Unprecedented global partnership launched to champion green growth

The Green Growth Best Practice Initiative (GGBP) was launched last week. Designed to help governments strengthen the quality of green growth planning and implementation through analysis and peer-to-peer learning, the initiative is set to drive progressive green policy-making around the globe. Within this initiative, ECN leads the activities on one of the three work streams: planning processes and stakeholder support. ECN provides outreach and assists with the preparation of companion products and the implementation of peer learning activities.

GGBP will engage leading experts from developed and developing countries and a broad community of practitioners, policymakers, academics, and private sector stakeholders from all regions of the world in conducting an assessment of green growth best practice. The aim is to identify which approaches work well and which do not work so well in particular circumstances.

Over the next 18 months assessments of green growth best practices will look at short and long-term solutions, answering questions like how should green growth strategies be incorporated into government planning, how should emission inventories be managed and how should the effectiveness of policies be assessed. In these efforts, the GGBP will engage leading experts from developed and developing countries as well as create opportunities for learning and interaction of the broad community of practitioners, policy-makers, academics and private sector experts.

Bert Metz, Chair of the GGBP steering committee and Fellow of the European Climate Foundation, one of the funders of the initiative said: “The European Climate Foundation wants to help governments implement effective green growth measures in their economies. Unless we grow our economies in sustainable ways, we risk a crisis in the future that is more serious and enduring than the recession we are currently experiencing”.

The initiative is supported by various funders: the International Climate Initiative (ICI) funded by the German Government, the Climate Development and Knowledge Network funded by the governments of the UK and the Netherlands, the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). These partners, together with the steering group of high-level organisations bring a unique set of expertise to the challenge.

Green- and low carbon growth plans are being developed in numerous industrialised and developing countries, allowing governments, businesses, and communities to achieve long-term social and economic goals through a transformation to resource efficient and sustainable systems. To date, however, there is not enough knowledge-sharing between countries. It remains a challenge to increase communication and peer-to-peer learning. This situation will be transformed by the GGBP, which will provide valuable insights on best practice at all levels of the policy-making process, aiming to significantly improve the quality and success rate of green growth planning and implementation.

The initiative is expected to run until at least early 2014.

For more information please contact Xander van Tilburg, via e-mail: vantilburg@ecn.nl.