Pursuing Green Growth: Some Conflicts and Necessary Conditions for a Pragmatic Environmental Policy

Author: 
Euston Quah
JEL codes: 
Description: 
Paper No. 2005/04 - Mar 2005
Organisation: 
Abstract: 

This paper focusses narrowly on three areas of public policy concerning the environment deemed necessary for sustainable economic growth. It has
relevance to Asian nations as they continue to demand for higher growth and at the same time keeping environmental degradation in check. The three areas are:
(1) the issue of siting environmentally unfriendly but nationally required facilities, otherwise known as the NIMBY syndrome, (2) the waste generation problem, and (3) the need to price green goods.
In addition to the above three areas for public policy, the paper also discusses a number of pragmatic principles for use in environmental management. Such
things as cost-benefit analysis and project appraisal; the pursuit of clean and advanced technologies and inherent conflicts; exploring market solutions;
understanding multiple stakeholders; and last but not least the need to establish data baselines for environmental quantity and quality.