Green growth is gaining support as a way to pursue economic growth and development, while preventing environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and unsustainable natural resource use. A strategic vision is necessary to ensure that, during the exit from the crisis and beyond, governments will implement policies that are the most appropriate in terms of economic efficiency, environmental integrity and social equity, as well as coherent both at a national and an international level.
The 2010 Interim Report from the OECD Green Growth Strategy project highlights preliminary findings on a number of key issues that policymakers face in creating greener economies. Green growth builds on existing sustainable development initiatives in many countries and aims at identifying cleaner sources of growth, including seizing the opportunities to develop new green industries, jobs and technologies, while also managing the structural changes associated with the transition to a greener economy. Managing the employment and other distribution effects of change in more traditional sectors will also need to go hand in hand with exploiting new opportunities. Sound measurement will be needed to monitor progress towards green growth, and a set of indicators will be developed to capture its main aspects.
