The Green Economy Initiative (GEI) is designed to assist governments in "greening" their economies by reshaping and refocusing policies, investments and spending towards a range of sectors, such as clean technologies, renewable energies, water services, green transportation, waste management, green buildings and sustainable agriculture and forests.
Greening the economy refers to the process of reconfiguring businesses and infrastructure to deliver better returns on natural, human and economic capital investments, while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions, extracting and using less natural resources, creating less waste and reducing social disparities.
Initially envisioned as a two-year project, the GEI has been expanded to include a number of related UNEP and UN-wide initiatives focused on providing macroeconomic evidence for significantly increasing investments in the environment as a means of promoting sustainable economic growth, decent job creation, and poverty reduction.
GEI activities include providing advisory services to countries interested in greening their economies, producing research products, such as The Green Economy Report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity series of reports, and the Green Jobs Report, and engaging partners to effectively promote and implement green economy strategies.
