naturalresources such as orests, sh stocks, lakes and pasturescan be managed as common properties. She has oundthat when local community members have access to, andcontrol o, their resources, they oten create and enorcerules that lead to successul and sustainable economicgovernance models. Ostroms groundbreaking work hasexpanded the parameters o traditional economic theory toinclude non-market institutions and the local communitiesthat drive them. In emphasizing how humans interact with

ecosystems to maintain long-term sustainable resource yields, she has brought more attention to the eld osustainable resource development.

GEOrGE SOrOS

The one thing I have is the ability to put money to work,said George Soros, one o the worlds wealthiest individuals,

in reerence to combating climate change. In the lead up tolast years conerence in Copenhagen, Soros pledged to investmore than $1 billion in clean energy technology that makesa contribution to solving the problem o climate change.He also announced the establishment o the Climate PolicyInitiative part advisory service, part policy developer andpart watchdog the goal o which is to look ater the publicinterest as policies and programmes are created to addressclimate change. Over the next decade Mr. Soros will donate$10 million annually the Initiative.

ANdY SCHrOETEr

Andy Schroeter is the leading light behind a company that isbringing renewable, aordable energy to hundreds o remote

communities in Lao PDR. Since 2002 Sunlabob Rural EnergyLimited, based in the Lao capital, Vientiane, has installed over5,600 systems in over 450 villages and locations all over Lao PDR.Sunlabob installs solar home energy systems and rents solarlanterns to amilies. The cost o renting is lower than the costo kerosene, providing amilies with a real incentive to switchto cleaner, healthier and more sustainable energy. The companyhas already begun expanding into Cambodia and Indonesia,and urther expansion plans are on the drawing board. Amongnumerous other awards, Sunlabob is a previous winner o UNEPsSasakawa Award.

IAN rEdMONd OBE

Among his many notable services to wildlie conservation,Ian Redmond OBE was the United Nations Ambassador or

the Year o the Gorilla in 2009. Redmond is a tropical eldbiologist and conservationist, renowned or his workwith great apes and elephants. For more than 30 yearshe has been associated with mountain gorillas throughresearch, lming, tourism and conservation work.He is a consultant and advisor or many high-proleinternational wildlie conservation organizations andis currently the Chie Consultant or GRASP, the UNEP/UNESCO Great Apes Survival Project, which he helpedlaunch in 2001. Highlights rom Redmonds extensivework on documentary lms include introducing Sir DavidAttenborough to the gorillas in 1978, or BBCs amous

Life on Earth series, and teaching Sigourney Weaver togrunt like a gorilla in 1987, in her award-winning role inthe lm Gorillas in the Mist.



21/36

dIPAl CHANdrA BArUA

Dipal Chandra Barua is a visionary whose eorts are bringing renewableenergy to millions o rural people in Bangladesh. Barua is the ounding

Managing Director o Grameen Shakti, an organization that aims torescue rural people rom energy poverty by combining renewable energytechnology and microcredit. Under Baruas leadership, Grameen Shaktihas installed more than 200,000 solar power systems and developeda number o other innovative initiatives, including biogas technologythat converts cow and poultry waste into gas or cooking and lighting.Grameen Shakti has installed more than 6,000 biogas plants and plansto construct 500,000 more by 2012. Through a highly successulmicrocredit programme, Grameen Shakti has trained rural women to besolar technicians, giving them a uture as green entrepreneurs. Baruawas the rst winner o the Zayed Future Energy Prize and is a ormercontributor to Our Planet.

ANGElIqUE KIdjO

The Grammy Award-winning West Arican singer-songwriter,Angelique Kidjo, has long been a voice or the environment. In

the lead up to the climate change negotiations in Copenhagenshe recorded a new music video or the UN-led Seal theDeal! campaign eaturing her hit single, Agolo (Please),which she wrote in 1994 when she was contemplating herown consumption and how she could make a dierence asan individual. Kidjo also perormed at the UNICEF event inCopenhagen to launch the Climate Summit. She has beena UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2002, has supportedinitiatives such as the Poverty-Environment Partnership, isone o the Live Earth Ambassadors or the 2010 Run or Waterevent, and is a ormer contributor to Our Planet.

BHArrAT jAGdEO

For several years Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeohas been working on a business proposal that willensure orests are more valuable standing than cut.

All too aware that deorestation accounts or morethan 20 per cent o human-generated greenhousegases, President Jagdeo, an economist and ormerFinance Minister, is encouraging investors to payor the increasingly tangible benets o keepingGuyanas 16 million hectares o rainorest intact.And his plans are bearing ruit: in November last

year, Guyana signed the Forest-Climate Pact withNorway. Under this agreement Norway will investup to $250 million in protecting Guyanas orests toavoid the climate change impacts o deorestation.The agreement is one o the rst carbon oset

agreements to be signed under a the initiative knownas REDD Reduced Emissions rom Deorestation andForest Degradation.

FAIzA HAjjI

Grassroots environmentalist and photographer, FaizaHajjis work in sustainable development showcaseswhat ordinary citizens o Arica are doing to tackleclimate change. Hajji runs a project called IFASSEN(hands in Berber) aimed at both decreasing thenumber o plastic bags in the environment and helpingher Moroccan countrywomen receive a air income. Theproject employs 21 cratswomen who collect discardedplastic bags littering their community, then clean, dryand weave them together into bags and baskets. Haj jisphoto essay, Caring Hands, which showcases the work

o IFASSEN, won the 2009 inaugural United NationsDevelopment Porgramme photography contest PictureThis: Caring or the Earth.



22/3622 OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK

Uul =uly

ArmAnDO mOnteirO netO

Pesiden e Nainalcnedeain Indusy, Bazil

CarCulture/Corbis



The unprecedented attendance in

Copenhagen of more than a hundredheads of state provides evidence that

billions of the planets inhabitantswant the changes that will lead us to

climate stability. On the positive side,the conference demonstrated that,

on the scale of global desires, climatestability is on par with combating

poverty and maintaining peace. Yetthe snow that fell on the Danish

capital chillingly proclaimed the badnews: in spite of negotiators work

and pleas, the proposals put forwardby developed countries were modest

and did not lead to the expectedambitious agreement. Everything

was left to the next conference inMexico City in December.

While emerging economiesannounced quantied emissionscommitments before the start ofthe conference, strengthening the

Bali Plan, developed countries optedfor an escapist rhetoric packed in

weak targets full of conditions.

These targets were also shown to beincompatible with protecting islandcountries, providing predictable

nancing for clean growth indeveloping nations, or obtaining

guarantees that in 2020 developedeconomies would emit at most 75 percent of 1990 levels.

The developed country leaders general attitude contradicted their

decision, at last summers LAquila

summit, to stabilize the planetsaverage temperature increase at 2 Cby the end of this century. Practical

steps to ensure that economies remaincompatible with this would include

implementing a new framework ofglobal, domestic, private and publicnancing. This should ensure thatemerging economies can createthe conditions required to reduce

emissions in the medium term while

preserving their legitimate right toeconomic growth.

European economies, particularlyGermany and Denmark, show

that the way to uncouple economic growth from increasing emissionsis through technology and ecientconsumption patterns. Brazilian

industry, for its part, supports suchuncoupling since it is consistent

with industrialization geared tosustainability to generate greenjobs and maintain the already clean

Brazilian energy supply mix.

Brazils commitment to thewidespread use of ethanol, its use of

renewable energy for 46 per cent ofits supplies, and recent incentives for

increasing wind energy projects alldemonstrate that it has rearmed

its leadership in clean industrialinitiatives. But we need to domore. The burden on low-carboninvestments must be reduced, and

people trained for innovation, toensure our competitiveness and avoidcommodication of the economy.

Brazilian industry is not justinterested in, but also advocates,this industrialization path,

bringing together sustainability

and knowledge without givingup the right to development.Nevertheless, we must all respect

market rationale and the text of theClimate Convention which states

that developed countries shallprovide new and additional nancialresources to meet the agreed fullcosts incurred by developing country

Parties in complying with theirobligations. Before Mexico comes

around, we must all re-read this and adopt it as a basic principle.

...the way to uncouple

economic growth

from

increasing emissions

is through technology and

ecient consumption patterns.

PauloFridman/Corbis


24/36

t bLUe emy

GUnter PAULi

Funde ZErI(Ze Emissins resea and Iniiaives)

and au eming bkthe Blue Economy



25/36

Who would doubt that the world

needs a new economic model? Weneed to nd a way of meeting thebasic needs of the planet and all its

inhabitants with what the Earthproduces. Many grand steps have

been taken in the sustainabilityand green movement, yet wehave to search for solutions that

will allow us to make a quantumleap forward.

The economic models of the pasthave collapsed and the GreenEconomy has been the only seriousresponse. Yet while it has hadan impact on specic productsin niche markets, as through fairtrade on coee and tea it has

yet to shape our entire system. Themain challenge is that it requires

companies to invest, and consumersto pay, more. This is valid andjustied when the world economyis expanding and unemployment

is decreasing, or when the main

actors on the market are ush withnancial resources. But it is tough

when demand drops and consumercondence dwindles and eventougher when people realize thattheir jobs are at risk.

The time has come to embrace a

broad portfolio of innovations thatbuild on what we have achieved andbenchmarked around the world. For

decades we have been copying thegenius in natures design like theVelcro that imitates the adhesiontechnique of cocklebur seeds, or theself-cleansing of the lotus ower.Societies must now move from a

romance with species to pragmaticinspiration from ecosystems.

All too often in the current sustain-able movement, the substitution ofone product or process by another

has had unintended consequences.

The use of corn as feedstock for

both biofuels and bioplastics hasincreased the cost of grain, puttingfood security for millions at risk,

and stimulated industry to embracegenetic controls to master standard-ized and predictable output. Theuse of palm oil for biodegradable

soaps has destroyed huge tracts ofrainforest and the habitat of the

orangutan. The appetite for shiitakemushrooms a delicious and ne

substitute for animal protein has increased the felling of oaktrees to provide the logs on which

they grow.

We, too, must evolve in our quest tobecome sustainable, and develop a

more entrepreneurial and innovativeBlue Economy. We must go beyond

substituting one product or oneprocess with another, and instead

improve the system, opening uppossibilities for a new generation


FransLanting/Corbis


26/36

of entrepreneurs who use what is

available sustainably to addressthe needs of the Earth and all

its citizens.

Ecosystems provide pragmatic designprinciples for the new economy.

The rst of these is based on the

observation that all matter andenergy cascades from one species toanother. Such cascading of nutrients

involves partaking of locallyavailable resources, employing all

contributors, and using the waste forone as the resource for another.

Professor Jorge Alberto Vieira

Costas work in Porto Alegre,Brazil, demonstrates how anexcessive or unbalanced by-productcan be converted from pollutantto a resource. It redirects CO

2

emitted from the local coal-redpower station to nourish spirulinaalgae and so produce protein-richfood supplements and sustainablyharvested biofuels. The additional

investment costs are low since theinfrastructure required is already

available in the stations warm waterretention basin.

In other models, waste biomassbecomes the growing medium for

desirable mushrooms; this spentsubstrate becomes protein-richfeed for livestock; the animalsmanure, inoculated with bacteria,

generates biogas in a digester; theslurry released from the digester

becomes the nutrient source foralgae farming; and the residual water

promotes prolic growth of benthos,phyto- and zooplankton that becomesh food.

The second principle is basedon another observation: thatecosystems rely rst and foremoston the laws of physics and only

secondarily on chemistry. Physics ispredictable, as in the law of gravity.Following this principle allows us to

reduce or eliminate mined metals,

smelted ore and processed chemicals

from consumption. Physics-basedmechanisms developed by zebras

and termites display more masteryof air and humidity control than

any of our current mechanical andelectronic systems solutions.

We see this in the Laggarberg

School in Sweden, designed byAnders Nyquist, or the eld hospitalin Colombian Vichada, designedby the team of Las Gaviotas, where

air is continuously and naturallyrefreshed without costly pumps andheaters or coolers. These buildings

demonstrate that inspirations fromnature can cut capital costs merely by

exploiting pressure and temperaturedierentials. Reliance on chemicallybased insulation is complemented,or even replaced, by a deeper

understanding of the laws of physicseliminating the unsustainable use of

materials and energy in the process.

The same logic can be applied to generating electricity. Each year

industrialized societies throw some40 billion batteries into toxic land-lls. Yet every ecosystem generatessmall, yet appropriate, electric

currents based on dierentials inpressure, acidity and temperature.Such micro-currents may be toosmall to replace a coal-red powerstation in the foreseeable future,but they are sucient to providea perfectly feasible substitute for

these billions of disposable batteries. This has been demonstrated by

Germanys Fraunhofer Institute,which has successfully prototyped a

cell phone that generates electricityfrom the temperature dierencebetween the phone and the usersbody, and converts the pressure fromthe voice into a piezo-electric sourceproviding the power to project it.

Achim Steiner, Executive Director

of UNEP and Ashok Khosla,President of IUCN, write, in theirforeword to the latest Report to

the Club of Rome: We can nd

ways of utilizing physics, chemistry,

and biology just as ecosystemsdo with renewable materials andsustainable practices. This is nolonger the realm of science-ction:it is actually happening here and

now. With appropriate policies tosupport research and development,

and promotional strategies thataccomplish their delivery through

market mechanisms, such materialsand methods oer abundant

opportunities for accelerating theiradaptation to address pressingglobal issues.

This will require the changes

proposed in the policy framework ofUNEPs Green Economy Initiative.

Combined with the Blue Economy inspiring entrepreneurs to changethe economic framework throughbottom-up shifts in businessmodels this provides hope and

inspiration.


We must

go beyond substituting

one product or

one process

with another,

and instead improve

the system,

opening up possibilities

for a new generation

of entrepreneurs

who use what

is available

sustainably

to address the needs

of the Earth and

all its citizens.



Enegy-geneating spee humps

Many brilliant innovative ideas have passed through Our PlanetsProducts page, and the MotionPowerEnergy Harvester is no exception. This marvelous device generates electricity rom cars as they passover a speed hump. The hump is constructed rom a metal sheet, under which are a series o long thin

pedals. A car moving over the hump pushes it down, turning the pedals which in turn spin gears thatgenerate around 2,000 Watt o electricity per car! The Energy Harvester is still in a testing phase andthe developers are working on how best to store the energy. Once this has been perected the speedbumps could be used to power street lamps or even eed power directly to the grid.www.inhabitat.com

The faigoun of the futue?Unlike conventional airground rides that rely on diesel uel, the Star Wheel, a mobile Ferris wheel,is powered entirely by the passengers themselves. The Star Wheel is a contraption with threeseats, each o which has a set o pedals that propel the passengers around in a circle insidethe wheel between the hub and the rim. This movement also makes the whole wheel roll along.The more eort that is put into pedaling, the more thrilling the ride vigorous pedaling results inthe seat fipping around on its own axis a loop within a loop! The un o the airground is

going green.www.origin.popularmechanics.com

Soa powe afte akCan a solar power station generate electricity in the darkness? Yes! A new commercial-scale solarplant currently under construction in Spain, GEMASOLAR, will be the rst to use new technologythat allows it to continue generating electricity ater the sun goes down. The plant is thermo-solar,which means it collects the suns heat and uses it to make steam, which in turn powers electricalgenerators. Thousands o mirrors refect sunlight to a central tower where the heat is collected. One othe innovative aspects o this plant is a system that uses molten salt to store excess high-temperatureheat during daylight hours or use ater sunset. GEMASOLAR will be capable o providing 25,000households with sae, clean energy, and reducing CO

2emissions by over 30,000 tons per year.

www.torresolenergy.com/

YoGenHeres a smart, eco-riendly way to recharge all your personal electrical devices. YoGen is apocket-sized hand-powered electric charger that can be used anywhere at any time to rechargethe batteries on your mobile phone, MP3 player, game system, organizer, GPS, laptop or otherpersonal electronic gadgets. Repeated pulling on the T-handle keeps an internal alternatorspinning continuously and this generates power to recharge batteries. The eciency o thissystem allows or extended charging eort with minimal operator atigue.www.easy-energy.biz

Soa-ce e-book eaeE-books can store the contents o thousands o books in an easy-to-carry device. LG has

extended this convenience even urther with the development o a solar-powered e-bookprototype. A 10 cm by 10 cm thin-lm solar cell less than the thickness o a credit card and theweight o a ountain pen has been developed to t the companys current 6 inch e-book model.Four to 5 hours exposure to sunlight would extend the running time o the e-books battery bya day. Ideal or picnics or sitting in the park.www.lgdisplay.com

Be geen, un ceanI you exercise on a treadmill at your local gym, the chances are that youre burning up power aswell as calories. This is because the treadmill motors on most conventional treadmills are drivenby electricity. But here is a treadmill that actually generates electricity as you are exercising. Ina completely sel-contained system, the user pushes the jogging surace around, generatingelectricity that is stored in a battery. The battery in turn powers the display and elevation systems.

Now gym treadmill users can get t in an eco-riendly way.www.woodway.com

podus


28/36

gooD bUsiness

nevA r. GOODWin

c-die e Glbal Develpmen

And Envinmen Insiue atus Univesiy, Massauses



29/3629OUR PLANET SEAL THE DEALOUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK 29

Corporations have critical rolesin the transition to a low-carboneconomy. This is not likely to be

achieved unless they spend resourceson behaviour that is not expected to

enhance, and may even hurt, theirprots and refrain from activities that

create costs borne by others, as whenfactory emissions harm neighbours

or workers. But the economicsystems and institutions aroundcorporations provide insucientreason for their goals to include long-run social and environmental health

and well-being.

Neither of the two popular types ofprescriptions for bringing corporate

behavior in line with sustainabilityis sucient. Economists like to saythat the problem will be solved if wecan bring home a cost (or benet)that had been suered (or enjoyed)by others to the business that creates

it. This requires very intelligentregulatory action. It can solve some

problems, but has not yet addressedlarger, long-range issues.

Alternatively, theorists of corporate

behaviour increasingly note the value of reputation in attracting

customers, workers and investors; therisks of failing to anticipate future

government regulations; and the

real cost savings from conservingresources and avoiding pollution.

These are all valid reasons forbusinesses to take socially desirable

actions that do not obviouslycontribute to their bottom line.

And as the Economist Intelligence

Unit has noted: leaders in this areaare more likely to outperform their

peers nancially.

Both approaches stay within theprot-driven mode, but neitherinduces corporations to think in along enough time frame. A related,less well-known, concern has to do

with the impacts of the economic

system, as a whole, on the social andecological environment in whichit is embedded and on whosehealth the continuing health and

vitality of the economy depends.Economists have long called thecosts and benets companies bringto others externalities. Some arenow dubbing these wider eectsmeta-externalities.

Negative meta-externalities include,for example, the toxins and non-

biodegradable wastes buildingup in huge quantities throughout

the Earths ecosystems. No singlecorporation has major responsibility

for these; they come from the whole


30/36

system. A less tangible example

is the development, throughadvertisement-led media, of aculture that is good at encouragingpeople to want to consume, but not

at promoting the responsibility,frugality, and other values that

will be needed in the diculttimes of the twenty-rst century.

There are also important positive

meta-externalities, such as therise in literacy that has generally

accompanied industrialization,or the green concerns that (ifbelatedly) follow an environmentallydestructive economic system.

Much contemporary corporatebehaviour creates meta-externalities

corrosive of the economicregimes that will face them andother businesses in the future.

Contributions to climate changeare especially obvious: resourceshortages, including drought andfamine; serious health threats; armedconicts; and migrations all willcreate economic regimes in whichfew businesses will thrive.

Two and a half centuries of growthin labour productivity for longa great positive meta-externality

have now in some ways becomedangerous to the system. This is

because people with money canhardly absorb the output directed at

them, while the needs of those with very little are hardly factored into

calculations of production and salespromotions.

Regulations are being proposedthat would internalize some short-run negative externalities, and

there is increasing investor andconsumer pressure for companies to

take account of the regulatory andreputation risks for major emitters

of carbon dioxide. Universalinvestors such as large pensionfunds are making some attempts

to steer the entire economy toward

sustainable economic regimes. Butmajor actors believe that corporate

survival requires continual growthin sales, a belief supported byinvestors, who want to see their

stocks increase in value, and bymanagers whose social standing

grows with their companys size.Yet the dangers of entertaining too

big to fail corporations is painfullyclear and many of the more realistic

scenarios for sustainable humandevelopment around the worldemphasize smaller, more local-scaleeconomic activities. Moreover,

formal laws regulating business canonly work well in the presence of

such intangibles as an appropriatework ethic and a culture of honesty

and trust.

What is needed? The answer may liein the early history of the corporateform. Corporations were originally

entities chartered by monarchs tocarry out specic acts. States andnations then adopted the right to

give charters (also called articles

of incorporation) to individuals or groups that wished to undertake

large commercial enterprises. While

patronage and bribery often playeda part, the formal idea was that

charters were bestowed to enableenterprises to carry out functions

for the social good. When the stated goal had been achieved or if thecorporation seemed unlikely toachieve it, or was doing more harmthan good the charter could be,and (in the nineteenth century inthe US, for example) quite often

was, revoked.

During the course of the twentiethcentury in the US, corporate charters

came to be a matter of course, withthe social purpose increasingly

forgotten as states scrambled in

the race to get most of the lucrativebusiness of handling them. Nowas the global environment andthe social systems and economicregimes operating within it facessevere threats from business-as-usual, it is time to revive the notion

that corporations must answer to ahigher power than their managers,their board of directors, or even

their shareholders.

The prot-driven model can besoftened with notions of climate

and reputation risk, or stienedby regulations. Some investors

are struggling to impress a longer view upon some managers. It is

possible that shifts in the overallculture will help to bring corporate

goals into better alignment withthe social good but all of theseforces together may still not be

sucient to focus corporations ontheir needed contributions to truesustainability. The big push that

may then be required is to reviewthe social contracts of businessthrough the sustainability lens

for example reviving a legalstructure within which charters,or local certicates of authority todo business, can be withheld, or

revoked, from corporations that are

not contributing adequately towardsa green economy.

Te big push

that

may then be required

is

to reiew

the social contracts obusiness

through the

sustainability lens.



31/36

www.unep.og

Green Economy Initiative (GEI)www.unep.org/greeneconomy/The GEI has three key elements: the Green Economy Report that provides anoverview, analysis and synthesis o how public policy can help markets acceleratethe transition towards a green economy; the Economics o Ecosystems andBiodiversity (TEEB), a partnership project ocusing on valuation issues; and theGreen Jobs Report, that looks at green employment trends.

Green Jobs Initiativewww.unep.org/labour_environment/eatures/greenjobs-initiative.aspThe Green Jobs Initiative was launched by UNEP in 2007 in partnership with theInternational Labour Organization (ILO), the International Employers Organisation(IEO) and the International Trade Union Conederation (ITUC). The initiativesupports coherent and concerted policies to build a green economy with greenjobs and decent work or all.

Labour and Environment Initiativewww.unep.org/labour_environment/index.aspThis initiative aims at strengthening the role o international labour communitiesin areas related to environmental development and sustainable development.

Urban Environment Unitwww.unep.org/urban_environmentThe Urban Environment Unit aims to integrate the urban dimension in UNEPs

work, including areas such as air pollution, coastal areas, waste, biodiversity andclimate change.

UNEP Sustainable Energy Finance Initiativewww.se.unep.org/The mission o this team is to pave the way or a global scale-up o investment inenergy eciency and renewable energy.

discussion an ebate

The Green Economy Initiativehttp://www.greeneconomyinitiative.com/This comprehensive website tracks investment in the green economy, green jobsand clean technologies. It seeks to raise interest in the green economy, whileexamining the impact o emerging trends in climate change, technology, economicsand leadership on investment in clean energy and technologies.

The Green Economywww.thegreeneconomy.com/A magazine aimed at corporate executives, with news, ideas, and articles on asustainable market economy.

The Energy Blogwww.energyblogs.comA site where users engage in dynamic conversations on the global powerindustry.

GreenTechnoLoghttp://www.greentechnolog.com/A website with the latest news, insights, and inormation on green technologyconcepts and capabilities, or people interested in learning about science andtechnology or sustainability and a greener world.

GreenBiz.comwww.greenbiz.comThis site, the business voice o the green economy, provides news, opinion, bestpractices and other resources on the greening o mainstream business.

Ideas or Developmentwww.ideas4development.orgAn international blog aiming to stimulate debate on development issues. Itbrings together a range o leaders on development and sustainability, romorganizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the WorldTrade Organization, and UNEP.

www

GreenGrowth

European Green Cities Networkhttp://www.europeangreencities.com/This is a network that disseminates knowledgeand experiences regarding sustainable urbanhousing technologies in order to stimulate marketdevelopment and to help speed up innovation.

The UN-Energy websitehttp://esa.un.org/un-energy/UN-Energy promotes UN system-wide

collaboration in the area o energy with a coherentand consistent approach.

A orce or goodwww.orceorgood.comThis online community aims to drive businesssustainably as a orce or good. It covers a rangeo issues including the green economy, climatechange, the low-carbon economy, the economicso ecosystems and biodiversity (TEEB), andcorporate social responsibility.

Climate Works

www.climate-works.co.uk/about/about.htmlClimate Works helps organizations reduce their

energy demand, cut their emissions o carbondioxide and plan or and adapt to climate change.It works to develop better and more eectivepolicies on energy and climate change, low- andzero-carbon buildings, and more energy-ecientand carbon-ecient ways o working.

European Environment Agencywww.eea.europa.euThe EEA is an agency o the European Union whose

task is to provide sound, independent inormationon the environment.

The geen economy:

usefu inks

This page contains links to websites o governments,international organizations, non-governmental organizations,

businesses, media, and other groups rom around the world to helpyou research issues related to the green economy. We have compiledthese links rom our own review o the vast amount o inormation

available on the Internet to help you to nd the most relevant sourcesor your research. Our Planetmagazine does not, however, endorse the

viewpoints o any o the groups to which we link, and we cannot guaranteethe accuracy o the inormation posted on these sites. Rather, we hope to

provide you with a broad range o opinions and perspectives.



32/36OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK32

Arriving at Copenhagen Airport,travellers will notice wind turbinescurving the waters. When they get

to the city, they may be impressedby the astonishing number of bikers

not to mention the bike lanes.

Less visibly, beneath the streets, runmiles and miles of district heating

pipes. Combined heat and poweris widely used in the Copenhagen

area, saving both money and fossilfuels, while incinerating solid waste

is an integral part of the citysenergy system.

In spite of all this progress,

emissions of greenhouse gases fromCopenhagen still total 2.5 million

tons a year. That may not be muchcompared to most other capitals

of the world. But its far too much

compared to the goal decided bythe City Council on 27 August last

year for Copenhagen to becomethe worlds rst ever carbon-neutralcapital city by 2025.

To reach this goal, the Municipalityhas put forward specic initiativesto avoid half a million tons ofemissions in the next ten years followed by even steeper reductions.

Results will be monitoredand reported year by year and

new measures will be taken ifintermediate targets are not reached.

Energy savings, energy eciency,more renewable energy sources,

greener transport, low-energybuildings and life style changes will

all be required. However, like anyother city, Copenhagen is part of

the surrounding society, subjectto commuting and dependent on

government decisions and generaldevelopment trends. Making it

not possible to achieve full carbonneutrality just within its borders.

So the City Council has pledgedto engage in external projects like

establishing new wind turbinefarms to neutralize the remaining

carbon emissions.

I always strived for a better

environment with less pollutionin Copenhagen, says Chief

copenhagenf -ul l

eBBe SnDerriiS

Envinmen epe and sieneie based in cpenagen


33/36OUR PLANET MAKING IT WORK 33

Mayor, Ritt Bjerregaard, former

Environment Commissioner of theEuropean Union.

She acknowledges that other cities

also have ambitions climate plansadding: Whether Copenhagen willbe the rst and only carbon neutralcity remains to be seen. We will only

be too happy to compete with othersif they try to catch up or even to take

the lead.

Most of the target is to be met bychanging the energy supply system

and reducing energy use.

Engineering and EnvironmentMayor, Klaus Bondam, points out

that Copenhagen already has some ofthe worlds most ecient combinedpower and heat plants. Nevertheless,

and in spite of its use of wind power,biomass and waste incineration,73 per cent of the electricity used inCopenhagen still comes from fossil

fuels especially coal and natural gas.So, an important part of the plan is

to convert existing power stations tousing wood chips instead of coal, to

build new combined heat and powerstations based on renewable sources

of energy and to raise more windturbines in the Copenhagen Area.

Citizens will be given the possibilityof investing their savings in these

real green energy sources on a sharedbasis with the Municipality.

The present incremental use ofgeothermal energy (hot waterpumped from 2.6 kilometres beneath

the ground) will be increased six-fold. And district heating pipes and

waste incineration facilities are to be

renovated to avoid energy losses.

An important obstacle when usinglarge amounts of renewable energy

is that wind and solar energy arevariable and so do not always match

consumer needs. The CopenhagenClimate Plan intends to solve this

problem by installing energy storagesystems such as water reservoirs

with heat pumps. Other attractivepossibilities are electric car batteriesand producing hydrogen for fuel cells

in vehicles and stationary facilities.

Increasing green mobility suchas biking and walking accountsfor 10 per cent of the plansreduction targets. Copenhagen is

already widely known as the bikingcity, and has inspired cities like

Melbourne and New York to makeCopenhagen-style bike lanes.

Now, more money is being

invested in upgrading the lanesand constructing new routes and

bridges solely for bikers and walkers.Bicycle parking is being improved,

especially at public transportationhubs, and a system of cycling

commuting routes is planned.

Public transport is being upgraded,aiming at better comfort,

reliability and shorter travel times.Bus companies are being required toreduce their carbon emissions by

25 per cent, and the city is lobbyingthe government to approve road

pricing and environmental zones indense downtown areas.

In a few years the Municipalitys ownvehicle eet will be converted intoelectric or hydrogen-powered cars,

while refueling stations with freeparking for electric cars and plug-inhybrids will be provided.

Big reductions in emissionsreductions can be made by improving

building standards and renovatingexisting structures. The Council

has decided to maximize energysavings when renovating schools,

institutions and other municipalbuildings, earmarking the savings inenerg

Documents

Green Economy: Making it work