Two key instruments for advancing the transition towards an Inclusive Green Economy, while delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals, are modelling tools and reliable metrics and measurements. The development of these can enable countries to measure their progress against national and international development targets, to anticipate the future impacts of policies and, thereafter, to guide and inform Green Economy policymaking.
Green Economy Modelling
Green Economy Modelling is a powerful tool that: (a) establishes a relationship between policy targets and relevant economic, environmental and social dimensions; (b) projects the impacts of policy measures in advance; (c) analyses the effects of existing policies and; (d) identifies synergies and cross-sectoral impacts among policy choices.
UNEP supports countries in their development of Green Economy Policy Assessments, which employ Green Economy models to inform policymaking decision processes within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In addition, it works to strengthen the institutional and individual Green Economy Modelling capacities of local and national institutions in Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) countries.
Under the auspices of PAGE, UNEP has collaborated with modelling experts from around the world to develop the Integrated Green Economy Modelling (IGEM) Framework, which aims to better align country-specific needs with the cross-sectoral impacts of Green Economy policies.
While various models currently exist to project the impact of Green Economy policies, these often do so within a specific sectoral context. The IGEM Framework instead provides a methodology for integrating three primary modelling techniques (system dynamics, computable general equilibrium models and input-output social accounting matrix), facilitating the evaluation of cross-sectoral impacts.
The IGEM Framework may be used to assess ex-ante the economic, social and environmental impacts of Green Economy policies across a wide range of sectors, refining the economic impact analysis of green policies and investments and thus engendering positive spillover effects at the local, national and regional levels. Further information on the implementation of the IGEM Framework in Peru, which is financed by PAGE under the EC-funded project "Enhancing Knowledge and Capacities for Inclusive Green Economies," is available here.
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