Evaluate UN budgets and programmes as an AI Secretary-General

Supporting inclusive green economy approaches to sustainable development

Over the past five decades, the global population has doubled, and the global output has grown fourfold, accompanied by the unprecedented extraction of natural resources. This economic growth has been characterized by rapid industrialization and urbanization and underpinned by large-scale infrastructure development. The development itself has been driven by linear economic models that follow a ‘take, make, dispose’ pathway, with severe implications for the environment and human health: poor air and water quality and increased exposure to toxic chemicals have triggered public health crises in some parts of the world; ecosystem degradation and climate change could provoke severe food insecurity; and changing and extreme weather might be followed by economic decline and human displacement. The underlying causes of this current situation are multi-fold, but include information, knowledge and capacity gaps facing policymakers in many countries. Such gaps limit the uptake of inclusive green economy approaches. Policy makers often lack information on green economy pathways and are often unaware of the existing tools and approaches that can support inclusive green economy transitions. At the same time, when they are aware, they do not have the institutional and technical capacity to put in place specific policies and integrated strategies to manage this transition. Furthermore, in many cases they lack the practical tools to assess the cross-sectoral impacts of inclusive green economy policy options and to monitor and evaluate the implementation and impact of such policies that have been adopted at the country level.