The OECD has now published the Conference Summary Report of the OECD’s “Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum 2014: Addressing the social implications of green growth”. The Forum took place in Paris, France, 13-14 November 2014. The Conference Summary Report can be downloaded here.
The Forum addressed the social implications of implementing green growth strategies. It explored potential impacts of green growth policies on labour markets, income and households, how governments might best design policy frameworks to address distributional consequences, and relevant indicators for measuring progress.
Day 1 of the conference began with a scene-setting session looking at the importance of inclusive green growth in an increasingly unequal world and the importance of making links between social justice and the environment. Session 1 was a joint session with the International Energy Agency. It examined energy sector reform's impact on households, with a panel discussion featuring country case studies from the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico and Indonesia. Session 2 was a joint session with the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC) and the Committee on Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED), looking at inclusive labour markets for green growth, and presentations focused on both national and local perspectives.
Day 2 of the conference began with an opening plenary looking at possible policy responses and solutions to challenges related to the social implications of green growth. Parrallel sessions with two groups, each with a faciliator and four discussion leaders, followed. Group 1 was a Joint Session with the International Labour Orgnaization (ILO) and discussed active labour market and skills policies for green growth. Group 2 discussed social protection and redistribution policies for green growth.
A closing plenary built on the reporting of outcomes from the parallel sessions by the facilitators and scoped priorities for further research.