www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

US EUROPE AFRICA ASIA 中文
Opinion / Op-Ed Contributors

Transition to green economy requires new metrics

By Andrew Sheng (China Daily) Updated: 2014-03-27 08:03

Sesame Street's Kermit the Frog once lamented that "it's not easy bein' green." Today, this sentiment is surprisingly relevant to the global economy - only it is becoming green that is the problem.

Last September, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change warned that if the world sticks with "business as usual," global temperatures will rise by 4°C to 6°C - far beyond the 2°C increase that has been deemed "safe". This prompted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to challenge political, economic, and financial leaders in January to intensify their efforts to achieve a new global agreement on climate change by 2015.

But, as important as high-level deals are, they will amount to little unless they are backed by considerable investment in areas like smart grids, energy storage, and renewables. Indeed, the International Energy Agency estimates that nearly $1 trillion worth of investment will be needed annually between now and 2050 to put the world economy on a more sustainable path.

While that may seem like a lot of money, it is the equivalent of only 1 percent of global GDP, and less than 0.3 percent of global financial assets. Moreover, since 2007, major central banks have proved that they can augment their balance sheets by more than $1 trillion annually, without triggering inflation. In other words, the world can afford the transition toward a green economy.

Nonetheless, last year, green investment amounted to only $254 billion - implying an annual shortfall of nearly $750 billion. To bridge the gap, advanced-country governments are leveraging their limited public funds to catalyze private-sector investment. At the same time, developing countries are rapidly increasing their contributions to green finance, with domestic clean-energy financing in non-OECD countries having surpassed OECD-country levels in 2008.

But the problem remains that the current structure of markets impedes their ability to adjust to climate change. What is really needed is not money, but the political will to correct market failure by bringing about fundamental shifts in the metrics, institutions, and policies that govern how investors evaluate economic activities.

A green project is bankable only if it provides a clear view of its real costs and benefits. The return on private capital (profit and loss) plus the return on "social" capital must be positive. The current GDP metric ignores the negative externalities of fossil-fuel-based private activities, leading to overwhelming pollution and gross wastage of non-renewable natural resources. Without full cost accounting, some of the worst activities will continue to be immensely profitable.

Previous Page 1 2 Next Page

Most Viewed Today's Top News
New type of urbanization is in the details
...
主站蜘蛛池模板: 中文字幕一区二区三区免费视频 | 国产成人丝袜网站在线看 | a毛片免费看 | 岛国片欧美一级毛片 | 男女晚上爱爱的视频在线观看 | 高清国产美女一级a毛片录 高清国产亚洲va精品 | 国产成人亚洲合集青青草原精品 | 欧洲成人在线 | 久久久久久久久中文字幕 | 成人入口 | 一级黄免费 | 97国产成人精品免费视频 | 国产亚洲精品hd网站 | 久久精品99| 97影院理伦在线观看 | 午夜视频一区二区 | 亚洲激情欧美 | 尹人香蕉久久99天天拍 | 日韩精品不卡 | 草草影院www色极品欧美 | 亚洲视频手机在线 | 欧美精品免费看 | 国产成人精品久久二区二区 | 久久免费精品视频 | 国产一级做a爰片久久毛片 国产一级做a爰片久久毛片99 | 一级毛片成人免费看a | 国产三级香港在线观看 | 欧美aaa毛片免费看 欧美aaa视频 | 欧美亚洲影院 | 亚洲精品三级 | 一级做a毛片在线看 | 一区二区三区欧美 | 国产黄色激情视频 | 国产成a人片在线观看视频 国产成版人视频网站免费下 | 九九视频在线观看视频6偷拍 | 亚洲综合精品一区二区三区中文 | 国产亚洲欧美日韩综合综合二区 | 欧美日韩精品一区二区三区高清视频 | 国产精品视频免费播放 | 精品国产一区二区三区在线 | 在线亚洲精品国产波多野结衣 |