SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT, AND
GREEN ECONOMY AND
GREEN GROWTH
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Sustainability - a concept that seeks to find balance among social, economic, and
environmental issues and is a crucial requirement to secure a good quality of life for
future generations.
This balance is especially important in terms of the economics of
inequality, with particular attention given to increasing income disparities, an aging
society, social problems, and unprecedented environmental challenges that will become
millstones. The scope of the aforementioned problems creates social and economic
costs and consequences, all of which impact negatively on sustainable development
and economic growth. These problems must be addressed, because they strongly
affect quality of life, economic performance, and fundamental societal rights and values
such as liberty, equality, justice, and fairness. In such conditions, sustainable
development and sustainable growth are in high demand.
There is one key point to understanding sustainability as a whole: the
core concept of sustainability explicates that a connection should be made between
present and future generations.
ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABILITY

1. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

2. SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

3. SUSTAINABLE ECONOMICS

4. SUSTAINABLE FINANCE
1. Sustainable development - Development provides the capacity to sustain nature’s life-support
systems, but can also threaten them, in turn setting back development. Insufficient level of
development can significantly threaten the peace and security, and vice versa. There is strong
evidence in the literature that finance is an efficient tool that can be used to overwhelm the exclusion
problem in an economy. The financial inclusion process results in poverty reduction and lower income
inequality.
Financial inclusion- a process that ensures the easy access, availability, and usage of a formal
financial system for all members of an economy.
2. Sustainable growth – the realistically attainable growth that a company could maintain without
running into problems.
3. Sustainable economics – refers to practices that support long term economic growth without
negatively impacting social, environmental, and cultural aspects of the community.
4. Sustainable finance- The concept of sustainable finance has received a great deal of attention in
recent decades, parallel to the rise of sustainable development as an idea. The general approach to
sustainable finance is to encompass the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of finance.
As finance and economics are strictly bounded and coherent, sustainable finance may be an
instrument for ensuring and supporting the process of building the framework for sustainable
development and sustainable growth; on the other hand, it could be one of the sources of distress in a
given economy.
 Sustainable finance, in some circumstances, is an effective tool for ensuring development,
inclusion, stability, and equality. The first condition for that is creating and sustaining a
framework for sound banking practices, risk management, and adequate consumer
protection due to the over-indebtedness risk that occurs in inclusive financial systems.
Other requirements linked to building efficient mechanisms for sustainable finance are
strictly connected with implementing:
• international guidelines and collaboration (cross-sectoral
agreements, sector-specific agreements, international exchange, and coordination);
• the development of finance institution standards (IFC
Sustainability Framework and Performance Standards, the World Bank standards, etc.);
• national policies and regulation (environmental regulation,
such as pollution limits, mandatory environmental and social provisions in risk
assessments, etc.); and
• the voluntary commitment of financial institutions (for example,
in banks, environmental and social standards to better manage their operations, Global
Reporting Initiative).
TRANSITION TO GREEN ECONOMY: GREEN PROCUREMENT
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES EXPERIENCES FROM HUNGARIAN PUBLIC
AND PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS

Green Economy - it reduces emissions and pollution, enhances energy and resource
efficiency and prevents the loss of biodiversity, ecosystem services and also takes
social wellbeing into consideration.
Greening the economy is a key to achieving sustainable development.
However, if we look at theory and practice, we can see that there is an implementation
gap, with such knowledge and developed policy toolkit far better results should be
achieved in terms of reducing environmental footprint of our economy and lives all
together.
With the help of public purchasing power, it has direct effect on sustainable
consumption and production patterns, furthers sustainable economic solutions so helps
achieving sustainable development.
Sustainable procurement - the pursuit of sustainable development objectives through
the purchasing and supply processes.
Green Public Procurement (GPP) - is defined in the European Union as’ a process
whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced
environmental impact throughout their life cycle when compared to goods, services and
works with the same primary function that would otherwise be procured. Green
Procurement is a possibility for everyone to buy green products and services on all three
levels of economy: private consumer level; green supply chains, corporate procurement;
and public procurement.
Green procurement has the following economic and social advantages on the macro
level:
• Sets example, promotes sustainable solutions
• Furthers innovation, drives new technologies
• Through the high demand on eco efficient products, it results in decreasing
prices and makes green solutions available for wider public.
So green procurement has significant effects on the economy by creating demand for
high quality, sustainable and innovative products, and services. However, the concept
only furthers green economy if it is implemented properly.
There are three typical types of procurement processes depending on the type of
organization:
1. Public procurement - Public organizations fall within the scope of public
procurement act, but below the threshold purchases can be done by normal tendering or on
very small scale can also do ad hoc purchases.
2. Tendering - Private organizations have the choice of tendering or public
procurement.
3. Ad hoc purchases - On large scale they conduct tendering; on the small scale
they have ad hoc purchases.
These different types of processes usually have different resources, personnel (know-how)
and need a completely different approach in order to have successful implementation of
environmental aspects in form of purchasing criteria into the procurement process.
The development of GPH project’s toolkit began in 2010 after extensive literature
review and the analysis of existing tools, projects, and studies from 2000 to 2010 conducted
about GPP. The studies and toolkits mainly concentrated on Europe, and that gave a useful
benchmark in a similar legal and economic environment.
The first version of the toolkit had three parts:
 A basic training on green procurement with the following topics: principles of green
procurement, economic and management aspects, life cycle costing, steps of green
procurement—green criteria in the call for tenders, evaluation of offers, methods for
monitoring the performance of green procurement.
 The performance sheets contained only technical specifications in a very detailed
form, based on ISO Type I ecolabel (UNEP web) criteria and Eco Design Directives.
 For calculation of the life cycle costs a calculation tool was developed.
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: GREEN ECONOMY AND GREEN
GROWTH. ANALYSING ECONOMIC GROWTH AND IDENTIFYING SENSIBLE
MEASURES ADDRESSING SOCIO AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS WHILST
PROMOTING GREEN GROWTH
Inherent challenges and risks abound in the process of applying the brakes on and reversing
the negative impacts brought about by the industrial revolution, decades of widespread neglect and
degradation of ecosystems, over exploitation of natural resources and the wanton use of products
that are harmful to biodiversity, to the holistic wellbeing of peoples and to the very air we breathe. The
world has to come to its senses and whilst diversifying their economies to reflect today’s challenges in
a competitive world countries should invest more intensively on innovation and green economy to
meet the global objective of sustainability in terms of economic development based on respect for the
environment and social consolidation, focusing on support to the more vulnerable sectors of Society.
Ultimately, it is the onus of governments to alleviate the sufferings of such vulnerable people.
Empowering these vulnerable people, through various incentives and support services would in turn
achieve productive results, rather than sidelining these sectors to depend more heavily or exclusively
on social assistance. These could range from providing easier access to formal, non-formal and
informal education, upgrading of skills, exposure to information technology, participation in sports
activities, health awareness and healthy lifestyles, giving citizens co-ownership of government
projects or initiatives that affect them in their daily lives.
Digital Malta and the plausible Leap Programme are practical tools towards attaining these objectives.
Digital Malta - outlines policy principles and actions on incorporating ICT for socio-
economic development within different sectors of the economy and society towards
overcoming the digital divide, with citizens and SMEs being the prime beneficiaries, for
instance through the curtailment of administrative bureaucracy (Digital Malta).
Leap Programme - aims to assist vulnerable sectors of society achieve enhanced
social inclusion through “intense, specific and holistic training”, whilst enabling them “to
break the cycle of benefit dependence and poverty risk.”
Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) in Malta, for years mooted, is still at its
conceptual phase. Its launching and strict application would indeed mark a milestone
for our tiny Island where public perception persists in considering perpetrators still
having their way with impunity. Outside and beyond the Malta box, Europe is fast
becoming host to a progressively aging population, a state of affairs posing fresh
challenges and opportunities ahead.
Policy messages of a 2014 study by UNECE in conjunction with the European
Commission highlight the way forward:
 1. Greater policy efforts are required to fully mobilize the potential of
active ageing in EU countries.
2. Generating higher capacity and stronger enabling environments
for active ageing will be a key prerequisite, particularly for Central and Eastern
European Union countries.
The EU on its part is allocating a 30 billion euros injection to promote
jobs in the member states through a series of ambitious strategic programmes and
initiatives:
• promotion of more female active participation in the labour market to
sustain health and other vital services
• promotion and stimulation of the private sector, boosting job
creation and economic growth
• training of workers towards upgrading of skills
• shifting to a green economy,
Climate change - A crucial yet often belittled or ignored phenomenon that impacts
economic, social, health, and environmental sustainability is Climate Change. Climate
Change, which ultimately leads to general degradation of ecosystem services and
biodiversity, impacts also negatively on health (through malnutrition and disease), food
security, agriculture, forestry, water resources, sea and coral systems…factors
contributing to poverty risks and social exclusion.
Man has through the years over-exploited, mismanaged or even abused
natural resources for short-term gain. Nature on the other hand seems to have
absorbed all this unwarranted stress for age, but now is coming round with a
vengeance. Rise in global atmospheric temperatures, extreme stormy weather, thawing
of glaciers, unpredictable avalanches, and tsunamis, rise in the sea level, drought risk,
encroaching desertification are witness to this alarming phenomenon.
World leaders are waking up from their indifference and prolonged slumber and are
attempting to take stock of this worsening scenario. Green is becoming synonymous
with environmental friendliness and a catalyst agent for meaningful efforts to address
environmental concerns and deficits.
 On the local front, in the process of diversifying our economy to
incorporate a greener component and meeting EU environmental obligations,
successive governments have evaluated several alternative options, notably onshore
and offshore wind farms and solar energy solutions, inspired by Malta’s exuberance of
these two natural sources. Ultimately, the choice of energy generated by wind farms
(potentially at 40 % of the country’s obligation to secure 10 % of its electricity needs
through renewable sources by 2020) was discounted in favour of greater overall
environmental protection, resulting in MEPA (Malta’s hitherto autonomous authority
concerned with development planning policies and environmental protection) to refuse
the pertinent development application.
An ISE Conference 2014 Paper on such energy conservation and efficiency measures
concerns the construction industry, a driving force behind Malta’s economic activities.
Manifold are the benefits accrued in implementing these viable concrete measures:
• Contribution towards EU Targets and Directives Obligations
• Reduction in CO2 Emissions and Pollution in an effort to combat Climate
Change
• Reduction in Energy Bills
• Higher Property Value
• Employment and local industry
• Social impact of policy measures
• Health and Thermal comfort Improvement
THE END!
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