Recommendations

Executive Summary

The Global Green Growth Forum – 3GF – was held on 11-12 October 2011 in Copenhagen. The Forum was attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, Prime Minister of Denmark, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga, H.R.H. the Crown Prince of Denmark, 50 global corporate leaders, 12 ministers and deputy ministers, five leaders of UN organizations, leading civil society organizations and world leading experts. The 200 participants came from 27 countries across five continents.

Energy, transport, trade, finance, water and public procurement – key elements of a green industrial revolution were at the centre of the two day event. In discussing how to accelerate the pace and scale of a green transition, delegates highlighted a number of cross-cutting issues that stand out as key factors for creating an enabling environment – and for seizing the growth opportunities embedded in the green transition. These include: i) the need for international standards on products and processes and industry benchmarking; ii) leveraging private financing as an essential vehicle to a green transition; iii) the need for national and global regulation and policy plans to drive business aspirations in pursuing the green path and enhancing investments by managing risks; and iv) the importance of global collaborative action across sectors, including engaging developing countries and emerging economies by strengthening local capacities.

Public-Private Partnerships were regarded critical in facilitating the abovementioned elements

Concrete public-private partnerships and initiatives were brought to the table, explored and advanced with participants committing to translate gained insights into their own activities going forward. Specific action and recommendations came from the strategy and panel sessions of the Forum in following areas:

  • An initiative on Sustainable Biofuels for Aviation was launched to facilitate an international public-private collaborative plan and platform for actions to develop the required sustainable biofuel production capacity for aviation
    Delegates identified five areas of action needed to take biofuels for aviation from small to large commercial scale
  • An initiative promoting a Sustainable Energy Trade Agreement was launched. The initiative aims at enabling international markets for a rapid scale-up in innovation, diffusion, and use of goods, services and technlogies in the non-fossil fuel energy sector. Delegates made specific recommendations to the area of green international trade specifically related to standard-setting, tariffs and non-tariff measures, subsidies and government procurement
  • The first steps were taken towards an international initiative on Green Public Procurement, which builds on best practice, provides technical expertise and brokers global collaboration in the area
  • Delegates discussed options for an international initiative on Electric Vehicle Test Markets to develop and implement a strategy with framework conditions for an Electric Vehicle test market that addresses issues related to enhancing business and consumer incentives and recharging infrastructure
  • Delegates supported the initiative of the Water Resources Group (WRG), and made recommendations to additional engagements by the Group in new countries / states. Delegates agreed that water is a critical but scarce resource for enabling growth, which has received insufficient attention thus far.
  • Delegates recommended ways for creating better Public Private Partnerships on green financing. Delegates committed to collaborating closely with the UK government Capital Markets Climate Initiative platform, and to communicating lessons learned from processes such as South African Renewables Initiative into the Rio +20 process, particularly around renewable energy
  • On energy efficiency and renewable energy, delegates discussed ways to further on-going work in the Clean Energy Ministerial, the International Energy Agency, and International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Coperation in advancing energy efficiency policies