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The world economy is slowly, and unevenly, coming out of the worst crisis most of us have ever known. While dealing with immediate problems such as high unemployment, inflationary pressures or fiscal deficits, we have to look to the future and devise new ways of ensuring that the growth and progress we have come to take for granted are assured in the years to come.
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Green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies. To do this it must catalyse investment and innovation which will underpin sustained growth and give rise to new economic opportunities.
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Policies for greening growth will differ across countries, according to local environmental and economic conditions, institutional settings and stages of development. However, in all cases they need to: (i) integrate the natural resource base into the same dynamics and decisions that drive growth; (ii) develop ways of creating economic payoffs which more fully reflect the value of the natural resource base of the economy; and (iii) focus on mutually reinforcing aspects of economic and environmental policy.
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Promoting a successful transition towards green growth means: (i) developing strategies for reform, (ii) facilitating adjustment in the labour market; (iii) accounting for concerns about distributional impacts on firms and households, especially those on low incomes, and (iv) promoting international co-operation.
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Monitoring progress towards green growth requires indicators based on internationally comparable data. These need to be embedded in a conceptual framework and selected according to well-specified criteria. Ultimately, they need to be capable of sending clear messages which speak to policy makers and the public at large.
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Green growth should be conceived as a strategic complement to existing environmental and economic policy reform priorities. If governments wish to green the growth paths of their economies, they need to treat the policy challenges as being ones that go to the core of their economic strategies. This implies a leading role for finance, economy and environment agencies.
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International investment is a vital source of finance and a powerful vector of innovation and technology transfer as countries address the effects of climate change and seek to promote green growth. Recognising this and desiring to make a contribution to the development of green growth policies, the Freedom of Investment (FOI) Roundtable hosted by the OECD has discussed important aspects of the role of international investment in supporting the realisation of countries’ green growth objectives.