Norway supports new green growth institute

“Green growth is essential if we are to be able to achieve our development and climate goals,” said Heikki Holmås, Norway’s Minister of International Development.

Mr Holmås is in Rio attending the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, together with Minister of the Environment Bård Vegard Solhjell.

Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is currently a Korea-based think-tank on green growth, and will become an international organisation in 2012. Norway has recently decided to join the new international as a founding member, and intends to use this opportunity to heighten awareness of the importance of green growth for development and climate policy.

“The Global Green Growth Institute is a welcome and valuable addition to a growing alliance of likeminded partners that are looking for new ways to promote greener policies and increase green investments”, Mr Holmås said.

“With the right conditions, green growth could become ‘the development paradigm’ of our time. Traditional carbon-intensive growth jeopardises the prospects of long-term development by gradually destroying the natural resource base on which people depend. By working through organisations like GGGI, UNEP, OECD and the World Bank and helping more countries forge their own low-carbon development path, we can enable new champions of green growth to emerge and play a leading role. At the same time, we can help to reduce poverty, promote social equality and protect the environment, in the spirit of the Rio+20 conference,” Mr Holmås said.

The Rio declaration paves the way for the Global Green Growth Institute to become a defining actor in the field of green growth in the years to come.

“The action we take and results on the ground are what matters. We have to stress that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and that the development of green growth policies will have to be adapted to national and local conditions,” said Mr Solhjell. Both ministers visited the Amazon rainforest last week and had a chance to see how local communities are managing their forest resources sustainably.

The Global Green Growth Institute has already demonstrated its relevance by assisting some of Norway’s key climate partner countries to develop their own national green growth plans. Some 20 countries will participate in the ceremony establishing the new organisation. Norway’s Minister of International Development signed the agreement on 20 June in Rio.

Press contact: Communications Adviser Svein Bæra, mobile phone +47 916 72 042.