Green growth strategies in Asia

Green growth strategies will only be successful if questions of social justice become part of transition corridors.

It has become a common understanding that the transition to a green economy is not only vital from an environmental perspective but also promises important economic potentials. Besides addressing the challenge of rising resource prices, it has also been identified as an important market opportunity and a source of employment creation. For instance, Germany’s environment ministry estimates that green economic sectors account for approximately two million jobs in the country. But is this really a role model for the rest of the world, in particular for developing and emerging economies in Asia?

Despite relatively poor environmental performances in recent decades, some Asian countries have started to develop green growth strategies. These strategies utilise diverse motivations for promoting continued economic growth and employment generation, while improving living conditions and addressing the imperatives of resource efficiency and environmental protection. South Korea has been on the forefront in developing a national green growth strategy, which is strongly intertwined with its innovation and industrial policies. Also in China, green technologies have been defined as strategically important industries, partly in continuation of its export-oriented development strategy. In India, on the other hand, energy security concerns are a major priority of economic development debates, and have, therefore, motivated public and private investments in renewable energy sources. Vietnam is another interesting example of growing considerations to further integrate ecological concerns into economic thinking. It introduced an environmental protection tax in 2012 in order to supplement state budgets at both the central and regional levels. In countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, pressing issues of climate change adaptation have become important drivers of developing green growth strategies.

Those different examples have shown that the reconciliation of the environment with the economy crucially depends on a functioning and willing state. This includes not only capacities to develop and consistently enforce a robust set of environmental policies, but also to ensure their coherence with other policy domains, notably innovation and industrial policies. If combined with responsible education, labour and social policies, this can enhance the provision of decent jobs, which are desperately needed in many Asian countries. This might sound like a nice wish list, whereas the reality of the transition to a green economy is not free of conflicting interests and challenges. One has to analyse the political economy of change very carefully in every single country. In Germany, only after decades of civil society movements and incremental institutionalisations of environmental concerns, the first political reforms, regulation and incentives were introduced. But also in Asia, through increasing awareness of social and economic implications of climate change and environmental degradation, the pressure to find more sustainable pathways is growing.

Green growth strategies will only be successful if questions of social justice become a vital part of transition corridors. Negative social impacts need to be mitigated by comprehensive welfare schemes, in order to produce public support for the needed structural changes. Finally, it is also a process of redefining public goods and setting the right priorities for policymaking. Unfortunately, until now this topic has often been dominated by international organisations and rather technical discussions. But for the young and future generations, there still is a chance to create new coalitions for change by including civil society groups and social partners and constructing alternative economic narratives.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th,  2014.

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