Chairman’s Summary

Chairman’s Summary by the Government of Denmark, South Korea and Mexico

3GF 11 – 12 OCTOBER, 2011

1. We - the governments of Denmark, South Korea and Mexico - are united in our belief that a rapid large scale industrial transition is needed, if we are to achieve a trajectory for global economic growth, whereby we reach the limit agreed in Cancun of a 2 degree Celsius increase. A pathway to green growth that both explores the potential for economic development and job creation, while at the same time lowering global carbon emissions, promoting sustainable use of natural resources, and realizing co-benefits of climate change response is both possible and warranted.

2. The first Global Green Growth Forum, convened in Copenhagen, Denmark, is held at an important time: Key policy makers and business leaders, from around the world are rightly concerned with the immediate challenges in financial markets and across the global economy. Founding partners and participants in the Forum recognise that a new global green growth paradigm must emerge from the crisis – a return to business as usual is not a viable pathway to secure sustainable long-term growth.

3. The transformation is already creating a large and growing global market for technology and solutions valued at USD 500 billion. We realize that the potential opportunity for expanding this market and scaling up business for green solutions, new and innovative technologies is enormous. Green growth requires the effective mobilisation of financial, technological and human capital at local, national and international levels, at a historically unprecedented pace and scale. In addition parallel efforts at national level in building capabilities to ensure that green growth goals can be defined and realized are needed.

4. We agree that the needed green transition is global in scale and will take place in a wide range of sectors of crucial importance to all countries. These include energy production and consumption, transport, water, agriculture, industry production processes, housing etc. While the transition should be accelerated within each sector, the synergy of bringing the discussion of the sectors together, coupled with the cross-cutting perspectives on trade, finance and technology transfer serves as a catalyst for the transition.

5. At a time when both traditional forms of international co-operation between governments and national approaches to industrial and economic planning in many countries are failing to deliver much needed policy coherence to underpin long term growth and development, which is necessary to secure environmental and social sustainability, we are actively catalysing new forms of collaboration between governments and business that are needed to effectively align policy signals, effective regulatory interventions and removal of key barriers with investment and market potential for green growth. Through this innovative collaboration, we are aiming at filling a gap in the current international architecture, which existing structures, institutions and processes are currently not mandated or equipped to address, while at the same time, we would be mindful of existing efforts and would be seeking to complement these.

6. At the first Global Green Growth Forum, developed in association with the Global Green Growth Institute, discussions over two days centered on concrete and emerging public-private initiatives with a focus on energy, transport, trade and financing. Furthermore, green growth was debated with a view to the enabling environment, national and international action as well as collaborative action going forward.

Key Points made at the Forum

7. Participants recognized the need for green growth policies, fiscal and regulatory settings that establish and maintain stable macroeconomic enabling environments, encourage greener behavior by the public sector, companies and consumers, facilitate smooth and equitable creation of jobs, capital and technology and provide appropriate incentives and support to green innovation.

8. The Forum stressed that open markets and harmonized standards are essential in order to secure the global development and dissemination of cost effective solutions that support diffusion of green technologies, reduce costs by enabling scaling up of production, encourage competition and enable consumers globally to purchase green technologies at world market price. In the absence of a global price on CO2 this is even more important.

9. In this context international cooperation is more necessary than ever in order to improve the potential market value of green products and the potential return of green investments. This includes the fulfillment of the WTO agreements and an early conclusion of the Doha round of trade negotiations, fair and equal access to markets, removal of trade and non-trade barriers, and prevention of green protectionism as well as leveling the playing field for green solutions.

10. To this end, the Forum also urged governments to intensify the work towards creating international standards in a number of clean energy technology areas, or, if possible and necessary, work with the business communities in relevant areas to develop and promote specific standardization agreements. The work could be focused on selected areas where the market potential and the cost reduction potential of standardized products are the largest.

11. Participants also underlined the need for a clear regulatory environment that promotes the internalization of environmental externalities, among others through the economic valuation of natural resources. Such pricing could help businesses and investors to take the long term sustainability costs of business decisions related to natural resources into account.

12. Participants underscored that energy efficiency in transport as well as promising and viable alternatives to fossil fuels like renewable electricity; sustainable biomass and hydrogen are being developed to scale through large investments. Participants also recognized a need for further maturing and testing of the technologies and developing global standards along the value chain of transport in order to fully unleash the business potential for sustainable transport and make new technologies cost-effective and competitive with fossil based alternatives.

13. Participants also stressed that financing of green growth will have to come from a wide range of sources, public and private, national and international. Special attention must be given to the link between public and private capital and the analysis and evaluation in a standardized way and at a global scale of risks related to large scale green investment projects. Unlocking private investments while providing political decision makers with flexibility is key. This could include new mechanisms to reduce and redistribute the costs, risks and benefits and risks connected to large investment projects in renewables, infrastructure and energy efficiency.

The Way Ahead

14. We – the Governments of Denmark, South Korea and Mexico - reconfirm our readiness to take this Chairman’s Summary as well as conclusions and recommendations emerging from the discussed initiatives forward to other high-level political processes and fora such as the UNFCCC COP17 in Durban, South Africa, the Clean Energy Ministerial 2012 in London, Rio+20 in Brazil and the G20. We urge partners and participants at the Forum to do the same. We pledge to continue our collaborative efforts and act together to generate strong, sustainable and balanced green growth.

15. We recognize that catalyzing green growth requires deep investment in long term change and we are confident that the Forum is positioned to provide a robust, dynamic platform for that purpose, ensuring continuity through its on-going engagement with active partnerships for change and its formative relationships with other key global initiatives and processes.

16. We urge other governments and corporations to join our effort to construct a more conductive international enabling environment for green growth through the creation of effective cooperative initiatives, institutions and mechanisms such as those discussed in our Forum. We encourage policymakers and business leaders around the world to support, replicate and scale these initiatives and others like them, as they represent the building blocks to achieve a new architecture of international economic and environmental cooperation able to complement national policy frameworks and international treaties by helping to accelerate their implementation and magnify their impact on market behavior.

17. Today, participants in the Global Green Growth Forum discussed the following areas for specific public-private action:

• Energy Efficiency
• Renewable Energy
• Test Markets for Electric Vehicles
• Fuel for Transport
• Sustainable Biofuels for Aviation
• Public Procurement
• Water Resources
• Financing for Green Growth

18. We will revise these initiatives and progress in achieving their aims and targets at Global Green Growth Forum 2012, which will be held in Denmark on 9-10 October 2012.