The Global Green Growth Institute’s G20 Background Paper: Green Growth to achieve the Paris Agreement outlines the necessity of an accelerated transition to a green and circular economy that will eradicate poverty, provide decent jobs, and hit climate action targets. The Paper includes GGGI’s top public policy, public finance, and private investment recommendations to scale up and accelerate green growth in developing countries.

The transition to a green growth pathway needs to be accelerated to achieve the Paris Agreement. G20 countries can play a key role in building capacity in developing countries, meeting commitments concerning climate finance, and enabling the engagement of the private sectors of G20 countries in project development and investments in the developing world. In this context, this paper focuses on the challenges and opportunities faced by developing countries that are related to the Paris Agreement, both emerging as well as most vulnerable countries where GGGI has its primary field experience. Based on the evidence and experience gained on the ground in GGGI’s 30 Member countries in recent years, this report evaluates experience related to the implementation and financing of green growth plans in numerous high-priority areas including the renewable energy transition, electrification of transportation, green buildings and infrastructure, and green employment. The report concludes with recommendations for the G20, based on the foregoing analysis. 

GGGI highlights in the section of recommendations that 1) all countries, developed and developing, need to redirect public policy and finance economy-wide to achieve deep decarbonization, 2) the G20 countries should ensure successful replenishment of the Green Climate Fund, 3) effective climate change actions need to include decarbonization efforts, 4) G20 countries should establish mechanisms to enable and increase private and institutional green investments in developing countries, 5) the green transformation will need to provide hundreds of millions of green and decent jobs, and 6) civil society and consumers should play a key role in the green transformation.

This G20 Background Paper was prepared at the request of, and with financial support of the Government of Japan, and presented at the G20 Climate Sustainability Working Group meeting held in Tokyo, Japan on February 14, 2019.