February 2011: The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has issued the report of the Ad Hoc Expert Meeting on “The Green Economy: Trade and Sustainable Development Implications,” held in the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, from 7-8 October 2010.

The report is issued as a background paper for the second meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom II) for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) and designed to feed directly into the Report of the UN Secretary-General to PrepCom II. The report includes chapters on both of the two themes of the UNCSD.

The chapter on green economy summarizes the experts’ discussions on: the concept of the green economy; its contribution to environmental objectives; its potential contribution to poverty eradication and social objectives; and how it can contribute to growth and other economic objectives. The chapter on the institutional framework for sustainable development (IFSD) summarizes the experts’ discussions on IFSD’s contributions to policy integration and convergence among the three pillars.

In the chapter on “the way forward,” the report highlights the experts’ view that the concept of a green economy needs to be flexible; their discussion of various elements that will be central to a transition to a green economy; and the statement that a green economy “means lower carbon intensity, lower material intensity, lower biodiversity loss and more sustainable (and less wasteful) lifestyles in industrialized economies.” The challenge of the transition to a green economy will be to make it consistent with the principles of equity and sustainable development, according to the discussion.

UNCTAD will launch a publication series on the same issues prior to PrepCom II. It also plans to hold a sector-focused expert meeting in the second half of 2011. [Publication: The Green Economy: Trade and Sustainable Development Implications] [UNCTAD Background Paper for Meeting]