Green economy - future prospects

Transcription

1 Green economy - future prospects Jouni Nissinen Head of Environmental Policy Unit HENVI seminar series: Towards green economy - utopia or future reality? Kuva: Wikimedia commons/ Wikipedia

2 Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation The largest membership-based environmental non-governmental organization (ENGO) in Finland, founded in local districts + youth organization Luonto-Liitto, the Nature League Roughly members in over 100 active local groups Number of staff 30 Suomen Luonto (The Finnish Nature) magazine and Luonnonsuojelija (The Nature Conservationist) membership tabloid ( issues Aims at the protection of the Finnish nature and environment (also international Challenges: Climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, overconsumption of natural resources Achievements: Environmental legislation and administration, national parks, etc... logo: the Saimaa ringed seal - the only endemic mammal in the country

3 What am I trying to tell you? The core of the presentation To shed light to the connection b/w sustainable development, green economy, and alternative ideas. Do we know the way forward?

4 The starting point - too much of everything Multiple crises: Climate crisis Food crisis Water crisis biodiversity crisis population bomb peak oil(?) - inefficient solutions

5 Sustainable development - the overall paradigm to solve the crises The Brudtland report (1987): "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." However, with two key concepts: 1) the concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, and 2) the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs.

6 Additional 5 rules for SD Huber, Joseph Towards Industrial Ecology: Sustainable Development as a Concept of Ecological Modernization. J. of Environ. Policy & Planning 2, s ) Population development must be in keeping with the carrying capacity and productive forces of the ecosystem. 2) Ambient concentrations of pollutants in environmental media and living creatures must not exceed their absorption and regeneration capacity. 3) The consumption rate of renewable matter and energy (e.g., water, biomass, and to some degree soil as well) must not exceed their given rate of reproduction. 4) The consumption rate of exhaustible resources is to be minimized by a. substituting renewable resources for exhaustible ones, b. increasing material and energy efficiency, and c. recycling to the extent that is ecologically reasonable and economically justifiable. 5) The development and introduction of ecologically benign, clean resources, technologies, and new products is to be intensified.

7 Green economy as the UN sees it/ 1 Source: UN GA document A/CONF.216/PC/2, , spec. paras Green economy as a concept ment to connect different dimensions of SD (other connecting concepts MDGs, SCP, etc.) partly even conflicting economical dimensions inside one concept: 1) correcting market failures and internalizing externalities 2) systemic evaluation of the economic system and its impact on SD 3) bringing social goals to a wider economy 4) macroeconomic approach that tries to find ways to SD However: GE must not slow down the development process"

8 Green economy/ 2 - some measures getting the prices right and abolishing harmful subsidies promoting green public procurement ecological tax reform public investment into public transportation and similar green targets public funding for environmentally and socially sustainable R & D and sustainable growth

9 Green economy/ 3 - a result UNEP Green Economy Initiative (GEI22) in Oct 2008: I. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) - the project estimated environmental debts of the world's biggest multinational companies and compared these debts to their profits. => Conclusion: many of these multinationals would be making losses, if they had to pay the full price for the pollution they cause => the price system should be mended => Point of criticism: many of the companies now going for the green economy are the lead actors of the brown economy - Kemira as a Finnish case => resource scarcity creates business opportunities => a growing green market of SD innovations and environmental technology

10 Green economy vs. green growth UNEP: Green economy results in improved human wellbeing and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities OECD: Green growth is about fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the ecosystem services on which our wellbeing relies.

11 GE/ 4 - UN conclusions Green economy is a general term, a bit like sustainable development, so: 1) more conceptual clarity needed 2) more analysis on the consequences of the GE to the different dimensions (social, national, etc.) 3) also global models needed

12 GE definitions Rio+20 (FWW, para 56): [W]e consider green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication as one of the important tools available for achieving sustainable development should not be a rigid set of rules. should contribute to eradicating poverty as well as sustained economic growth, enhancing social inclusion, improving human welfare and creating opportunities for employment and decent work, while maintaining the healthy functioning of the Earth s ecosystems.

13 Sustainable development and Green economy Lähde: EEA Annual Environmental Indicator Report

14 No natural economy - no economy Michal Sedlacko, ESDN 2010 via Annika Lindblom, MinEnv

15 Sustainable development So, your neighbours don't like your child. You should try to solve that problem, not have a new child and hope that the neighbours will like that child. - unknown voice in New York in April 2011

16 an abundance of concepts ecological modernization (Wikipedia: an optimistic school of thought in the social sciences that argues that the economy benefits from moves towards environmentalism.) ecosystem services (Wikipedia: humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are known as ecosystem services and include products like clean drinking water and processes such as the decomposition of wastes.) the idea of ecological civilization (China's contribution to the GE discussion at the UNEP governing council meeting in Nairobi, Feb 2013.)

17 The criticism in the global south GE a weak alternative The Rio+20 final document: confirms 16 times that the states are committed to "sustained growth" => At worst, new large infrastructure projects => no matter what the framework is, the natural resource conflicts must be solved GE does not seem to achieve this

18 An alternative approach Commons and Solidarity economy Ecological commons : lakes, water, air, genes, land Social commons: language, traditions, work, co-creation Network commons : information, open data For the Global South, Commons can be seen as a new vision of development. Commons are an important part of a Solidarity economy.

19 Solidarity economy The idea of a Solidarity economy has been developed since the 1980 s especially in Latin America. a grassroots form of cooperative economics that is working throughout the world to connect thousands of local alternatives together to create large-scale, viable, and creative networks of resistance to the profit-over-all-else economy A growing number of cooperatives a parade example

20 The core of degrowth - the 8 Rs of Serge Latouche Re-evaluate Reconceptualize Restructure Redistribute Relocalize Reduce Re-use and Recycle - the basic values - the concepts of wealth and poverty - the industrial production machinery and social relations to new values - material wealth - both the industrial production and the culture - consumption

21 ...that leads into: 1) an inevitable decrease in productivity when wastage and pollution decreases 2) a new locality in action, and an end to the exploitation of the global south 3) creation of green jobs in new areas of society 4) change in the way of life and disappearance of unnecessary needs

22 Planetary boundaries, and...

23 ... the Oxfam doughnut (Oxfam 2011)

24 The conclusions - go figure... Jouni Nissinen jouni.nissinen@sll.fi