Inclusivity and poverty reduction critical to sustainable green growth

Though development agendas emphasise the importance of achieving economic growth that maintains environmental sustainability, policies that effectively address poverty and social exclusion also need to be prioritised and implemented.

"Growth, even if it is green, cannot be sustainable unless it adequately addresses poverty and social exclusion in an integrated and systemic way," said Inhee Chung, senior sustainability and safeguards specialist at the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). "Green growth can only lead to transformative and sustainable change if it is pro-poor and delivers benefits to the most marginalised and vulnerable social groups."

The publication of the 'Pro-poor, inclusive green growth: experience and a new agenda' report aims to support decision-makers to develop and implement policies that simultaneously achieve economic growth, environme ntal sustainability, poverty reduction and social inclusion.

The report demonstrates how green growth can address some of the drivers of poverty and social exclusion, and stresses the importance of strengthening institutional and governance structures in order for green growth strategies to be effective and respond to people's needs.

"While progress toward greener and more inclusive growth has been achieved, delivering the benefits of green growth at scale and to all stakeholders has been hampered by weak governance structures, policy incoherence and institutional silos,” said Steve Bass, senior associate at IIED. "To overcome these challenges and deliver at scale, stakeholders such as poor, vulnerable social groups and small, informal businesses must be included."

To enhance inclusion and deliver pro-poor, green growth the report puts forth policy options and recommendations to produce outcomes that:

• Enable governance frameworks that are inclusive, integrated and transformative
• Empower poor women and men through enhanced livelihoods, rights and capital assets
• Make green options accessible through inclusive financing mechanisms, and
• Deliver metrics for inclusive green growth that reinforce target outcomes in planning and monitoring.

To further discussion and generate buy-in for green growth that reduces poverty and is socially inclusive, GGGI, IIED and the Green Economy Coalition (GEC) will present the report findings at the Poverty Environment Partnership meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 31 May.

The Green Growth Knowledge Platform will also organise a webinar on 8 June, engaging the report authors and online participants in discussion on ways to make pro-poor, inclusive green growth a reality.