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“Universities and training institutes have a key role to play in equipping decision-makers with the knowledge and tools they need to design and implement green economy solutions that offer major opportunities for people, businesses and economies,” says Gunnar Köhlin, Director of the Environment for Development (EfD) initiative.

These include national schools of public administration, civil service training institutes, and universities, as well as development partners active in green economy capacity development, and non-governmental organizations and business associations that deliver green economy-relevant training.

This was the focus of the PAGE 2nd Global Forum on Green Economy Learning, which took place earlier this week on the theme of "Green Economy: New Challenges, New Skills". The Forum targeted education and training institutions geared towards public officials that are or are interested in engaging in green economy policymaking.

“It is important that we meet to share our thoughts on what makes training and skills development for the green economy work well. We know that there are many success stories in the work that we do and I am delighted that PAGE provides this forum to make sure that what works well can be replicated,” says Angus Mackay, Director of the Division for Planet at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

The aim of the Forum was to scale up knowledge and skills development for current and future decision-makers, technical staff in Ministries, and others involved in the design and implementation of inclusive green economy solutions.

The Forum sessions focused on:

• The critical knowledge and skills gaps for designing inclusive green economy policies, as well as the key challenges faced by education and training institutions in delivering effective training for green economy policy-making;

• The learning solutions that work – lessons learned, recommendations and best practices distilled from global experiences;

• How learning institutions can join forces – fostering long-term partnerships for green economy learning.

A key objective of the forum was to explore opportunities for collaboration with the goal of increasing the effectiveness, scale and impact for green economy learning.

“We hope this forum provides the foundation for new, long-lasting partnerships and plants seeds for further collaboration,” says Ben Simmons, Head of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) Secretariat. 

Participants highlighted the main challenges in setting up and sustaining collaboration and defined actions towards partnerships for green economy learning, building on existing networks and initiatives.

In the days following the Forum, the Sixth GGKP Annual Conference and the OECD’s 2018 Green Growth and Sustainable Development (GGSD) Forum addressed the political economy of green and low-carbon policy reforms, identified their distributional impacts, and explored inclusive solutions for households, workers, sectors and regions so that they can contribute to a greener future.

The 2nd Global Forum on Green Economy Learning was jointly organized by the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Environment for Development (EfD), the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI),  and the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), and the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP).

This story was adapted from GGKP's announcing the event on their website, available here: https://bit.ly/2RwkVuj

In early November, representatives from PAGE met with lead decision-makers and stakeholders of the green economy transition in Barbados. The meetings – involving the Prime Minister, Minister of Environment Trevor Prescod, along with various representatives from the Barbadian government, and academia, the acting UN Resident Coordinator, the European Commission and the Caribbean Development Bank and Ambassador Elisabeth Thomson – were held to discuss further goals and priorities of the PAGE programme in Barbados. 

Having recently elected a new government, Barbados has reaffirmed its commitment to a green economy and, more specifically for the island nation, its enthusiasm for developing the blue economy. Barbados PAGE’s objectives are to integrate inclusive green economy goals and targets into SDG-aligned national economic and development planning, to implement evidence-based sectoral and thematic reforms in line with inclusive green economy priorities, to strengthen capacities at the national level and to improve the inclusive green economy knowledge base.

During the meetings, the Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, affirmed her support to PAGE, highlighting PAGE’s alignment with Barbados’ green and blue economy priorities. She addressed the need for technical support, training and skill development for all people at all levels. She committed to support PAGE by establishing an inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral committee as well as to provide participation at the national level. Going forward, PAGE’s work in Barbados will support policies and economic incentives to drive sustainable entrepreneurship, jobs in the green and blue economy as well as leverage access to new resources for implementation.

As a result of the fruitful discussions, PAGE will develop a work plan in collaboration with the Barbadian government. Several key points of action have been identified. Early inputs into this process include plans to:

• review the existing national green economy policies, strategies and plans
• survey opportunities, identify skills gaps and develop knowledge tools to build skills for green jobs in the green and blue economy
• to develop a pilot to encourage green transformation of the agro- and fish sub-sector processing to support production and export development; and
• to conduct trainings for the public sector, to develop green and blue economy-centered academic curricula, and to establish a knowledge hub to build capacity, and sustain knowledge and skills beyond PAGE.

22 October 2018, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic - A Green Economy week was held in the Kyrgyz Republic last week, with a message that a transition to a greener and more inclusive economy is key for advancing the sustainable development of the country. 

The week was full of the side-events throughout the country focusing on various themes, culminating in a Green Economy Forum entitled Progress and Perspectives of Green Economy Development in the Kyrgyz Republic. It was here that a government program on the transition to green economy was discussed and accepted by almost 200 participants and a resolution developed. Already, the country has been out front on this issue: green economy concepts have already been integrated into the national strategic documents, including the long-term Strategy 2040 and midterm government program Unity, Trust and Creation.

To achieve sustainable development that improves social wellbeing, justice, efficient use of resources and a wide application of environmentally friendly technologies and innovations, the Kyrgyz Republic is well on the way to having a robust policy framework to enable its transition to an inclusive green economy.

“Green economy is a platform for sustainable economic development.” said Minister of Economy Oleg Pankratov. “For Kyrgyzstan, the green economy is considered as a prospective accelerator of sustainable development with water resources in the center of this model. Investment policy will be shifted to principles of minimization of nature intensity.”

Daniyar Imanaliev, head of the Economy and Investment Department of the Government's Executive Office said that the sectors of the economy in the Kyrgyz Republic such as agriculture, tourism, hydro-energy, and energy are heavily dependent on natural resources. Therefore, greening these sectors must be a priority, leading to a more thoughtful approach to consuming natural resources, more effective production, and national competitive advantage from the application of new technologies. 

“During the upcoming five years, we will make a transition to green economy. We have developed and phased in this transition, starting from the adoption and working with legislature, establishment of new institutions for promotion of the green economy, such as Center of Climate Financing, Fund for Project Preparation, Green Loan Fund, et cetera, and currently we are working on sectoral strategies along with the massive raising awareness campaigns”, said Daniyar Imanaliev.

Various other activities and events were held throughout the week. At the conference Green Funds of the Kyrgyz Republic: Trends and Prospects of Sustainable Finance Development, financial experts gathered to discuss and identify the role of the finance sector and potential finance mechanisms that could promote sustainable economic growth. In the subregions of Naryn and Karalol, producers and exporters learned about technologies to improve organic farming, and processes for gaining organic certification for exports.

In a presentation on sustainable public procurement, Z. Bayamanova, the State-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance noted, “a transition to sustainable public procurement in the Kyrgyz Republic is already a priority,” citing sustainable procurement targets inside the government’s current Program, and an ongoing project on Strengthening sustainable public procurement for the regional transition to an inclusive green economy.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of the Economy, the Green Economy Week was supported by PAGE Kyrgyz Republic, in partnership with the German Society of International Cooperation (GIZ), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE ) and the UN Development Programme’s Biodiveristy Finance Initiative (Biofin).

On September 13th 2018, PAGE held a workshop in collaboration with the International Training Centre of the ILO to engage experts in the field of indicators on the development of two dedicated training modules. The modules, consisting of an introductory and an advanced course, seek to enhance the understanding and application of indicators for green economy policymaking and their linkages to the SDGs within partner countries.

The development and implementation of good indicators is fundamental to a country’s inclusive green economy transition, as they enable the effective identification of issues, formulation and assessment of policy, and tracking of progress, and therefore help policymakers make informed green economy decisions. A good indicator framework for green economy is policy-relevant, evidence-based, and easily measured and interpreted, and, importantly, is tailored to a country’s unique environmental and socioeconomic context. Whilst PAGE already offers countries support in this area, the training modules aim to further build knowledge and expertise on indicators for green economy policymaking, specifically on their development and application.

The introductory module targets policymakers within ministries involved in PAGE activities together with governmental and non-governmental decision makers interested in green economy policymaking. The advanced module offers deeper engagement and is aimed predominantly at technical monitoring professionals, in particular: statisticians, analysts and researchers in ministries of finance, planning, labour and environment, as well as staff and researchers in national statistical offices and universities within partner countries.

The workshop brought together experts from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and four PAGE agencies: UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), UN Environment, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), who shared their varied expertise and perspectives to holistically improve the course material and delivery approach. The group deliberated the course chapter outline, reviewed exercises and provided recommendations on the course delivery. The process exemplifies the value added from the cross-cutting, collaborative engagement that is at the core of PAGE’s approach. The training materials are expected to be released by June 2019.

29 August 2018, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic - With an economy mainly driven by agriculture, extractive industries and hydropower, land degradation and desertification poses serious threats to the health of the economy in the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as its people and environment.

The Government of the Kyrgyz Republic is committed to reversing environmental degradation trends and capturing opportunities for economic growth that is both inclusive and sustainable. The need to transition to more sustainable development pathways through advancement of green economy approaches have been recognized as a national priority in various policy frameworks. Since 2016, PAGE has been working in the Kyrgyz Republic to develop the basis the basis on which the country could transition to an inclusive green economy.

The Ministry of Economy is responsible for integrating inclusive green economy principles into the long-term and medium-term strategic documents for the Kyrgyz Republic, and, as such, the Kyrgyz Government Development Program recently adopted by the Kyrgyz Parliament contains key targets towards transition to green economy. The research and analysis conducted by PAGE’s national experts formed a key component of the inputs provided by the Ministry of Economy.

The national PAGE expert team worked in the following nine areas, which have all become integral parts of the Kyrgyz national development agenda:

1. Sustainable finance
2. Sustainable procurement
3. Climate change and environment
4. Fiscal policy
5. Macroeconomiс forecasting and analysis
6. Private sector and SME
7. Sustainable energy
8. Green cities
9. Green strategy and policy 

Through active consultations, the Ministry of Economy has decided to develop a separate national Inclusive Green Economy Program for 2019-2023, for Kyrgyz Republic’s transition, as well as a step-by-step Action Plan for 2019-2021. National consultations for the Inclusive Green Economy Program are expected to take place during the upcoming Green Forum on October 19th this year, in the context of “Green Week,” scheduled from October 15 to October 19, 2018.

Alongside the broader macroeconomic policy advice and analysis, PAGE is working in Kyrgyzstan to develop a Sustainable Finance roadmap, and on a project to enhance sustainable public procurement. It is envisaged that robust sustainable finance and public purchasing will be cornerstones for accelerating both the supply and demand for sustainable products and services in the country.

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