Natural assets are not infinitely substitutable and green growth policies take account of that. In May , the OECD delivered its Green Growth Strategy to Heads of State and Ministers from over forty countries, who welcomed it as a useful tool for expanding economic growth and job creation through more sustainable use of natural resources, efficiencies in the use of energy, and valuation of ecosystem services. The Strategy responds to a request from Ministers of the 34 countries who signed the Green Growth Declaration in , committing to strengthen their efforts to pursue green growth strategies as part of their response to the economic crisis and beyond.
Green growth policies are an integral part of the structural reforms needed to foster strong, more sustainable and inclusive growth.
They can unlock new growth engines by:. Strategies for greener growth need to be tailored to fit specific country circumstances.
They will need to carefully consider how to manage any potential trade-offs and best exploit the synergies between green growth and poverty reduction. The latter include, for example, bringing more efficient infrastructure to people e. Given the centrality of natural assets in low-income countries, green growth policies can reduce vulnerability to environmental risks and increase the livelihood security of the poor. Green growth strategies also recognise that focusing on GDP as the main measure of economic progress generally overlooks the contribution of natural assets to wealth, health and well-being.
The OECD is working to identify the policy mixes and measurement tools that countries in different situations can adopt to implement green growth in a way that contributes to poverty eradication, employment opportunities, and a strong and sustainable economy.
Greening the growth path of an economy depends on policy and institutional settings, level of development, social structures, resource endowments and particular environmental pressure points. Far from operating on the fringes, companies engaged in eco-innovation are at the beating heart of the British economy.
The case for eco-based businesses has often focused on the marketing and PR advantages to be gained from going green, but there is powerful evidence that eco-innovation leads directly to higher profits. Eco-innovation aims to extinguish those higher costs — one of its core goals is to reduce waste and make materials as productive as possible.
With new legislation, it looks like companies will only continue to save. A forthcoming EU initiative aimed at promoting a circular economy one focused on waste and reuse is set to introduce sweeping new regulations and incentives. For eco-innovative companies who prepare in advance, this presents huge opportunities to gain a competitive edge and push profits upward. But it is not necessary to rely on speculation to see that eco-innovation in itself can be profitable.
The money is there for companies willing to seek it out. Conditions are such that a business of any size, in any industry, should strongly consider making eco-innovation a priority. The present and future benefits of putting sustainability at the forefront are too big to ignore. Here are three strategies for incorporating eco-innovation into your business in a meaningful way:.
Every business endeavour needs a plan and eco-innovation is no different. Developing sustainability goals helps companies prioritize eco-innovation within their cultures and business agendas. Your entire upper leadership should be on board with your sustainability goals and understand their roles in supporting and meeting those objectives. Strong leadership provides the inspiration and acceleration that innovative ideas need to gain traction.
Environmental gains may get wiped out if they are not adopted throughout the supply chain. The most successful examples for eco-innovation, from both a business and environmental perspective, involve communication and collaboration on the part of the greatest number of stakeholders.
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Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. The green economy transition and sustainable technological change Over the last decade, a frequent claim has been that the traditional economic models need to be reformed in order to address climate change, biodiversity losses, water scarcity, etc.
The article centers on the following five overall challenges: Dealing with diffuse — and ever more global — environmental risks Achieving radical — and not just incremental — sustainable technological change; The advent of green capitalism: the uncertain business-as-usual scenario The role of the state: designing appropriate policy mixes Dealing with distributional concerns and impacts The first two challenges address the various types of structural tasks that are required to pursue sustainable technological change, and the barriers that have to be overcome when pursuing these tasks.
Dealing with diffuse — and ever more global — environmental risks With the advent of modern environmental policy in the s, stringent regulations were imposed on emissions into air and water. Footnote 3 One important way of encouraging recycling and reuse of products is to support product designs that factor in the reparability and reusability of products.
Achieving radical — and not just incremental — sustainable technological change Incremental innovations, e. The advent of green capitalism: the uncertain business-as-usual scenario At least since the advent of the modern environmental debate during the s, economic and environmental goals have been perceived to be in conflict with each other. Footnote 5 As indicated above, there are reasons to assume that in the absence of direct policy support, businesses will not be well-equipped to invest in long-term green technology development.
The literature has proposed an innovation policy mix based on three broad categories of instruments see also [ 36 , 51 , 52 ] : 1. Dealing with distributional concerns and impacts The transition to a green economy, including technological change, affects the whole of society.
Conclusions and avenues for future research The scope and the nature the societal challenges that arise as a consequence of the climate and environmental hazards are complex and multi-faceted, and in this article we have focused on five important challenges to sustainable technological change. Availability of data and materials Not applicable. Notes 1. References 1. Google Scholar 2. Google Scholar 3. Google Scholar 4. CAS Google Scholar 5. Google Scholar 6.
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