Dear EarthTalk: What does it mean when one uses the
phrase, “building a green economy?” I’ve heard it repeated a few times lately
and would like to have a better understanding of the concept.
The phrase “building a green economy”
means different things to different people, but in general it refers to
encouraging economic development that prioritizes sustainability—that is,
working with nature and not against it in the quest to meet peoples’ needs and
wants—instead of disregarding environmental concerns in the process of growing
the economy. The primary way governments around the world are trying to “green”
their own economies today is by increasing investment in—and, by extension,
creating jobs in—industries on the cutting edge of non-polluting renewable
forms of energy, such as solar and wind power.
President Obama has repeatedly invoked his
vision of a green economy as a tool for helping the U.S. lift itself out of recession
and position itself as an economic powerhouse in a carbon-constrained future.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the $787.2 billion
stimulus package that Congress signed into law in 2009, was chock full of
provisions to boost renewable energy, energy efficiency and environmental restoration
initiatives. Examples include $4.5 billion to convert government buildings into
high-performance green buildings, $8.4 billion for investments in public
transportation, and tens of billions of dollars more for research into new
technologies to amplify existing efforts. ARRA also earmark $11 billion for the
implementation of the “smart grid,” a new approach to power distribution that
will bring more clean energy sources into the mix and promote energy
efficiency.
Infusing such huge amounts of cash into
sustainability-oriented projects is one way the Obama administration hopes to
“green” the U.S.
economy while simultaneously pulling the country out of recession. “To truly
transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the
ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy
the profitable kind of energy,” Obama told Congress a few months ago.
Of course, Americans aren’t the only ones
bent on building a green economy. During the 1980s and 1990s, while the
American government was largely asleep at the wheel on environmental issues,
countries such as Denmark, Germany, Spain
and Japan
were already busy investing in wind and solar research and implementation. And
while these nations’ ongoing efforts are nothing to sneeze at, economists point
out that what is most needed is action on the part of the world’s fastest
growing economies—China and India.
A recent report by the consulting firm
McKinsey & Company found that China—which surpassed the U.S. as the world’s
largest generator of greenhouse gases three years ago—has great potential for
building a green economy over the coming decades. According to McKinsey, by
2030 China
could reduce its oil and coal imports by up to 40 percent and its greenhouse
gas emissions by 50 percent by investing upwards of 1.5 trillion yuan ($220
billion in U.S. dollars) per year in both existing and new green technologies. China
has begun to see the light with regard to reducing emissions, increasing energy
efficiency and embracing renewable alternative energy, but it has yet to make
significant financial commitments, which will be key to both warding off
catastrophic climate change and building a truly global green economy.
CONTACTS: ARRA, www.recovery.gov; McKinsey & Company, www.McKinsey.com.
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photo credit: P. Roth, courtesy Flickr