全球绿色低碳发展与公平的国际制度建设

在可持续发展和扶贫框架下发展绿色经济与国际可持续发展制度建设及改革是当前世界可持续发展的核心和关键,也是"里约+20"峰会的两个主题。首先,绿色经济是体现经济社会与资源环境相协调和可持续发展的根本途径。绿色经济的核心是以低的自然资源消费、低排放、低污染,达到高的自然资源利用效益,实现高的经济社会发展水平,提供高的生活水平和优良的生活环境。全球绿色经济的发展潮流,将引发社会形态由"工业文明"向"生态文明"转变。虽然经济发展和消除贫困是发展中国家当前首要和压倒一切的优先任务,但也必须探索新型的绿色低碳工业化和现代化道路,在实现工业文明的过程中,努力建设生态文明,实现跨越式发展。同时积极应对全球绿色低碳转型中新的经济、贸易、技术竞争规则和格局的变动,加强先进技术创新,提升自身的低碳竞争力。其次,公平获取可持续发展的理念,应成为国际可持续发展制度建设和改革的基本原则。可持续发展要求既要促进经济社会发展与资源环境相协调,促进"代际公平",又要关注欠发达地区消除贫困,提高生活质量,改善生态环境,实现"国别公平"、"人际公平"。因此,国际可持续发展制度框架的建设和改革,要体现世界各国公平获取可持续发展的理念和原则,全面均衡地反映不同国情和发展阶段国家的利益诉求。主要表现在公平享有全球环境空间、公平获得现代优质能源服务、公平适应全球环境变化、公平承担责任义务及公平的国际制度和机制。中国需要统筹国内外两个大局,走中国特色的绿色低碳发展之路。最后,中国的国情和发展阶段特征,在可持续发展领域又面临比发达国家更多的困难和更严峻的挑战。在全球发展绿色经济,努力实现可持续发展的大背景下,中国要统筹国际国内两个大局,协调推进。在国际上积极参与国际制度的建设和改革,在促进全球经济发展,社会进步和环境保护等方面发挥积极的建设性的作用。在国内加强可持续发展战略的实施,走绿色、低碳和可持续发展的路径。主要战略对策包括加速转变发展方式,强化节能优先,控制能源消费总量和CO2排放总量的过快增长;加强能源结构的低碳化,逐步建立并形成以新能源和可再生能源为主体的可持续能源体系;加强城乡统筹,地区平衡,促进生态城市建设;适应国际可持续发展制度改革的趋势,加强绿色低碳和可持续发展的制度建设;抓住机遇,顺应世界绿色低碳发展潮流,自主实现发展方式的转变,把传统的资源依赖型、粗放扩张的发展方式转变到新型的技术创新型、内涵提高的发展方式上来,基本走上绿色低碳和可持续发展的轨道。     

Moving towards urban sustainability in Kenya: a framework for integration of environmental,economic, social and governance dimensions

Global urban development is increasingly becoming an aspect of focus as nations fight sustainability challenges. A review of the current literature on urban sustainability suggests that research on development of cities, in both developed and developing countries, is growing fast, with an emphasis on sustainable development. However, very little of this research contains an integrated framework to systematically identify and examine the various dimensions of urban sustainability and to measure and evaluate them appropriately. Cities are more than the sum of their sectors, and are complex and interdependent systems on whose dynamics the quality of life of millions of human beings and a good part of the economy depend. Environmental, economic, social and governance problems can create formidable barriers to urban sustainability. Governance remains a critically important dimension of urban sustainability, especially when discussing urbanization in developing countries, given rapid population movements and imbalances in socio-economic development. Understanding how cities function is fundamental to resolving these imbalances. The aim of this paper is to provide a review and analysis of the concept of urban sustainability and to propose the development of a holistic framework through integration of environmental, economic, social, and governance dimensions of sustainability. Such a review would make it possible to understand the complex dynamics of the four dimensions and to assess the progress and challenges in moving towards urban sustainability, taking the case of Nairobi, Kenya, as an example. The paper argues that, for urban sustainability in developing countries, more emphasis should be placed on the governance dimension, because this is where the biggest challenge exists, with increasing needs for immediate management of rapid urbanization.     

城市可持续发展的制度经济学分析

城市不可持续发展的突出问题是“不可持续城市化”和“城市不可持续化”。城市发展存在政府与市场的双重失灵 ,制度变迁与制度供给是实现城市可持续发展的关键要素。城市可以看作是由经济、环境、社会、制度四个子系统构成的复杂系统。城市可持续发展的制度安排应遵循聚集利益导向、竞争优势导向、制度创新导向     

绿色经济视野下的低碳经济发展新论

在可持续发展经济学的理论框架下,低碳经济应该是经济发展的碳排放量和生态环境代价及社会经济成本最低的经济,是一种能够改善地球生态系统自我调节能力的生态可持续性很强的经济。低碳经济发展理论的形象概括与现实形态就是一种绿色经济发展理论。发展低碳经济是推动我国科学发展的迫切要求和战略任务,其关键所在是进行能源经济的生态革命。发展低碳经济,实现低碳发展,是发展绿色经济的系统工程。我们应该立足于中国国情,把加快低碳经济建设同建设生态文明,加强生态经济与可持续经济建设、发展循环经济和绿色经济紧密结合起来,积极推进低碳经济的健康发展。为此,应提高认识,制定规划;加强绿色能源技术创新,形成低碳与无碳经济技术体系;加强绿色制度创新,形成低碳与无碳发展的体制机制。发展低碳经济必须以政府为主导,公民广泛参与,全体国民都走低碳发展之路。     

Promoting Sustainability with Ecological,Economic and Social Dimensions in Developing Countries

Abstract

Sustainable development is one of the most important ideas, and goals of our time. It is defined as “development which meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation and develops safe and sound society for future generation”. Achieving sustainable development thus involves a vigorous and urgent debate on different dimensions. The different dimensions of sustainability as a framework involve all issues such as science, technology, economic growth and development, health, education, finance investment and trade, politics, natural disasters, population growth and terrorism, etc. No single dimension is responsible to develop sustainable society. This article mainly described the integrated relationship among the three dimensions of sustainability.     

可持续发展的经济政策体系探讨

本文从经济政策和可持续发展的基本涵义出发，揭示了可持续发展经济政策的客观基础是在于它能通过经济手段调节产业组织方式、资源与环境要素配置方式及人们的消费方式。基于这些认识，本文在理论上较为深刻地阐述了可持续发展经济政策的基本概念、政策主体、政策目标、政策对象和政策手段；并从产业、区域、投资、金融、税收、价格、贸易等方面探讨了可持续发展的经济政策体系。     

Energy and Sustainable Development at Global Environmental Summits: An Evolving Agenda

This paper presents a framework for understanding energy issues in the context of sustainable development. It posits that there are three important ways in which energy is related to sustainable development: (a) energy as a source of environmental stress, (b) energy as a principal motor of macroeconomic growth and (c) energy as a prerequisite for meeting basic human needs. These three dimensions correspond to the three dimensions of the often-used triangle of sustainable development: environmental, economic, and social. Using this framework, the paper traces how successive environmental summits at Stockholm (1972), Rio de Janeiro (1992) and Johannesburg (2002) have dealt with energy issues. It identifies a slow, surprising and important evolution of how energy issues have been treated at these global discussions. Energy has received increasing prominence at these meetings and become more firmly rooted in the framework of sustainable development. Stockholm was primarily concerned with the environmental dimension, Rio de Janeiro focused on both the environmental and economic dimensions, and the major headway made at Johannesburg was the meaningful addition of the social dimension and the linking of energy issues to the UN's Millennium Development Goals.     

可持续发展理论的内涵认知——纪念联合国里约环发大会20周年

2012年是巴西里约联合国环境与发展大会20周年,回顾20年来世界各国发展所走过的路程,总结可持续发展战略的成功与不足,是制定未来世界健康发展路线图的历史要求。人们对可持续发展理论的内涵认知,经过了从生存到发展,再从发展到可持续发展的漫长过程。可持续发展被视作是一个自然—社会—经济复杂系统中的行为矢量,该矢量将导致国家或地区的发展朝向日趋合理、更为和谐的方向进化。可持续发展特别强调"整体的"、"内生的"和"综合的"内涵认知。可持续发展理论的"外部响应",是处理好"人与自然"之间的关系,这是可持续能力的"硬支撑";可持续发展战略的"内部响应",是处理好"人与人"之间的关系,这是可持续能力的"软支撑"。只有"当人类向自然的索取能够被人类向自然的回馈相平衡",只有"当人类对于当代的努力能够同对后代的贡献相平衡",只有"当人类为本区域发展的思考能够同时考虑到其它区域乃至全球利益时",可持续发展的实现才具备了坚实的基础。可持续发展揭示了"发展、协调、持续"的系统本质;可持续发展反映了"动力、质量、公平"的有机统一;可持续发展创建了"和谐、稳定、安全"的人文环境;可持续发展体现了"速度、数量、质量"的绿色运行。中国在未来不到10年的时间内,要全面实现小康社会的战略目标,达到经济更加发展、民主更加健全、科教更加发达、文化更加繁荣、生态更加良好、社会更加进步、精神更加富足,全民的生活质量更加提升,这就必然要求实现全面发展、协调发展、可持续发展,充分体现以人为本,促进人的自身完善,努力走出一条生产发展、生活富裕、生态良好的文明发展道路。论文提出了中国可持续发展战略的七大主题:始终保持经济的理性增长;全力提高经济增长的质量;满足"以人为本"的基本生存需求;调控人口的数量增长、提高人口素质;维持、扩大和保护自然的资源基础与生态容量;集中关注科技进步对于发展瓶颈的突破;始终调控环境与发展的平衡。     

The social dimension as a driver of sustainable development: the case of family farms in southeast Spain

The social pillar has often been treated as an ‘add on’ in sustainable development studies, and analyses of its ‘proactivity’ in economic, environmental, and social transformations to sustainability outcomes are scant. The present paper looks at the social dimension as a key driver of sustainable development. Social factors in the farming system in southeast Spain are analyzed to show how family farms and their networks can integrate socio-economic and eco-social goals, promoting the generation of synergies and trade-offs between the dimensions of sustainability. This study contributes to existing debate on the role of family farms in the framework of European rural development.     

《21世纪议程》:行动与展望

1992年,联合国环境与发展大会通过了《关于环境与发展的里约热内卢宣言》、《21世纪议程》和《关于森林问题的原则声明》3项重要文件。之后,国际社会为推动"里约精神"的落实做出了积极努力:联合国可持续发展委员会每年举行会议,审议《21世纪议程》的执行情况;许多国家制定了国家和地方层面的《21世纪议程》或可持续发展战略;相关国际组织以可持续发展能力建设为主的活动也十分活跃。人类把发展与环境相协调作为行动准则,各国依据国情制定了促进环境与发展相协调的优先事项,使人类在实现可持续发展的进程中取得了积极进展:全球经济实现了大幅增长,发展中国家在全球经济格局中的地位不断上升;在消除贫困等社会发展方面取得显著效果,全球开始进入城市化时代;全球能源资源供应呈现多元化,资源节约集约利用成效显著。中国在经济发展滞后、贫困现象较严重背景下,承担了全球实施《21世纪议程》的旗舰角色;并依据本国的具体国情,选择性地学习与借鉴,摸索创造出具有自身特色的发展模式和道路,增加了世界可持续发展方式选择的多样性。20年来,尽管各个国家在可持续发展方面采取了积极行动,但是"里约精神"尚未全面转化为行动,在相关国际承诺与公约的履行方面还需付出巨大努力,仍然面临着重大挑战。如:以气候变化为代表的重大全球性环境问题对人类生存构成的直接威胁加大;生态超载背景下的发展空间争夺更趋激烈;全球性民生问题凸显,可持续发展面临的社会风险加大,等等。我们期待:通过"里约+20"大会,使得相关国际制度安排不断形成和完善,可持续发展进一步向全球行动转化;科技创新步伐加快,进一步推动全球向绿色发展转型;加快全球治理体系调整,新兴发展中国家成为全球可持续发展的重要推动力;全球共同努力解决重大资源环境问题,可持续发展领域的国际关系呈现竞争性合作。     

Towards implementation and achievement of sustainable biofuel development in Africa

Although sustainable bioenergy development in Africa is critically debated, if projects are developed within a credible framework, opportunities for sustainability arguably can arise. This paper presents research on the characteristics of sustainable biofuel projects as provided in the literature and according to expert opinions obtained by way of a survey involving thirty-eight international experts. Participants were selected for their expertise in the fields of environmental, social and economic sustainability relating to biofuels in Africa. The survey results suggest that projects which display a high degree of transparency, incorporate local stakeholder involvement, and ideally include local villagers as partners are more likely to achieve sustainable biofuel production. Experts also indicated that reconciling diverse stakeholder objectives alongside the principles of sustainable development remains an ongoing challenge. A process is recommended for sustainable biofuel development, which attempts to harmonise efficiency, stakeholder interaction and the integration of diverse stakeholder perspectives. To support the process, it is recommended that an advisory/mediating body that acts according to best practice principles would be of great assistance. Such an advisory/mediating body would be conversant with local land, social, economic and environmental conditions, project sustainability and administration, and also advise on biofuel framework educational needs.     

Economic Modelling in Sustainability Science: Issues,Methodology, and Implications

Sustainability science is a new branch of human knowledge. It is necessary to model sustainability science based on a framework consisting of the interactions of society, ecology, the environment and the economy. This paper develops such a model, the SEEOSG model, containing the essential structural relationships that incorporate the environmental and economic conditions required for sustainability. The model is solved as a dynamic optimisation problem. This optimal growth model of ecology and economic growth enables us also to analyse the issues which are specific to sustainability science such as the ecologically sustainability and inter-generational equity implications of economic activities and policies. In the model results growth maximisation goals appear to be fraught with difficulties such as infeasibility and non-sustainability. The results also suggest also that an equilibrium ecological and economic system does not sustain over a very long period of time unless appropriate actions are taken. Readers should send thier comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

The future of sustainability science: a solutions-oriented research agenda

Over the last decade, sustainability science has been at the leading edge of widespread efforts from the social and natural sciences to produce use-inspired research. Yet, how knowledge generated by sustainability science and allied fields will contribute to transitions toward sustainability remains a critical theoretical and empirical question for basic and applied research. This article explores the limitations of sustainability science research to move the field beyond the analysis of problems in coupled systems to interrogate the social, political and technological dimensions of linking knowledge and action. Over the next decade, sustainability science can strengthen its empirical, theoretical and practical contributions by developing along four research pathways focused on the role of values in science and decision-making for sustainability: how communities at various scales envision and pursue sustainable futures; how socio-technical change can be fostered at multiple scales; the promotion of social and institutional learning for sustainable development.     

中国绿色经济发展和机制政策创新研究

通过绿色转型创造新的发展和就业机会对于摆脱经济危机、提升国家竞争力并占据全球制高点和领先地位已经成为全球共识。中国的绿色经济发展将对其未来经济繁荣乃至全球经济发展产生深远影响。转变经济发展方式,实现绿色发展,这不仅是中华民族长远发展的战略性选择和必然需要,也是对全球可持续发展的积极贡献,将对人类发展产生的重要影响。中国正逐步走向绿色发展之路,建设资源节约型社会和环境友好型社会,发展循环经济和低碳经济已经为中国的绿色发展奠定了较为坚实的基础。但是在全球化大背景下,中国正面临各种规模庞大、情况复杂的经济发展、社会转变与环境保护的挑战与机遇,尤其是在宏观层面,绿色发展的体制机制保障尚不健全,制约了中国绿色转型的成效。如何通过恰当的制度创新,进一步推进转型成本效率的提高和体制机制与政策法规质量的改善,加快并深化中国的绿色转型是目前面临的主要问题。本文针对上述问题,系统归纳总结了国际上发展绿色经济的普遍经验以及中国发展绿色经济面临的主要问题和挑战,认为发展绿色经济目前并没有一种通用的模式,解决中国发展绿色经济发展过程中所面临的资源环境制约,必须调整现行以GDP为导向的政府和官员绩效考核体系,平衡目前财政分权体系中财权和事权不对应问题,进一步明确政府和市场的作用及各自起作用的领域,同时,综合应用法律、财政、税收和价格等工具,重视不同手段的综合和协同运用,在不同的发展领域,提出具有适应性和包容性的发展策略,具体来说:①实施"差异化"区域绿色发展战略,针对不同的经济发展和资源环境基础,提出不同的发展重点,同时,建立分区域的绿色发展监测和评估体系;②通过技术进步和管理创新发展绿色农业,以保障农产品安全、生态安全和资源安全为重点,推动农业发展政策、农业生产组织、农业技术服务和农业管理体系的转型;③以资源节约和环境友好为基本原则,实施绿色创新战略,引导和推动工业结构的优化升级;④创建绿色服务业体系;⑤推行绿色消费模式,以绿色消费倒逼绿色经济转型。     

The transition to a sustainable society: a new social contract

This paper explores issues that are central to ecological economics. In spite of a substantial body of research and other literature that has appeared in recent decades on transition, and countless other efforts, no progress has been made to halt the increase in global warming, global emissions, rampant population growth, or several hundred other critical planet sustainability indicators including global species extinction. The opposite is true. Consumption has escalated and it is poised to double and, with it, planetary decay has followed closely. The aim of this work is to introduce a pragmatic solution and the economics mechanisms solidly rooted in science, in the laws of conservation of mass and energy, and in environmental and ecological sustainability that are necessary to overcome the tremendous forces of social, political, and economic resistance to major change. To advance towards a sustainable civilization, adopting a holistic approach with those underlying principles in all aspects of human activity, among others economy, finance, industry, commerce, engineering, politics, architecture, and education, is both lacking and fundamentally required. A short review of the state-of-the-art of the science on the critical status of the planet’s resources and its life-supporting systems is presented, as well as a brief catalog of the seminal works of the science that gave rise to its metrics and established early on the groundwork for the understanding of the degree of sustainability of the planet. We present the argument why past and current schemes of human economics, organization, culture, and politics cannot achieve anything else, but complete and utter failure under their own underlying precepts. A rigorous and disciplined process on how to overcome and avoid the precipitous decline and collapse of the environmental and planetary biosystems on which all life depends, including human life, and a new view towards the world and the universe we all have no choice but to live in, are also offered.     

Measuring sustainable urbanization in China: a case study of the coastal Liaoning area

The global urbanization process poses a serious challenge to achieving sustainable development. The significance of sustainable urbanization has been increasingly appreciated, yet, very little empirical evidence has been provided for this prospect. In this paper, we use the Human Development Index and the ecological footprint to measure the sustainability of the coastal Liaoning area. We then use the quadrant map approach to determine the relationship between sustainability and urbanization. The results show that the coastal area has made progress in sustainable urbanization in the social dimension. Improvement in the environmental dimension has been dynamic. Our results indicate that sustainable urbanization is a dynamic, multi-dimensional progress that requires regular monitoring and reevaluation. This paper also highlights the importance of choosing more complete indicators for measuring the sustainability of urbanization, as no single model or measurement is sufficient for quantifying the different dimensions of sustainability.     

Advancing sustainability science: report on the International Conference on Sustainability Science (ICSS) 2009

As a new discipline, sustainability science poses a challenge to researchers focused on issues in sustainable development world wide. Although definitions vary, three characteristics appear to be fundamental: sustainability science is transdisciplinary, provides integrated analysis, and is aimed at action. There is clearly a need for such a science to address complex contemporary issues. Yet the question remains how to go about advancing this new integrated approach. The ICSS2009 conference was organized to address this question. This article, based on the conference report, provides a summary of the deliberations and highlights recommendations to advance this new science including creation of a global network of networks in sustainability science.     

The disappearing sustainability triangle: community level considerations

This article challenges the application of the sustainability triangle to conceptualise sustainable development by looking at how weak sustainability can be obtained via the reinforcing increase in social capital and natural capital. Sustainable development is often visualised as a triangle consisting of social, environmental, and economic aspects. Would it be possible to conceive a flattened system, with diminishing economic resources or without refilling financial resources? The possibility involves mutual reinforcement between social capital and natural capital. The consideration of the diminishing economic dimension relates to the concept of development without economic growth, such as degrowth, zero-growth, and sustainable growth, that has been revived in the face of the recent economic crisis. Several countries have imposed extreme budget cuts in development collaboration and in other government expenditures. When the economic resource is not at a satisfactory level, can we rely on the reinforcement between social and environmental aspects for sustainability? Although it is not new to acknowledge the contribution of social capital to environmental conservation, research has long ignored the reinforcing relationship between environmental and social dimensions. This article provides a prototype model to demonstrate how social capital and natural capital can reinforce each other. The prototype is studied and verified at the community level using a comparative method. This article concludes with principles and practices that may encourage sustainability with merely the reinforcement between social capital and natural capital.     

区域可持续发展生态评估的能值分析研究进展与展望

可持续发展的生态评估是当前国际生态经济学与可持续发展研究的前沿问题之一，能值分析以能量为单位定量评估人类生态经济系统中各种生态流的可持续性，是一个重要的研究方向。尽管能值分析定量评价了自然环境资源对人类生态经济系统的贡献．克服了传统能量与经济分析方法的诸多缺憾，但在理论方法上仍存在不足之处。综合国内外区域能值分析的最新进展。能值转换率的确定、能值分析与空阃格局分析的整合、能值成本价值论与市场（使用）价值论的整合、可持续性阈值等问题将是下一步的研究重点。     

基于协调发展视角的区域发展差异研究

20世纪90年代以来，区域差异研究成为学术界和政府管理者关注的热点领域。长期以来学者们主要以单一经济指标或复合经济指标作为衡量因子，分析区域经济差异时空演变及差异背后的自然、社会、经济驱动机理。从可持续发展的角度看，区域发展不单是区域经济的发展，而应是社会、经济与资源环境三方面的协调。基于这一理解，从可持续协调发展入手，建立了区域发展综合评价指标体系，选取了表征社会进步、经济发展和资源环境支持3个方面的27个因素作为评价指标，分析了区域综合发展的测算方法，提出了综合发展指数和发展协调指数。在案例分析中运用所设计的测度方法对江苏省内县级行政单位的综合发展进行了评价和分析。