Seminar: En grøn økonomi – fra globale koncepter til lokale handlinger

TIME: Tuesday, 15 May, 9.30 – 12.00

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

The Green Economy has been identified as one of the two overarching themes of the upcoming UN Summit in Rio de Janeiro, ‘Rio+20’, in June this year.

TIME: Tuesday, 15 May, 9.30 – 12.00

VENUE: Danish Institute for International Studies, Main Auditorium, Strandgade 71, ground floor, Christianshavn, 1401 Copenhagen K

The Green Economy has been identified as one of the two overarching themes of the upcoming UN Summit in Rio de Janeiro, ‘Rio+20’, in June this year.

The concept of a Green Economy is being used as a political catchphrase in many contexts, but it is seldom clearly defined, and it is often hazy how it relates to existing concepts like for instance ‘Sustainable Development’.

Therefore, many Southern voices, both civil society and government, are critical of the concept of Green Economy, because they fear it will detract attention from existing efforts for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

This seminar will propose a different, more constructive, approach by presenting ideas for whether and how the Green Economy could be designed to become a vehicle for change leading towards sound sustainable development with equitable transformation.

This approach has been elaborated in a paper on ‘Building an Equitable Green Economy’, which will be presented in the seminar. The paper can be downloaded from the website of the Danish 92 Group, www.92grp.dk.

The paper brings to the table the notion of an equitable Green Economy as a means for achieving the objectives of sustainable development.

It notes that the term Green Economy does explicitly only comprise two of the three strands of sustainable development: Environment (Green) and Economy. It insists that the social strand must be included explicitly as well, and for this it proposes the notion of Equity.

The paper wants, however, to move beyond an intangible, abstract understanding of equity and be able to identify its reality on the ground.

With that in mind, it puts forward five working principles, which together create a more concrete framework and form a filter to inform policy and market decisions to progress on the equitable Green Economy pathway.

Speakers:

Kim Carstensen, Founder, Fair Green Solutions
Tara Rao, Senior Advisor, Lead Author, Equitable Green Economy
Nanna Hvidt, Director, DIIS
Helle Munk Ravnborg, Senior Researcher, DIIS

Programme:

09.30-09.40: Welcome; Nanna Hvidt, Director, DIIS

09.40-10.10: Equitable Green Economy as a Means to Achieving Sustainable Development; Kim Carstensen, Founder, Fair Green Solutions

10.10-10.55: Taking the Equitable Green Economy from Working Principles to Practice; Tara Rao, Senior Advisor, Lead Author, Equitable Green Economy

10.55-11.15: Coffee Break

11.15-12.00: Open Discussion

Chair: Helle Munk Ravnborg, Senior Researcher, DIIS

The seminar will be held in English.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Read more about the seminar and use the online registration form on the website no later than Monday, 14 May at 12 noon.

Please await confirmation by e-mail from DIIS for participation.