Low Carbon, Green Growth
What is Green Growth?
Green Growth is a policy focus for the Asia and Pacific region that emphasizes environmentally sustainable economic progress to foster low-carbon, socially inclusive development.
Where is Green Growth? Green Growth is a globally relevant approach to sustainable economic growth that was developed in Asia. It is imperative that countries in the Asia and Pacific region continue their economic growth to alleviate poverty and to achieve social progress. However, increased environmental degradation, climate change and diminishing natural resources require an unconventional approach to support the export-driven economic activities of the region.
Why Green Growth?
The Asia and Pacific region has been at the forefront of the 21st century surge in economic growth, a situation driven primarily by exports and which has led to expanded production requirements needed to fuel an ever increasing amount of trade. This has significantly compounded the environmental carrying capacity pressures of many countries in the region. These countries are now shouldering an increasingly greater share of regional and global environmental production-related burdens. Coupled with evolving production patterns, these impacts are driving changes in consumption patterns in these countries and policies are needed to ensure that these developments will be environmentally sustainable. The past axiom of “grow first, clean up later”, can not apply in a region that has such a limited natural resource base and a rapidly growing population directly dependent on natural resources. In light of the recent fuel, food and financial crisis is is now imperative for countries in the region to reassess their development paths.
How to Achieve Green Growth?
In order to achieve Green Growth it is crucial to change development approaches from ‘grow first, clean up later’ to a more responsible long-term attitude. Governments can promote this by encouraging economic growth with an emphasis on environmental and social concerns.
Korean president, Lee Myung-bak has put forward ‘Low Carbon, Green Growth’ as the core of the Republic’s new vision. Green growth for South Korea focusing on sustainable growth which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. It is also a new national development paradigm that creates new growth engines and jobs with green technology and clean energy. Green technology puts together information and communications technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology and culture technology, and transcends them all. Green technology will create numerous decent jobs to tackle the problem of growth without job creation. The renewable energy industry will create several times more jobs than existing industries. In the information age, the gap between the haves and have-nots has widened. On the contrary, the gap will narrow down in the age of green growth.
“Green growth will enable a Miracle on the Korean Peninsula to succeed the Miracle on the Han River. When the Republic first manufactured its own vehicles, the technology gap with the advanced countries amounted to at least 50 years. As far as semiconductors are concerned, it was more than 20 years behind. However, the Republic grew into a technology powerhouse, which ranks first in terms of producing semiconductors and ships, and fifth in automobiles. If we make up our minds before others and take action, we will be able to lead green growth and take the initiative in a new civilization. To do this, I will make sure that the country comes up with new green growth engines for the next generation to use for 10 to 20 years” said president Lee Myung-bak.
The liveeco team
