Inclusive Green Economy: A Pathway Toward Sustainable Development Goals
Environmental Impact of Economic Growth
The world population has continuously increased in the last 50 years, from 3,682 billion people in 1970 to 7,954 billion people in the early 2022. The increasing human population is associated with the depletion of natural resources and the destruction to the environment that leads to changes to the Earth in order to fulfill human basic needs.
According to a 2020 report published by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), between 2010 to 2019 was confirmed as the hottest decade since climate record-keeping began 140 years ago. The reason behind it points to greenhouse gas emission as the source of continued global warming.
It can be seen from the graph below that during the period of strong economic growth between 1960 to 2014, there’s also a 66% rise in CO2 emissions per capita. The total emissions are increasing due to the population growth and the mass adoption of new technologies in industry.
Source. Pettinger, Tejvan. Environmental impact of economic growth. Economichelp Web site. (2021). https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/145989/economics/environmental-impact-of-economic- growth/#:~:text=The%20environmental%20impact%20of%20economic,cause%20damage%20to%20the%20environment.
The global economy currently poses significant environmental challenges. According to Natalie Marchant (2021), the largest impact of climate change is that it could wipe off up to 18% of GDP of the worldwide economy by 2050 if global temperature rises by 3.2°C. Therefore, it can be concluded that economic growth and the environment are interconnected and impact each other.
Understanding An Inclusive Green Economy
The United Nations has adopted The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 as a universal call for action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Sustainable development has become the dominant strategy to cope with the effects of economically driven global problems. Economic growth and environmental performance must go hand in hand to achieve a healthy natural environment and prosperity at the same time.
Building an Inclusive Green Economy is a balanced and realistic pathway towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. An Inclusive Green Economy can be defined as an economic model that secures growth and development, while at the same time improving environmental sustainability and human well-being. This model is an alternative from the traditional one, which not only focused on achieving certain economic goals, but also taking environmental and social externalities into consideration.
According to the European Environmental Agency (EEA) Report No 2/2014, a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between improving resource efficiency (economic aspect), ensuring ecosystem resilience (ecosystem aspect), and enhancing social equity and fair burden-sharing (human well-being aspect) are necessary in order to develop Inclusive Green Growth. Collaborating those aspects would help society to use resources efficiently through the enhancement of human well-being in an inclusive manner while maintaining the environmental system that sustains us.
Source. Switch 2 Green. Inclusive Green Economy. Switch 2 Green Web site. (2022). https://www.switchtogreen.eu/inclusive-green-economy/.
The Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) together with The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has developed the Green Economy Progress Measurement Framework (GEP Measurement Framework). The GEP Measurement Framework aims to understand the extent to which an Inclusive Green Economy addresses three main global challenges, consisting of: (a) persistent poverty or a condition where a household experience a relatively low income in the current year up until two or three preceding years; (b) overstepped planetary boundaries in which humans have overstepped pressure on critical global processes that could create irreversible and abrupt change to the Earth System; and (c) inequitable sharing of growing prosperity. This framework attempts to capture the transition of consumption, investment, trade, and government spending for producing goods and services in an environmentally friendly manner. This framework also provides measurement of the outcome of enabling policies that are conducive to an Inclusive Green Economy.
The GEP Measurement Framework investigates the transition through a single indicator and through the Green Economy Progress (GEP) Index. The GEP Index is a 13 multidimensional indicator which measures the progress or regress made by countries in improving the well- being of current generations in relation to economic opportunities, social inclusiveness, and environmental protection. This index composed of 13 indicators that capture critical issues faced in achieving Inclusive Green Economy transition, consist of green trade, environmental patents, renewable energy sources, energy use, palma ratio, access to basic services, life expectancy, air pollution, material footprint, marine and terrestrial protected areas, gender inequality index, pension laverage, and education. According to PAGE (2022), the construction of the GEP Index utilizes a weighting system that allows for the assessment of how far off a country is from the global threshold on a specific component of an Inclusive Green Economy (an indicator) and an evaluation of the relative importance of one component (an indicator) with respect to the others from the country’s perspective.
The implementation of the Inclusive Green Economy would offer an optimistic and realistic alternative for countries looking for growth that involved economic, environmental, and social sense. The application of this strategy together with innovation would be a long-term driver for economic growth that covers the well-being of the current generation and provides better well-being for the future generation.
By: Safrida Alivia Sri Ananda
Further Reading
Green Policy Platform. Inclusive Green Economy Policy Making for SDGs: From Implementation to Evaluation. Green Policy Platform Web site. (2022). https://www.greengrowthknowledge.org/project/inclusive-green-economy-policy- making-sdgs-implementation-evaluation.
OECD. Inclusive Green Growth: For The Future We Want. OECD Web site. (2022). https://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/futurewewant.html.
PAGE. Green Economy Progress Measurement Framework. PAGE Web site. (2022). https://www.un-page.org/green-economy-progress-measurement-framework
Switch 2 Green. Inclusive Green Economy. Switch 2 Green Web site. (2022). https://www.switchtogreen.eu/inclusive-green-economy/.
Bibliography
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Borunda, A. Past Decade Was The Hottest On Record. National Geographic. (2020). https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-decade-we-finally-woke-up-to-climate-change.
Everett, T. Ishwaran, M. Ansaloni, G. Rubin, A. Economic Growth and the Environment. Department for Environment Sood and Rural Affairs. (2010). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69195/pb13390-economic-growth-100305.pdf.
Green Policy Platform. Inclusive Green Economy Policy Making for SDGs: From Implementation to Evaluation. Green Policy Platform Web site. (2022). https://www.greengrowthknowledge.org/project/inclusive-green-economy-policy-making- sdgs-implementation-evaluation.
ILO. Green Enterpreneurship: Creating Green Jobs Through Sustainable Enterprise Development. ILO Web site. (2022). https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_ent/documents/publication/wcms_250688.pdf.
Marchant, Natalie. This Is How Climate Change Could Impact The Global Economy. World Economic Forum Web site. (2021). https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/impact- climate-change-global-gdp/
OECD. Inclusive Green Growth: For The Future We Want. OECD Web site. (2022). https://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/futurewewant.html.
PAGE. Green Economy Progress Measurement Framework. PAGE Web site. (2022). https://www.un-page.org/green-economy-progress-measurement- framework#\
Switch 2 Green. Inclusive Green Economy. Switch 2 Green Web site. (2022). https://www.switchtogreen.eu/inclusive-green-economy/.
UNDP. The SDGs In Action. UNDP Web site. (2022). https://www.undp.org/sustainable- development- goals?