Increasingly, political leaders have come to realize the need for immediate and effective action on climate change.  These leaders also have an obligation to promote economic development and improve the living standards for their constituencies.  Countries must therefore find ways of combining their development with climate mitigation and adaptation goals to achieve a low-carbon development strategy.

Economic development is an imperative for the over 1 billion people worldwide estimated to be living on less than EUR 1 a day.  Most of these developing countries are also the most vulnerable to the devasting effects of increasing global greenhouse gas emissions.  The mitigation of and adaptation to climate change has become a priority for these nations at all stages of development.  Action to tackle climate change must therefore be incorporated in a country's development and investment strategy.

Developing countries face an unfortunate dilemma--because existing carbon-inefficient solutions often require less upfront investment than low-carbon alternatives, it is highly likely that these countries will choose to invest into inefficient and ultimately less sustainable options despite the availablitiy of and long-term social benefits of climate-compatible plans.  Furthermore, economic development often leads to land-use changes, which cause significant emissions, especially from deforestation.

The Coalition for Rainforest Nations has long noted that sustainable development strategies do not forego growth and that we should now employ low-carbon growth plans to decarbonise economic activities.  CfRN, with a select group of partners, is developing a plan for low-carbon growth using the following framework:

·         Identify priority growth sectors.  This entails reviewing the economy's historic growth and the factors for future growth and thereby identifying sectors which have high economic potential.

·         Forecast economic development and emissions under a business-as-usual scenario.  This forecast is used to derive the mitigation opportunities by setting emission baselines for all sectors based on detailed analysis of key economic elements such as GDP and employment forecasts.

·         Assess the mitigation opportunities.  This measurement will assess mitigation impact on emissions and will include a cost and feasibility analysis.  Socioeconomic impacts will also be considered for the most important sectors.

·         Develop a low-carbon growth plan.  A revision of sector strategies will reflect the impact of mitigation measures and emphasize low-carbon opportunities.  Combined, these sector strategies can form a low-carbon growth plan.  The plan would also specify financing needs and sources.

·         Prepare the information.  Implementation should start from a platform of broad consultation across all institutions and civil society.  To drive an economic shift, new or strengthened institutions are required.  The plan needs to specify how ministries and other constituencies will work together to lead change.  Pilots may be necessary to determine the most suitable approach for new areas.

CfRN is committed to working with expert communities and in broad consultation with business, civil society and the public to ensure the success of integration of the plan into national, regional and sectoral growth stategies.