Greening Enterprises in Asia within a Global Sustainable Development Agenda:Accelerating Regional...

Greening Enterprises in Asia within a Global Sustainable Development Agenda: Accelerating Regional Collaboration on Green Productivity

Centre for Environment & Development – Global Sustainability Solutions – Peoples Sustainability Treaties UCHITA DE ZOYSA

APO Workshop on the Development of an International Green Productivity Advisory Committee (GPACs)

11 to 12 December 2014, Tokyo, Japan


Presentation Guide: How to position green productivity within a

transformative agenda?

1. The Pursuit of Sustainability: Planetary challenges, sustainable development and the necessary transformation

2. Transforming the Asian Century: Greening the growth bubble, leveling growth, seeking convergence, and facilitating the transformation

1. The Pursuit of Sustainability: Planetary challenges, sustainable development and the

necessary transformation


Sustainable

Development

Aspiration

Warning

Diagnosis

Plan of Action

Planetary Challenges


“Humankind faces multiple and daunting crises that are more than likely to confront and impact billions of people in the decades to come.”

Human Action Threatening Extinction

Research is showing us that our actions are very likely going to cause us to transgress multiple planetary thresholds and boundaries.


Greed & Overconsumption

“Unprecedented greed and overconsumption lifestyles cannot be satisfied with one earth.”


Inequity

“The prevalent development model has not only failed to lift a large section of humanity above unacceptable levels of poverty, but has also greatly increased the inequities between the wealthy and the poor and has lead to ecological unsustainability and climate change.”


• ½ of world in poverty

• Increased gap between rich and poor.

• degrading planetary bio-geo-chemical processes

• predatory of both nature and people

Unsustainable Development Model


Status of Global Sustainability


Sustainable Development: Rio1992–Rio2012


1972 | 1982 | 1992 | 2002 | 2012

2002 Johannesburg

World Summit on Sustainable

Development (WSSD)

1992 Rio de Janeiro

UN Conference on Environment & Development

(UNCED/ Earth Summit)

1972 Stockholm

UN Conference on the Human Environment

(UNCHE)

2012 Rio de Janeiro

UN Conference on Sustainable

Development UNCSD / Rio+20)

Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)

Positive Negative

Renewable Energy Climate Trends

Energy Efficiency Population

Information Revolution Inequality

Disclosure Movement Economic Crises

SD Consensus Disasters

Civic Engagement Social Conflict

Catching up Growth Pessimism

http://www.un.org/jsummit/html/documents/summit_docs.html

http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/resources/res_docukeyconf_eartsumm.shtml

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=97

http://www.uncsd2012.org/rio20/index.html

Time for a Transformation

• The multiple crises’ of the world compels us to seek holistic approaches towards a profound transformation towards sustainability.

• Transformation in the world-views and values that shape the organizing principles of human society.

• New ways of human solidarity and affinity with nature.

• A dramatic re-emphasis on the idea of a decent quality-of-life for all must prevail.


Foundations of a New World Order

• Current world order

– consumerism,

– individualism,

– anthropocentrism

• Sustainable world order

– quality of life,

– human solidarity,

– ecocentrism

Equity is the foundation of a NWO: equity within generations, equity across generations, and equity between humans and nature

Social Equity

Environmental

Sustainability

Economic Prosperity


Architecture of a New World Order

• A New Ecological Order - Earths Integrity and Planetary Boundaries are respected

• A New Social Order - Equity, Dignity and Justice is honored - Inclusive Governance: Empowers each person and community to take part in decision-making affecting their lives & enhances the cultural, material, economic, social, and political opportunities for all - A system that endorse the principle of subsidiarity in the redesign of global governance institutions.

• A New Economic Order - Prosperity measured beyond growth (GDP) – wellbeing, sufficiency & happiness of all - Internalizing Externalities – Precautionary & Polluter-Pays Principle – a network of sustainable economies

A New Economic Order – A New Social Order – A New Ecological Order


2. Transforming the Asian Century: Greening the growth bubble, leveling growth and forging

equity, and seeking convergence


Social

Equity

Economic

Prosperity

Environmental

Sustainability

The Asian Century & Traps


“By nearly doubling its share of global gross domestic product (GDP) to 52 percent by 2050, Asia would regain the dominant economic position it held some 300 years ago, before the industrial revolution” (ADB)

“Asia’s growth and larger footprint in the global economy will bring new challenges, responsibilities, and obligations. As an emerging global leader, Asia should act as—and be seen as—a responsible global citizen.” (ADB)

The Potential Meltdown Scenario


• Increasing inequality within countries

• Middle Income Trap

• Intense competition for finite natural resources

• Rising income disparities across countries

• Global warming and climate change

• Poor governance and weak institutional capacity

“The possibility of a “perfect storm” cannot be ruled out in thinking about Asia through 2050. A combination of bad macro policies, finance sector exuberance with lax supervision, conflict, climate change, natural disasters, changing demography, and weak governance could jeopardize Asian growth. In this worst case—or doomsday—scenario, Asia could stumble into a financial meltdown, major conflict, Or regionwide chaos well before 2050. It is impossible to quantify This scenario, but Asia’s leaders must Be aware of the potential for such a catastrophe and avoid it at all Costs.” (ADB)

Global Transition Scenarios for Asia


Market Forces

Policy Reform

Great Transition

well-being Consumption

throughput

Dematerialize

Dematerialize

Change Lifestyles

rich

poor

Reduce

Poverty

Enhance

Equity

Greening the Growth Model


Green Economy

Green

Growth

Green

Productivity

Cleaner Production

Resource

Efficiency

Low-carbon Development

“During the past decades we have seen numerous approaches proposed to alter or modify the prevalent growth based development model. From Greening growth to greening the economy, the attempt is to seek transformation through policy reform of the prevalent system”

Economic Prosperity

Greening Growth vs. De-Growth

Economic

Prosperity

Environmental

Sustainability

Green Economy

Green

Growth

Green

Productivity

Cleaner Production

Resource

Efficiency

Low-carbon Development

De-Growth Zero Growth

Prosperity

Without

Growth


Leveling Growth & Seeking Convergence


Sustainable

Growth?

Or

Sustainable Degrowth?

Growth Degrowth

Green Growth, Green Productivity,

Resource Efficiency…

Equity & Wellbeing Localization, Sufficiency…

Quality of Growth, Inclusive Growth,

Distributive Growth…

Visioning the Transformation


Social

Equity

Economic

Prosperity

Environmental

Sustainability

Sustainability

Social

Equity

Economic

Prosperity

Environmental

Sustainability

Facilitating the Transformation in Asia


• Business & industry leadership for greening + creating equitable wellbeing will help leveling growth (healthy and affordable products & services)

• Regional collaboration for convergence towards a sustainable Asian century will help advance a global SD agenda (wellbeing creation given higher priority than wealth creation)

• Sustainable enterprise partnerships help to scale-up greening towards sustainability in other countries in the region (providing leadership to GPAC network)

“A changing world order needs a vision of greater equity in global wellbeing. The dream for a better world is not about a change of hands in power and dominance in the world. No one should ever suffer from poverty. No one should ever have to worry about the next meal or how to pay the doctor’s bill. No one should have to search high and low for clean drinking water. No one should be made to steal from the other to survive or prosper. A better world may sound a myopic or mythical illusion in the context of the prevailing world order. But the mind of the changing world order cannot be without such thoughts of an equitable and better world for all.".”

Uchita de Zoysa, “It has to be CLIMATE SUSTAINABILITY”, 2009


Greening Enterprises in Asia within a Global Sustainable Development Agenda:Accelerating Regional...

Documents

Transcript of Greening Enterprises in Asia within a Global Sustainable Development Agenda:Accelerating Regional...