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0Фань Вэй
Аспирант, Высшая школа промышленной политики и предпринимательство, Российский университет дружбы народов имени имени Патриса Лумумбы.
Влияние зеленой экономики на процессы устойчивого развития
Fan Wei
Graduate student, Higher School of Industrial Policy and entrepreneurship. Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.
The impact of green economy on sustainable development processes
In the 21st century the economists all over the world began to pay much attention to the terms green economy and green financing. One can find these terms in a number of official documents of many states and international organizations. But what do these terms appearing at the age of the climate change fight mean? Before answering this question, let us turn the pages of history off.
The principles of green economy built on the reasonable use of natural resources remind us the founders of economic theory who developed strategies for economic development. At those times the problem of resource depletion was not so acute: the first economists in their works did not touch upon environmental problems. But at the 17th and 18th centuries the classics of economic theory, including A. Smith, A. Turgot, W. Petty and others, began to pay attention to the fundamental role of natural resources in the accumulation of wealth, in the role of labor, land, nature. The law of diminishing returns by D. Ricardo allowed to form the theory of land rent. But a more significant study of the relationship between nature and a man began in the first third of the 20th century. A. Pigou in his work "The Economics of Welfare", 1920) considered the influence of "external effects" on the economy and, accordingly, on the welfare of the people [13, p. 10].
However, the school of ecological economics emerged only in the second half of the 20th century. The representatives of this school (H. Daly,
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A.-M. Jansson, D.M. Alieru, R. Constanza, etc.) believed that the economic and ecological systems are interconnected and that the economy is subordinated to nature, so it is necessary to limit the economic growth and to increase taxes on the use of natural resources. At the same time taxes on other kinds of products must be reduced [13, p. 11].
Before the 1980s, such famous economists as D. Meadows, J. Stiglitz, R. Coase, K. Boulding, R. Solow, K. Arrow and others discussed the topic of ecology and economic growth under conditions of limited and nonrenewable natural resources. For example, R. Coase described the impact of private property rights on environmental objects, K. Boulding and R. Solow drew attention to the problems of the relationship between the irrational use of natural resources and economic growth, K. Arrow created the environmental decision theory under uncertainty [13, p. 10].
In the early 1970s, the first "green" initiatives were undertaken. In 1972 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was established. According to the Programme the problems concerning to the environmental protection have been developed. UNEP defines the "green" economy as the economy that improves human well-being and builds social equity while reducing environmental risks and scarcities [11, p. 42].
In 1987 the International Commission on Environment and Economic Development in the report "Our Common Future" used the term sustainable development which, according to the report, implies certain limitations in the field of exploitation of natural resources that depends on the current level of technology and social organization and the ability of the biosphere to cope with the consequences of human activity as well [7].
Conception of sustainable development has become widespread all over the world after the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Ehe participants in this conference adopted an important document containing the principles of sustainable development and "green" manufacturing - Framework Convention on Climate Change which put in force on March 1994. Nowadays 196 countries have signed the convention.
Now we shall turn to the term green finance. This concept is defined by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member the World Bank Group, as investments to the economy bringing environmental benefits [Green Finance]. Paris Agreement (2015) defined green finance as local, national or transnational financing from public, private or alternative sources supporting climate change mitigation, adaptation and response measures [9].
According to China's Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial System (2016) green finance refers to financial services provided for eco-
nomic activities that are supportive of environment improvement, climate change mitigation and more efficient resource utilization. These economic activities include the financing, operation and risk management for projects in areas such as environmental protection, energy savings, clean energy, green transportation, and green buildings. The green financial system refers to the institutional arrangement that utilizes financial instruments such as green credit, green bonds, green stock indices and related products, green development funds, green insurance, and carbon finance, as well as relevant policy incentives to support the green transformation of the economy. The main purpose of establishing the green financial system is to mobilize and incentivize more social (private) capital to invest in green industries, and to more effectively control investments in polluting projects. The green financial system is beneficial not only for the transition to a green economy and the development of an ecological civilization, but also for technological progress in environmental protection, new energy sources, energy savings and other fields. It will also help accelerate the development of new growth drivers and enhance the potential for economic growth [4].
Some Russian scholars consider the term green economy to be a synonym to the term sustainable development. N. Piskulova and E. Pak state that the conception of green economy as a type of economic management that increases people's welfare and social justice and significantly reduces the environmental risks and its impoverishment is like the conception of sustainable development, which includes economic, social and environmental components [10, p. 41].
I.A. Yakovlev and L.S. Kabir consider the introduction of the conception of green economy into Russian manufacture to help ensuring the shift of industrial production towards a new technological mode and avoiding the past and modern crises [12, p. 15]. The same point of view is also held by S.I. Kodaneva, who defines green economy as resource-saving and environment economy characterized by high product's value added and intensive production methods [6, p. 71]. Russian researchers also refer to green economy as the development, production and use of technologies and materials to protect buildings and structures from sharp fluctuations in temperature, humidity, wind load. These types of economic activities contribute to the improvement of human living environment [12, p. 12].
I.P. Gurova considers green foreign investments to be an important component of green finance. Green foreign investments are investment projects that have the potential in the field of "ecologization" and "decar-bonization", ensuring the transition to more advanced technologies" [5,
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p. 599-600]. According to S.I. Kodaneva, green investments direct financial resources and capital flow towards optimization of production, getting the profit and achieving balance between the environment and the economy. It contributes to the achievement of environmental goals such as prevention of environmental pollution, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable management of natural resources, use of harmless transport and buildings, climate change mitigation and adaptation to new climatic conditions [6, p. 71]. In other words, green investments are investments to the harmless and resource-saving technologies [1, c. 17]. At the same time as E.A. Borkova notes, multinational corporations play an important role in the green economy, because nowadays the focus of sustainable development and green finance conception has moved from the national level to the corporate one [1, p. 17].
The goals and priorities of green economy are not only the reduction of environment pollution, but economic growth, job creation, energy and food security, reduction of sectoral nature intensity [2, p. 72].
In recent years a heated discussion concerning to sustainable development in terms of economic, social and environmental considerations has the place in international forums of UNEP, in World Health Organization (WHO), World Trade Organization (WTO) forums and conferences, United Nations (UN) meetings on education, science and culture. This conception contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals. There are some of them:
• to end poverty in all its forms;
• to achieve food security;
• to ensure healthy lives and to promote wellbeing for all ages;
• to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education;
• to achieve gender equality and empower all women;
• to manage water resources more effectively;
• to ensure modern energy sources to all citizens;
• to promote sustainable economic growth leading to job creation and good wages [8].
The key basis of green economy, which by 2030 will require huge financial resources, is the financial services industry, especially banking. Foreign experience of green economy development shows that green technologies are a driver of development in many industries, such as forestry, energy, pharmaceuticals, biomaterials processing, chemical industry, food industry, agriculture and some others.
So the main principle of green economy is the principle of using green technologies: the principle of natural resources adequate use, the principle of the negative impact on ecosystems,the principle of ensuring food secu-
rity. Therefore, green finance becomes an important tool in achieving environment commitments and contributes to sustainable socio-economic development.
Библиографический список: / References
1. Borkova E.A. Sustainable development policy and green growth management. In Bulletin of St. Petersburg Economic State University. 2020. № 1 (121). P. 16-22.
2. Demidenko D.S. Determination of the economic efficiency of investments into innovative products and the peculiarities of investment. In Economic Vector. 2019. № 4 (19). P. 68-72.
3. Green Finance. A Bottom-up Approach to Track Existing Flows. International Finance Corporation, Washington. 2017.
4. Guidelines for Establishing the Green Financial System (2016). China Daily. // URL: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016hangzhoug20/2016-09/04/content_26692931. htm.
5. Gurova I.P. Foreign investments in the green economy. In Economic relations journal. 2019. Vol. 9. № 2. P. 598-608.
6. Kodaneva S.I. Green investments in Russia and abroad: Problems, mechanisms, prospects. In Russia and the modern world. 2020. № 3 (108). P. 68-88.
7. Our Common Future. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (1987). United Stations. // URL: https://www.alor.org/Storage/Library/PDF/Our_ Common_Future_Brundtland_Report1987.pdf.
8. Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 2015. // URL: https://sdgs. un.org/sites/default/files/publications/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20De-velopment%20web.pdf
9. Paris Agreement. United Nations. 2015. // URL: https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_ nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_english_.pdf
10. Piskulova N., Pak E. Opportunities for international cooperation of Russia in the field of green economy. In International Processes. 2017. Vol. 15. № 4. P. 40-58.
11. Towards a green economy: The way to sustainable development and poverty eradication. UNEP, Nai-robi (Kenya), Geneva (Switzerland), Moscow. 2011.
12. Yakovlev I.A.; Kabir L.S. Mechanisms of financing green investments as an element of the national strategy for financing sustainable development. In Financial Journal. 2018. № 3. P. 9-20.
13. Yakovlev I.A., Kabir L.S., Nikulina S.I., Rakov I.D. Financing "green" economic growth: concepts, problems, approaches. In Financial Journal. 2017. № 3. P. 9-21.
