Low carbon green growth roadmap for Asia and the Pacific

Description

The Asia-Pacific region has come to a historical crossroad: development goals are within reach and the region has the opportunity to lift its people out of poverty. But arriving at those goals and pulling millions more people out of poverty cannot be done through conventional growth strategies. Resource constraints, price volatility and the climate crisis have removed business as usual as an option for all economies. The situation now requires a serious re-examination of the resource- and carbon-intensive growth strategies. Every country in the Asia-Pacific region needs to drastically improve its resource efficiency. The region must embrace a new growth strategy that can turn the trade-off between economic development and environmental protection into a win-win synergy in which "going green" drives economic growth. The Low Carbon Green Growth Roadmap for Asia and the Pacific explores the opportunities that a low carbon green growth path offers to the region. It articulates five tracks on which to drive the economic system change necessary to pursue low carbon green growth as a new economic development path. In particular, the "visible structure" of the economy, comprising such physical infrastructure as transport, buildings and energy systems, together with the "invisible structure", which encompasses market prices, governance, regulations and lifestyles, have to be re-oriented towards resource efficiency. The Roadmap provides policymakers in the region with a comprehensive list of policy options and practical implementing strategies as well as examples of successful practices, woven through more than 100 fact sheets and case studies.

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