Target 9.4: Sustainable industry

IAEG-SDG selected CO2 emissions per unit of value added as the appropriate indicator to measure progress towards this target (United Nations Statistical Commission, 2016). The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change seeks to keep human-made global warming below a danger threshold9.8. It is agreed that, to maintain average global surface temperatures at no more than 2°C above the pre-industrial average, there is a requirement to reduce global GHG emissions to 50–85 per cent of 2010 levels by 2050 (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014). Assuming that global output continues to rise at its long-term annual average rate of 3.5 per cent, this implies that GHG emissions per unit of GDP must fall by at least 5 per cent annually (Randers, 2012). The challenge is to how to balance such a reduction with continued economic growth, particularly in the developing world.

There are various ways that the required emissions reductions might be achieved, including through voluntary actions, carbon taxes, regulation, and emission quota systems. Since the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change was adopted in 1992, most governments have been reluctant to apply economic instruments to limit emissions due to concerns over their potentially adverse economic impacts. Over this same period, however, growing consumer and firm preferences for cleaner production and consumption has catalysed global movement towards a greener economy while significantly reducing GHG emissions from business-as-usual trajectories.

The 2012 Rio+20 Conference9.9, as well as the subsequent adoption of Sustainable Development Goal 9 and the COP 219.10 agreement in 2015 all serve to illustrate the growing importance being given to environmental issues and the recognition that countries’ transitioning to a green economy can contribute to sustainable development through economic diversification, employment creation and export earnings. Internationally traded commodities, manufactures and services that are sustainably produced and promote sustainable consumption offer considerable opportunities for developing countries to shift their economic bases to more sustainable models. This can be done by exploring a variety of green goods and servicesNational definitions vary. This includes cleaner technologies, products and services that reduce environmental risk and minimize pollution and resource use.
more (See Target 17.7), including biotradeBiotrade includes activities related to the collection or production, transformation, and commercialization of goods and services derived from native biodiversity.
more (See Target 15.9), biofuelsAny fuel derived from biomass. There is still no strict definition of biomass.
more (See Goal 7), ecotourismEnvironmentally responsible travel and visitation to natural areas to enjoy and appreciate nature, that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact, and provide for beneficially active socioeconomic involvement of local people.
more (See Target 12.b), recycling, renewable energy, resource-efficient organic agriculture and sustainably harvested timber and fisheries products, among others. And because many green products are produced in rural areas by SMEsNon-subsidiary independent firms that employ fewer than a given number of employees. This number varies across countries.
more and by lower and medium-skilled workers, including women and youth, their production can contribute significantly to job creation and poverty reduction in economically marginalized areas of developing countries.

To seize these new sustainable growth opportunities, both developing and developed countries must work to identify their production and export strengths for green products and establish the national policies, regulations and institutions needed to create an enabling environment for their production and export. In most developing countries, particularly LDCsThis category was officially established in 1971 by the United Nations General Assembly with a view to attracting special international support for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the United Nations family. Their low level of socioeconomic development is characterized by weak human and institutional capacities, low and unequally distributed income and scarcity of domestic financial resources.
more, there are significant gaps in awareness of national production and export opportunities in green product sectors among national policymakers and other stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society. Building awareness will be essential for steering industrial capacity and infrastructure development towards more sustainable models compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Green product spaceProduct space is a term used to describe the network of relatedness between products and identify products for which a country is competitive in production and export.
more is one example of a conceptual approach that can be used to build such awareness and help guide industrial policy towards sustainable paths (Hamwey et al., 2013; Hidalgo et al., 2007). An illustration of a green product space map is plotted in figure 9.12, using real 2014 export data from Brazil. The figure consists of a network in which each node is a product exported by Brazil. Nodes shown as blue squares indicate competitive exports, i.e., products for which Brazil has a revealed comparative advantageRevealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) is used to help assess a country’s export potential.
more (RCA > 1), whereas nodes shown as grey circles indicate products that are not competitive exports (RCA < 1).

Adding green halos to a product space map reveals potential green growth opportunities. Nodes with a green halo designate products that are considered to be environmentally friendly or green products. Within this scheme, blue squares with a green halo indicate green products that are competitively produced and exported while grey circles with a green halo indicate green products that are not. Scaling up production and adding value to currently competitive green products is pursued as a strategic policy objective by many countries. Additionally, product space theory suggests that when uncompetitive green product nodes (shown as grey circles with green halos) are in close proximity and connected to competitive product nodes (blue squares, with or without green halos) that targeted industrial strategies and policies can promote their future growth into competitive green exports. Some countries aim to promote green growth in such cases where the potential for competitiveness appears strong. To summarize, by identifying current and potential future green product strengths, a green product space map can help countries formulate green industrial policy options that pull productive resources to green products thereby generating new green export and employment There is no clear, internationally agreed definition of a green job. (Martinez-Fernandez et al, 2010) note that in the current policy literature there is a tendency to use the concept of green jobs as a one-size-fits-all" encompassing notion that covers any job that contributes to improving environmental quality.
more opportunities while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, limiting harmful pollution and protecting the environment.