The new UNFCCC Agreement concluded in Paris in December 2015 clearly shows: Doing business-as-usual in economic development will not work anymore. In order to reach the climate goals set in Paris we need to fundamentally change our economic models and living habits. Green growth lies at the heart of this approach. This applies equally to developing countries and emerging economies, where green growth policies are being increasingly implemented (and promise significant benefits to economic and social development - see the examples of Kenya, Uruguay, or Senegal). But these benefits do not occur automatically - they need to be strategically fostered by careful policymaking. In fact, many policymakers and citizens around the world fear that rigid environmental protection could harm economic growth and employment, which would endanger the aim of reducing poverty and raising living standards. So how can we identify social risks and potential for synergies related to the implementation of green growth policies in order to address them in an appropriate policy design and bring about the promised benefits?
Against this background, GIZ recently published a working paper which provides a checklist with questions that allow systematic identification of social impacts of green growth policies. The study starts by providing a review of the recent discourse on environmentally sustainable and inclusive growth concepts and proposes a definition which serves as an endpoint against which to measure both the “greenness” and the inclusiveness of growth. This maximum definition demonstrates the aspiration of, first, decoupling growth from resource depletion and respecting planetary boundaries, and, second, to enable the possibility of poor people to participate in economic development and benefit from growth. The subsequently proposed checklist allows assessing the inclusiveness of green growth policies in five key impact areas. It can serve policymakers as a first step in identifying social impacts of green growth policies and can be completed using information from existing research through a desk study. Once likely impact areas (both positive and negative) and affected groups have been singled out through this approach, thorough ex-ante impact assessment involving supplementary methods needs to follow to quantify the impacts.
Three case studies from Bangladesh (microfinance for solar home systems), South Africa (carbon taxing) and Brazil (waste management and the informal sector) illustrate the application of the checklist and show how green growth policies can be designed to foster inclusiveness.
With this working paper GIZ aims to provide a basis for further research and policy discussions about green growth and inclusiveness, particularly also in the GGKP’s Inclusiveness Research Committee.
The full publication is available here. In case of questions and comments, the Sector Project Sustainable Economic Development ([email protected]) remains at your disposal.