In 2008, The United Nations Economic Programme (UNEP) launched the Green Economy Initiative (GEI) – a program designed to help provide governments and industry analysis and policy support for investing in green sectors and in greening environmental unfriendly sectors.
The GEI defines a green economy as:
One that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.
As part of that program the UNEP suggested that the global community create a Global Green New Deal which is “an economic policy strategy for ensuring a more economically and environmentally sustainable world economic recovery”. Edward B. Barbier of the University of Wyoming has written a book about this concept called A Global Green New Deal.
The book is based on a UNEP report that says,
A shift to a a low-carbon and sustainable economy can create millions of green jobs across many sectors of the economy. Similarly, the employment outlook from the US Department of Labor for job growth between 2008-2018 indicated a significant growth of green jobs this. Of course, this prediction is largely based on President Obama’s pledge to invest $150 billion to create 5 million green jobs in the US over the next 10 years. The focus on green jobs is tremendously important not only to create jobs, but also to have a tremendous positive impact on our environment.
Some of the industries that will lead the recovery include:
- Renewable Energy Industry (e.g. Solar, Wind, Biofuels)
- Buildings and Construction Industry (e.g. energy efficiency, retrofitting, green building)
- Transportation Industry (e.g. Aviation, Road Transportation, Cars, Public Transportation, Rail)
- Food and Agriculture Industry (e.g. Environmental Footprint, Agro-Industrial Food)
- Commodities (e.g. Iron & Steel, Cement, Pulp and Paper, Aluminium, Recycling)
- Forestry (e.g. Avoiding Further Deforestation, Reforestation, Agro-Forestry, Sustainable Forestry Management).
