Nearly 20 years after the Earth Summit, nations are again on the Road to Rio, but in a world very different and very changed from that of 1992.

Over the last two years, the concept of a “green economy” has moved into the mainstream of policy discourse. Heads of state and finance ministers increasing speak about the green economy; it is referred to in the text of G20 communiqués and discussed in the context of sustainable development and eradicating poverty (United Nations General Assembly 2010).

This recent interest in a green economy has been intensified by widespread disillusionment with our prevailing economic paradigm, emanating from the many concurrent and recent crises – particularly the recession of 2008-2009. At the same time, increasing evidence is pointing to an alternative paradigm, in which increased wealth does not lead to growing environmental risks, ecological scarcities and social disparities

Towards a Green Economy is among UNEP’s key
contributions to the Rio+20 process and the overall goal of addressing poverty and delivering a sustainable 21st century.

The report makes a compelling economic and social case for investing two per cent of global GDP in greening ten central sectors of the economy in order to shift development and unleash public and private capital flows onto a low-carbon, resource-efficient path.