LONDON – July 1, 2014 – A new report is launched today by the Green Growth Best Practice (GGBP) initiative which pulls together the many tangible benefits that governments and communities are realizing through the adoption of green growth policies.

The report, Green Growth in Practice: Lessons from Country Experiences, is the result of a collaborative partnership between the Climate & Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). It is the culmination of over a year of work by over 75 green growth practitioners from around the world.

The report is the first comprehensive international assessment of best practices and lessons from experiences of pursuing green growth policies across all levels of government. It is designed to be used by governments, development assistance agencies, researchers, and other stakeholders, in helping them transition their economies away from fossil fuels in ways that result in sustainable growth.

“There are thousands of examples around the world of green growth policies in practice: policies that help local communities and national governments both grow their economies and address climate change. By highlighting the best of these, this report allows national and local governments to make informed choices from a deep pool of experience and learning”, says Johannes Meier, CEO of the European Climate Foundation.

By assessing more than 60 programs around the world and focusing on those elements commonly used by governments in green growth analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring, the report provides guidance and examples to policymakers interested in pursuing such policies in their own country, region, and municipality.

Some of the key findings of the report are:

• Green growth can unlock substantial economic, social, and environmental benefits. Green growth strategies enable governments to achieve significant near and long-term benefits in economic growth, environmental protection, and poverty reduction. These synergistic benefits can be achieved through improvements in resource efficiency and management, support for green technology and business innovation, and investment in initiatives to mitigate the risks and costs of this transition to green development.

• Integrated and robust planning, analysis, implementation, and monitoring are essential. Green growth strategies tend to be most effective where they link robust and credible planning, analysis, implementation, and monitoring processes in an iterative and reinforcing cycle and with active stakeholder engagement.

• Broad support for transformative change is required. Green growth plans are most effective when driven by ambitious yet achievable visions with high level and broad government and stakeholder support. They should pursue both near and long-term opportunities for dynamic shifts in resource management, technology use, community development, industrial practices and competitiveness, education and worker training, and other factors.

Sam Bickersteth, Chief Executive of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) notes that “This report shows that green growth works.  It provides a valuable resource for governments and their advisers who are looking to make climate mitigation commitments while sustaining economic growth, employment and welfare. The scientific argument on climate change has been conclusively won: climate change is happening and global emissions of greenhouse gases are largely the cause. Now, this report presents convincing evidence that tackling climate change – when planned carefully to manage the consequences for different stakeholder groups – can achieve many of society’s development goals.”

Value of the report is complemented by many country officials:

“This report clearly shows that green growth accelerates progress toward economic, social and environmental development and enables win-win cooperation between public, private and local communities.”  — Dr. Alain Serges Kouadio, Director of Green Economy and Social Responsibility, Ministry of Environment, Cote d’Ivoire.

“It demonstrates and proves that the green growth is not a luxury. It is something that everyone can achieve.” — Dr. Doddy S. Sukadri, Low Carbon Emission Development Advisor, Indonesia National Council on Climate Change (DNPI).

“This report is an important collaborative effort that will help promote understanding, dialogue and action around the concept of Green Growth.” — Ana Maria Majano, Associate Director at the INCAE Business School, Costa Rica.

The release of the report will be followed by an online resource with additional case studies. Read the Green Growth in Practice: Lessons from Country Experiences here: www.ggbp.org.

The report is available at here, and supporting case studies will also be available from mid-July 2014.

About the GGBP

GGBP is an effort to assess green growth planning and implementation practices around the world and find what works best under what circumstances, so as to assist policy makers and practitioners to improve the quality of green growth efforts.  Launched in October 2012 the GGBP is supported by three organizations – Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), Climate Development and Knowledge Network (CDKN), and European Climate Foundation (ECF).

GGBP is governed by a steering committee with representatives from the following organizations: Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; Climate& Development Knowledge Network; European Climate Foundation; Global Green Growth Institute; International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature, Conservation, and Nuclear Safety; LEDS Global Partnership; Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development; United Nations Development Programme; United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; United Nations Environment Programme; and the World Bank.

In close collaboration with various regional and global partners, GGBP is conducting a broad array of activities to build awareness and support use of the findings of this assessment, including presenting results through seminars and dialogues requested by government agencies and partnering with others on policy dialogue workshops, e-learning and peer learning programs.

GGBP is funded by:

GGGI is GGGI is a new kind of international organization — interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder and driven by the needs of emerging and developing countries. It has been established by several forward-thinking governments to maximize the opportunity for country-led progress on climate change and other environmental challenges within core economic policy and business strategies. The Institute is designed to be an open, global platform to support experimentation and collective learning by developing countries seeking to leapfrog the resource-intensive and environmentally unsustainable model of industrial development pioneered by advanced economies in an earlier era. www.gggi.org

The Climate and Development Knowledge Network supports decision-makers in designing and delivering climate compatible development. We do this by combining research, advisory services and knowledge management in support of locally owned and managed policy processes. We work in partnership with decision-makers in the public, private and non-governmental sectors nationally, regionally and globally. We hold strongly to the ideals of human development and environmental sustainability. www.cdkn.org

Established in 2008, the European Climate Foundation is a major philanthropic initiative which promotes climate and energy policies that greatly reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and to help Europe play an even stronger international leadership role to mitigate climate change. www.europeanclimate.org

Contact information

• GGBP Project Manager: Sangjung Ha, +82 70 7117 9992, sj.ha@gggi.org
• GGBP Project Director: Ron Benioff, +33 1 44 37 14 51, ron.benioff@nrel.gov