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Green growth indicators in Asia and the Pacific
Hitomi Rankine,
Environment and Development Division, Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific
International Seminar on Green Economy Indicators, 21-22 May 2012, Beijing.
GGI & developing country concerns
GE indicators
 Context-relevant
 Based on a concept of the determining factors of GG
+ the objective of GG
 Help to link policy action to policy impacts
 Simply framed
 Useful for economic modeling
 Take into account the ongoing transfer of
environmental burdens between developed and
developing countries
 Cannot penalize developing countries for necessary
growth
the Asia-Pacific context
• Decreasing impact of growth on
poverty reduction
 Increasing inequality
 Rising unemployment
Gini coefficient evolution in selected
countries
Nepal
Cambodia
Philippines
Georgia
• Resource-intensive growth
Turkmenistan
Sri Lanka
Viet Nam
• Macroeconomic imbalances
and instability
India
Lao PDR
Taipei,China
Tajikistan
Bangladesh
Pakistan
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
Earliest (1990s)
Latest
Source: Guanghua Wan and Iva Sebastian, (2011), "Poverty in Asia and the Pacific:
An Update", ADB Economics Working Paper Series No. 267, p.20
… inequality = persistent unmet needs
• 641 million living with less than 1 US$ per day
• 400 million urban residents without access to
sanitation
• 566 million rural residents without access to
clean water
• 800 million without electricity
the context… environmental pressures
• Jobless growth and
decreasing impact of growth
on poverty reduction
• Resource-intensive growth
Domestic material consumption intensity
Asia-Pacific
 GHG emissions
 Vulnerability to rising and
volatile commodity prices
• Macroeconomic imbalances
and instability
Rest of world
Source: CSIRO and UNEP Asia Pacific Material Flows database
Source: CSIRO and UNEP Asia-Pacific Material Flows database
… macro-economic imbalances
• Jobless growth and decreasing
impact of growth on poverty
reduction
 Increasing inequality
 Persistent poverty
Trade and current account balances
800
Current account balance
600
• Resource-intensive growth
 GHG emissions
 Vulnerability to rising and
volatile prices
Billions of U.S. dollars
400
Five Asia-Pacific
economies with
1
largest surpluses
200
Trade balance
0
United States
-200
-400
• Macroeconomic imbalances
and instability
 Financial instability
 Persistent macroeconomic
imbalances
-600
-800
1970
1973
1976
1979
1982
1985
1988
1991
1994
1997
2000
2003
2006
2009
Source: ESCAP based on data from United Nations Statistics Division, National Accounts
Main Aggregates Database and Economist Intelligence Unit, Country Database
…facing a new economic reality
 Shift in scarcities - manufactured & human
capital no longer scarce - environmental capital
is now scarce
 A-P increasing weight & integration in global
economy
 Increasingly evident resource constraints (land,
food, water)
 Increasing instability
System change for
low carbon green growth
 A green economy = an eco-efficient economy that
addresses resource constraints and a climate
crisis
 A green economy will not materialize through
incremental changes - fundamental changes
needed
– visible structure of the economy (physical infrastructure)
– invisible structures of the economy (market prices, fiscal policies,
institutions, governance and lifestyles)
Low Carbon
Green
Growth Road
Map for Asia
and the
Pacific
-Main guide
-Summary for
policymakers
-63 fact sheets
-51 case studies
-8 policy papers
8 policy papers
Green growth roadmap – 5 tracks
• “Invisible structure” of
the economy = incentives
framework – prices,
taxes, social preferences,
technology
• “Visible structure” = built
and natural
environments
Assessing degree of system-change – key
questions
• How green is the infrastructure – both built and natural?
• How green is the incentives framework?
Which?
• How eco-efficient is the economy ?
• How eco-efficiently (and inclusively) are human needs being
met?
• How close are environmental pressures to environmental
thresholds?
Which?
What kinds of indicators are needed?
Indexes, headline, sectoral, or all ?
>> depends on the policy context
>> in a comprehensive framework they can be hierarchically
linked
Green growth-related country initiatives
• Green growth roadmaps or related comprehensive
programmes - supported by comprehensive programmes
and investment , fully mainstreamed – Republic of Korea
China, Malaysia, Singapore
• High-level targets for renewable energy use – Tuvalu, Fiji
Samoa other
Green growth – a better quality of growth
Built
infrastructure
Natural
infrastructure
Incentives,
technologies,
social
preferences
Eco-efficiency
in meeting
human needs











Share of renewable energy
Transport: Passenger km per unit of energy
Indicators for housing and commercial infrastrcure
% of primary forest area. mangroves
Degradation of watersheds
Biodiversity
Environmental taxes in overall revenues
Fossil fuel subsidies
Green procurement
Waste recycling rates
Environmental goods and services production
Capacity to
synergise growth and
environmental protection
green growth
DMC/capita (+water)




Municipal waste generation per capita
Municipal water/energy use per capita (with modification for access)
Food waste rates
Share of population with access to improved sanitation and water,
hunger
Eco-efficiency
of the economy
DMC/GDP
Proximity to
thresholds
Ecological footprint (compared to bio-capacity)
 Labour/resource/energy/water productivity
 GHG intensity
 Green jobs
 Water exploitation index
 Land use change + other indicators for critical thresholds (climate
change, biodiversity loss, nitrogen cycle, ocean acidification,
atmospheric aerosol loading, chemical pollution)
Sample
green growth
Indicators
for a
developing
country
context
Thank you for your attention