Green economy

© GIZ/Chatarina Vale

GIZ supports partner countries in establishing economic structures based on sustainable production and consumption patterns that combine prosperity, climate and environmental protection, and social justice.  

Growing economies and an equitable distribution of wealth are seen as prerequisites for meeting the basic needs of the world's population and creating sustainable economic well-being for people in developing and emerging countries. However, in order to preserve the natural resources necessary for this, the global community faces the challenge of transforming its ways of organizing the economy into a greenhouse gas-neutral recycling economy within a few years. So far, however, more resources are being consumed than the earth can regenerate. This imbalance is accompanied by an increase in income and wealth inequality in many countries, combined with jeopardizing social cohesion.

Sustainable development therefore requires the transformation to a greenhouse gas-neutral, resource-conserving and socially inclusive economy based on renewable energies. In 2015, the global community committed to aligning its policies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The central goal of the climate agreement is to limit global warming to below 2° C, if possible to 1.5° C. By now, many industrialized, developing and emerging countries have come to understand that an ecological restructuring of the economy leads to higher and more equitable growth in the long term. For this reason they are striving for "green" growth that protects the environment and makes use of resources independent of economic growth. Access to "green" energy thus becomes a prerequisite for attracting international investors.

The need for advice and the desire for international cooperation for an inclusive "Green Economy" is very high. At the heart of consulting and international cooperation is the need to transform entire economies as well as individual sectors. Therefore, the logical consequence is that advice on economic measures such as ecological financial reform and on shaping structural change through the establishment of environmentally friendly small and medium-sized enterprises has increased significantly in recent years and will, in all probability, continue to do so. 

GIZ supports partner countries in establishing economic structures based on sustainable production and consumption patterns that combine prosperity, climate and environmental protection, and social justice.  GIZ advice covers the entire spectrum of the green economy: creating and improving policy and regulatory frameworks, private sector development, employment and vocational training, financing and investment, and sustainable industrial sites.

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