Week 3: Green economy: online lecture + pre-reading Georgeson - "The global green economy ..."

Question 1

What are the 3 main goals of the Green Economy?

Lecture

Answer 1

• Create employment and income growth via private investment
• Support a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy
• Promote social inclusivity and reduce inequality

Question 2

Which sectors create employment in the Green Economy?

Lecture

Answer 2

Sectors that preserve or restore environmental quality:
- Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry
- Renewable energy, Green buildings, Sustainable transport
- Water, waste, and land management
- Sustainable tourism

Question 3

What attracts the private sector to invest in Green growth/economy ?

Lecture

Answer 3

38% more profit for sustainable companies:
* Less resources (energy, water, materials, waste) saves on costs
* Sustainable companies attract labour easily, happy employees are productive
* Sustainable product markets and access to finance

Question 4

What are the challenges that the green economy faces?

Lecture

Answer 4

• Market access restrictions from protectionism
  A Global North country imposing high tariffs or stringent environmental standards on imports from a Global South country, restricting their ability to compete in international markets.
• Intellectual property hindering technology transfer
  - A company in a developed country patents a green technology, making it expensive or legally inaccessible for developing nations to adopt or adapt for their needs.
• Insufficient private investment
  - A developing country struggles to attract private sector funding for renewable energy projects because investors perceive them as high-risk due to political instability or weak infrastructure.
• High public investment needs
  - A country with limited resources cannot afford large-scale investments in green infrastructure, such as upgrading its electricity grid for renewable energy integration.

Question 5

What are the criticisms of the Green Economy?

Lecture

Answer 5

• Rebound effect: increased consumption offsets efficiency gains
• Resource decoupling isnt’ fast enough
• Power imbalances in benefiting from green innovation

Question 6

What is an example of the green economy in practise, and what are its goals ?

Answer 6

The EU GREEN deal
- 1: No net greenhouse emissions in 2050
- 2: Economic growth decoupled from resource use
- 3: Inclusive development, ensuring no one is left behind

Question 7

How does the OECD want to achieve green growth ?

Answer 7

1: Change payoffs
- Price Pollution and Resource Use: (e.g: European Emission Trading System (requires industries to buy emission rights, with revenue reinvested in green technologies)).
- Remove Perverse Subsidies: (e.g fossil fuel subsidies)
- Regulatory Standards: (Set maximum allowable emissions for products (e.g., smog standards for cars)

2: Enable Change:
- Invest in green infrastructure (e.g: upgrading electricity grid, trainnetwork, charging stations for electric vehicles, etc)
- Stimulate green innovation via subsidies (e.g germany subsidised solar energy production)
- Integrate green goals into broader policies (e.g into development planning)

Question 8

How does “path dependency” impact Green Growth?

Answer 8

Countries that invest early into green products are better positioned to continue innovating and expanding in green sectors.

Question 9

Is Green Growth effective in practice?

Answer 9

• Relative decoupling observed but insufficient
• Global production shifts (to production countries like China e.g) offset benefits

Question 10

How did the 2008 financial crisis influence the Green Economy?

Pre-reading

Answer 10

• Promoted as a way to align economic recovery with
• green growth opposed to brown growth (polluting)

Question 11

What are criticisms of the Green Economy? According to Georgeson (tio gerogeson)

Pre-reading

Answer 11

• Too similar to existing economic models
• Ignores potential growth limits
• Oversimplifies global challenged

Question 12

How does Green Growth differ from the Green Economy (according to Ferguson) ?

Pre-reading

Answer 12

Green Growth:
- market driven
- incremental
- with environmental considerations

Green economy;
- broader concept with a bigger emphasis on sustainability

Question 13

What are the three types of Green economy?

Pre-reading

Answer 13

Weak: Incremental, market-driven improvements
Strong: Absolute reductions, regulatory-driven
Transformational: Challenges growth dependence, advocates for a systemic change

Question 14

What is the GGGI and what is its mission?

Answer 14

Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI):
> aims to unify definintions by the world bank, OECD, Unep, etc

Question 15

What challenges exist in measuring the Green Economy?

Answer 15

• The OECD, the World bank, the UN and UNEP have all created a different framework for measuting the green economy
• Many green economy indicators rely on high-quality, real-time data, which may not be accessible in all regions.