Europe, Central Asia should move from brown growth to green: World Bank

KARACHI: A set of three World Bank reports launched today in Brussels with the European Commission focus on the 'here and now' of policies to fight climate change.

The economic costs and social impacts of climate change threaten the prosperity of the Europe and Central Asia, but well-designed climate action can bring numerous benefits, while also being cost-effective, the report stated. In recent years, some countries in the Europe and Central Asia region have been slow to respond to this challenge, it added.

In 2010, a heat wave in Russia may have contributed to more than 50,000 deaths. In 2012, droughts destroyed over 50 percent of crops in Kazakhstan, 25 percent in Russia, and 20 percent in Ukraine.

"The region has an opportunity to use this decade to move from 'brown' to 'green' growth, make production and consumption more sustainable, improve quality of life, and reduce impacts on the climate," stressed Uwe Deichmann, World Bank Senior Environmental Specialist, and co-author of the Growing Green: the Economic Benefits of Climate Action report.

The three new reports identify the local and immediate benefits of climate action. They identify what countries in Europe and Central Asia should be doing, and how they can best do it by growing green, using energy efficiently and by achieving a balance between subsidies and tariffs.

Since 1990, the energy intensity of economies has dropped by almost 33 percent, but the progress has not been uniform. EU12 countries have narrowed the efficiency gap with the EU15 by 70 percent, while Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asian countries remain among the worst performers in energy efficiency in the world, the report stated.

"Climate change is already happening in the region, as seen in frequent floods, droughts, heat waves, and extensive forest fires in the Balkans, Central Asia, and Russia," said Laszlo Lovei, Director for Sustainable Development in the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia region.