By Martin Banks - 21st February 2011
Many of these [subsidies] are contributing to environmental damage
UNEP report
A new report argues that investing two per cent of global GDP into ten key sectors could "kick-start a transition towards a low carbon, resource-efficient" green economy.
The report, by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), was launched in Brussels on Monday.
It challenges what it says is "the myth of a trade off between environmental investments and economic growth" and instead points to a current "gross misallocation of capital".
The report says that promoting a "green economy" can be a "key catalyst" for growth, one of the objectives of the EU 2020 strategy, and eradicating poverty.
It says, "Currently, the world spends between one and two per cent of global GDP on a range of subsidies that often perpetuate unsustainable resources use in areas such as fossil fuels, agriculture, including pesticide subsidies, water and fisheries.
"Many of these are contributing to environmental damage and inefficiencies in the global economy, and phasing them down or phasing them out would generate multiple benefits while freeing up resources to finance a green economy transition."
Presenting the report, via a live video link at a news conference in Brussels, UNEP executive director Achim Steiner acknowledged that in the short-term, job losses in some sectors - fisheries for example - would be "inevitable" if they are to move towards sustainability.
He said that investment, in some cases funded from cuts in "harmful subsidies", will be required to re-skill and re-train some sections of the global workforce to ensure a fair and socially acceptable transition.
The report makes the case that over time the number of "new and decent jobs created" in sectors - ranging from renewable energies to more sustainable agriculture - will offset those lost from the former "brown economy".
For example, investing about one and a quarter per cent of global GDP each year in energy efficiency and renewable energies could cut global primary energy demand by nine per cent in 2020 and close to 40 per cent by 2050, it says.
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