Green Policies Good for Economy Too

Green Policies Good for Economy Too

  • The economies are shut down due to coronavirus pandemic.
  • According to a study by Oxford University, Countries across the world can boost their economies better by including climate friendly policies in recovery package.
  • So inclusion of climate friendly policies with economic recovery packages will be better for economy and environment.
Green policies good for economy too

Overview

  • As compared to traditional fiscal stimulus, green projects
    • Create more jobs
    • Delivered higher short-term returns per dollar
    • Led to increased long-term cost savings
  • The inclusion of green measures in the next six months will also determine if the worst impacts of global warming can be avoided.
  • In a study of economic and climate impact of green measures inclusion in the route out of crisis, 700 stimulus policies were catalogued into 25 broad groups.
  • A global survey of 231 experts from 53 countries was conducted.
  • The study mainly focused on reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as the key environmentally-beneficial criteria.
  • The green policies have
    • Large return on investment
    • Can be enacted quickly
    • Have strong, positive impacts on the climate
  • Some examples of renewable energy production are
    • Wind energy
    • Solar energy
  • As the clean energy infrastructure is labour intensive, it will create twice as many jobs per dollar as fossil fuel investment.
  • According to the study, some types of fiscal recovery packages offer
    • High economic multipliers
    • Positive climate impact
  • Five such policy types are given below
    • Clean physical infrastructure investment in the form of renewable energy
    • Investment in education and training to deal with immediate unemployment from COVID-19.
    • Building efficiency spending for renovations and retrofits including improved simulations, heating and domestic energy storage systems.
    • Investment in natural capital for ecosystem resilience and regeneration including restoration of carbon rich habitats and climate friendly agriculture.
    • Clean R & D spending
  • For developing countries some other policies were highly ranked. E. g.
    • Rural support scheme spending
    • Sustainable agriculture.
  • Regardless of theoretical potential poorly designed recovery measures are highly unlikely to deliver economic, climate and social outcomes.
  • A recovery plan is needed which is-
    • Sustainable
    • Resilient
    • Just
    • Climate smart

Examrace Team at Aug 27, 2021