green technologies growth in developing countries

8/13/2019 Green Technologies Growth in Developing Countries

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PRADEEP CHINTADA

(1226113112)

GREEN TECHNOLOGIES

GROWTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

SUMMARY:

The concept of green growth offers real opportunities for more inclusive growth in

developing countries while protecting the environment. However, this concept diverting

from more enthusiasm to cautious, reflecting a lack of clarity and experience, and the

different opportunities available to specific countries. This report focuses on concerns

and acknowledges that developing countries face and particular challenges in designing

and implementing green growth strategies. It explores how international trade can

improve socio-economic development and sources of economic growth. Trade

opportunities offered by a global green economy can enhance economic growth and

contribute significantly to national environmental and developmental objectives. This

green growth should be inclusive in building developing countries human and productive

capacities to enable them to participate in a global green economy and thereby stimulate

economic diversification, generate employment for the poor, and increase access of the

poor to basic services such as energy, water, housing, education, communications andtransport.

INTRODUCTION:

The most serious problems facing the world today - water and food supply crises, extreme

volatility in energy and food prices, rising greenhouse gas emissions, severe income disparity,

chronic fiscal imbalances and terrorism either stem from environmental mismanagement or

inequality, or both. Aside from the chronic fiscal imbalances that mostly concern the developed

economies, developing countries are the most vulnerable to all of these risks. Green

Technologies are goods and services that improve the quality of air, water. soil waste and noise

related problems and they vary from extremely complex and expensive advanced technology

high-tech to more simple solutions.


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GREEN GROWTH AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE:

International trade represents a powerful channel for spreading green economy gains

among countries at the global level. By transmitting growing environmental and social

preferences of firms and consumers in world markets, trade plays a central role in thediffusion of green goods, services, technologies and production methods among

countries. The 1992 Rio Declaration acknowledges that trade can have a positive

environmental impact and therefore make an important contribution towards

sustainable development.

A key focus of Rio+20 will be on achieving green growth through policies that promote

environmentally sustainable economic growth. International trade is a key driver of

economic growth and can have important implications for the environment. The interaction

between international trade, economic growth and the environment was addressed in the

1992 Rio Declaration, which states that trade measures to achieve environmental goals

should not lead to arbitrary and unjustifiable discrimination, and encourages countries to

avoid taking unilateral action to address environmental challenges outside the jurisdiction

of the importing country and to address trans-boundary or global environmental problems

based on international consensus. These principles remain relevant today. But what has

changed is the urgency of the environmental challenges such as climate change, loss of

biodiversity and the un-sustainable exploitation of fish stocks. At the same time progress

towards resolving these issues through multilateral negotiations has become even harder, as

evidenced by the limited movement in the U.N. climate change negotiations and the World

Trade Organization Doha Round.(Joshua Meltzer,2012)

POLICY CONSIDERATIONS ON GREEN GROWTH:

The impact of international trade on the green growth is complex. Trade drives economic

growth, a key element of green growth and sustainable development. Reducing trade

barriers to environmental goods and services has been part of the WTO Doha Round.

Additionally, at the APEC meeting in Hawaii in November 2011, the 21 APEC members

agreed to reduce tariffs on green goods and green technologies. Regional and bilateral free

trade agreements are another opportunity to reduce trade barriers and develop new rules to


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promote green goods and services. Trade and green growth policies also interact when

countries condition or limit access to their markets to achieve environmental goals. This

can arise when a country seeks to ensure that the price of a good reflects its domestic

environmental harms, and adopts border measures to ensure that these costs are also

reflected in the price of imports.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE CAN CONTRIBUTE TO GREEN GROWTH:

Green growth links the goals of economic growth and development with environmental

protection in sustainableways. International trade can both drive economic growthand help

countries achieve their environmental goals. Restrictions on international trade can also be

used to incentivize international action on global environmental challenges. Encouraging

international trade as a mechanism of development while recognizing that countries will

use trade restrictions to achieve environmental goals involvesa balance that is reflected in

the rules of the World TradeOrganization. It provides an opportunity to recognize the ways in

which international trade can contribute to green growth by agreeing some principles such as

,countries should recognize that green growth requires a balance between promoting trade as a

driver of economic growth while recognizing the legitimate use of trade measures to achieve

environmental goals. (Joshua Meltzer,2012)

TRADE AND TRADE POLICIES AS DRIVERS IN THE GREEN ECONOMY:

Trade and the investment that underlies it can be powerful positive drivers of green growth,

opening up possibilities for low carbon development paths that would otherwise be impossible.

But trade policy in the pursuit of such growth can also be contentious, creating both winners and

losers, and potentially providing cover for what are essentially economic measures. This section

looks first at the scope for such green protectionism, asking what it really means and looking at

how it might manifest. Then examines the concept of environmental damage and materials

embodied in traded goods, It means for traditional accounting of trade flows. Finally, it asks

what options there are for addressing the novel challenges that countries might face in

reconciling existing trade law and principles with the pursuit of a green economy. (U N E P, 2011)


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GREEN TECHNOLOGIES COMPONENT FOR BUSINESS PLANS:

The creation of working technology that is applied either to conventional processes to make them

more environmentally-friendly or to substitute for existing processes is already being driven

forward in developed countries through a variety of mechanisms. Well-established existing

companies are deciding to adopt green technology practices to supplement their production

techniques for both goods and services. For example, IBM recently declared in Project Big

Green11 that they would spend $1 billion annually to research ways to make computing more

environmentally friendly, which it predicts would yield IT enterprises an average savings of

42%.12 Additionally, IBM has found that two-thirds of consumers are willing to pay more for

green energy options if it is shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Michael Hasper,2011)

STIMULATING THE GREEN ECONOMY TRANSITION:

From 1990 to 2010, many countries achieved higher income levels, especially in Asia and

Latin America. Regions which were already wealthy in 1990, such as Europe, saw their

economies become less-carbon intensive and move into the central area overlapping the

three dimensions of the chart. Many African countries, however, lagged behind. Although

many have less-carbon intensive economies - often brought by energy and material poverty

few are among the set of countries with high HDI and/or income.

Importantly, green is not just about environment. It is also aboutsocial responsibility. A

growing number of firms now integrate social concerns into their business operations and

interactions with stakeholders. Over 2,000 corporations in over 90 countries now practice

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); a figure up from virtually zero at the time of the

1992 Rio Summit. A green economy also advances ethical trade through Fair Trade

production chains which ensure that small developing country producers receive fairer

terms of trade and better prices.

FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS:

Sales of Fair Trade products are on the rise around the world. In 2008, consumers

worldwide spent $ 5 billion on Fair-trade certified products, a major Fair Trade label,

almost double the figure of the previous year and directly benefiting over 7 million people -


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farmers, workers and their families in 58 developing countries. In 2010, $211 billion was

invested in renewable energy supply, more than 5 times the amount invested in 2004.As an

examples ,the global market for organic food and beverage products is projected to reach

$60 billion on year 2010(UNCTAD,2011)

THE CENTRAL ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY:

With technological progress as the motor of a green economy, prompt and effective technology

transfer will be critical in promoting a global green economy transition. Significant advances

have already been achieved in renewable energy systems and fuels such as solar, wind and bio-

fuels. Current renewable energy technologies allow for increases in energy supply in developing

countries, since in many rural applications distributed renewable energy is less costly than any

conventional energy supply. But the diffusion of less sophisticated green technologies is also

very important; the transition from firewood burning to solar cookers, energy-efficient

woodstoves, biogas and ethanol stoves can also produce significant economic, social and

environmental benefits. (OECD,2012)

SUPPORT TO GREEN GROWTH FROM OTHER ORGANIZATIONS:

Solar and wind energy systems can also be effectively commercialized in poor rural communities

to provide jobs in manufacturing-related hardware and distribution, installation and maintenance.

There are now numerous programme's supported by international organizations, donor agencies

and NGOs to bring low-cost and efficient renewable energy systems to the rural poor in

developing countries. For example, supporting 250 independent local retailers in Africa, the

Rural Energy Foundation has successfully commercialized solar home systems in Burkina Faso,

Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal, Mozambique and Zambia. In

Bangladesh, the Grameen Shakti organization has successfully introduced a market-based

approach that has sold over 500,000 solar home systems in the country over the past decade. In

these and other countries, renewable energy systems are bringing power, light, water,

refrigeration, information and communications to homes, schools and small businesses,

improving the quality of life and opening new business opportunities for the rural poor while

boosting economic productivity in their communities. (UNCTAD,2011)


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green technologies growth in developing countries

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