ASIA PACIFIC / GREEN BUSINESS

The tax we pay should be based on the pollution we produce rather than the income we make. That was the key message from the 3rd Green Growth Policy Dialogue: the Greening of Business and the Environment as a Business Opportunity.

The event, organized in Bangkok by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), offered an opportunity for regional government policy-makers and industry leaders to exchange views on green business in the region.

Rae Kwong Chung, Director of the Environment and Sustainable Development Division of UNESCAP said that economic growth must consider the costs to the environment. Tax reform, he says, is vital.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rae Kwong Chung - Director, Environment and Sustainable Development Division, UNESCAP:

"We are paying too low price for our energy that's what...because the market price does not internalize climate change costs for example form the energy, so we are using too much energy and it causes climate change. So there are gaps between market cost efficiency and ecological efficiency where we have to move towards. So I'm suggesting that government growth patterns have to improve and it should be based on an ecological efficiency paradigm."

Some countries in Asia , such as China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, have made modest inroads to shifting taxes from income to carbon-generating activities, but in comparison to Europe, Asia-Pacific still has a long way to go.

Participants at the meeting shared experiences of how business in Asia can be green, and still make money.

SOUNDBITE (English)Dipal Chandra Barua - Deputy Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh :

"Bangladesh is a country of 150 million and only 35% of people are getting electricity so around 100 million people no electricity so we are giving a small loan to establish solar home system in their houses and they paying back within 3 years they become owner of solar home system. The solar home system is for 25 years so they getting light and they have extension of working hour they have income generation and under the light their children have a better education they can watch television and radio and they can energize the battery of mobile phones."

Greening business is one of the five major tracks of UNESCAP's Green Growth approach, which was endorsed by all governments in the region in 2005. The other four tracks are green tax and budget reform, sustainable consumption, development of sustainable infrastructure, and the development of new eco-efficiency indicators. In business, the customer is king. When it comes to the greening of business, consumer power reigns supreme and companies going green clearly have a brighter future.

 

 

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