The emergence of a green economy still remains at the margins of economic policy in most countries. However, as a number of international organisations have been telling us for three decades now, we need to drastically reduce our carbon output. So what obstacles are we facing? And what do we need to change in our strategies?
Public authorities play a key role in steering the green transition. It is mainly up to them to correct misaligned incentives and market failures, that allow current levels of CO2 emissions to continue unabated. Given the urgency and scale of transformation, we are asking them for a greater level of ambition, namely to go deeper than the “business as usual” green strategies that have been designed and delivered in the last decades. In conjunction with businesses, civil society and other stakeholders, they should guide investment in green projects, whilst ensuring equity and redistribution. We need new economic models, but this time underpinned in a sustainable use of Earth’s resources, so that different generations can equally use them.
