United Nations Development Programme
Many economies are large producers of greenhouse gases. It takes energy and materials like plastic to make the products we use every single day, and the way we decide to make, consume and throw away our products can influence the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released into our atmosphere.
Click on the Green Economy mission image to see what the breakdown of greenhouse gas emissions associated with materials used for productions look like.
Source: UNEP, 2019
To tackle climate change, the world needs to become a low-carbon economy. What will you do?
By investing more money into a green economy, you increase the supply and demand of new products that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This also allows more people, particularly young people, to be trained and work in a new secure market that will continue the growth of green products. Together, the growth of green businesses and jobs will help decrease greenhouse gas emissions across all economic sectors.
Moving into a new work sector can bring anxiety to workers. With the help of governments, a smoother transition can be made between different work sectors, and as a result, encourage more people to make a switch to green jobs. This helps with the 1.5⁰C plan, however, there first has to be a large and relevant industry to employ people. This is why investment in green businesses and jobs can have a larger effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Giving more money to polluting industries will only encourage them to continue to pollute. This would not decrease greenhouse gas emissions and as a result, is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.
Many consumers want to buy products that don't harm the planet. How can you help them?
Requiring information on how products are made can give a consumer an idea of how environmentally friendly the product is. This can be done by requiring the producer to label the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the process of making the product. By doing this, consumers can make more informed decisions and avoid carbon intensive products, which are harmful for the environment.
Supporting people and their green products through awards is a good way of encouraging climate friendly action. This could increase actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, only a certain group of people will change their habits based on a product receiving an award. Requiring information on how products are made will have a greater reduction in greenhouse gas emissions because many consumers make decisions to buy products based on what they are made of.
Removing all product labels would not allow someone buying a product to understand how it is made or the harmful impacts it has on the environment. As a result, they would not be able to tell a climate friendly product from a harmful product, which would mean harmful products will still be bought.
How can we ensure businesses go green?
Making companies pay for their pollution will motivate them to find a way to pollute less, so they won’t have to pay as much. This also encourages a transition to a green economy. This can be done through methods such as enforced carbon pricing or carbon trading, which is based on the “polluter pays” principle, and is one of many ways to reduce greenhouse gases.
Supporting people and their green companies through awards is a good way of encouraging climate friendly action. This will increase actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, this may not encourage all companies to become green. Making companies pay for their pollution will decrease their profits and will hopefully help encourage greener behaviour as a result.
Letting companies pollute will allow companies to continue doing what they are currently doing. As a result, there will be little motivation to change and become green, which will not help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
How will you help new clean industries to grow?
By investing more money in a green economy, you will help increase the supply and demand of products that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This also allows more people, particularly young people, to be trained and work in a new secure market that will continue the growth of green products. Together, the growth of green businesses and jobs will help decrease greenhouse gas emissions across all economic sectors.
Supporting a green entrepreneur will help small, new, and innovative companies grow and bring about change. However, to have the greatest impact on clean industries and have the largest reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, you need to shift large economies to green economies. That is why investing money in green businesses and jobs has a larger effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, because it shapes the future of our current economies.
Supporting polluting companies will allow them to continue polluting and emitting greenhouse gases, which is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.
Changing the way we produce and consume products can reduce emissions. What will you do?
Requiring information on how products are made can give a consumer an idea of how environmentally friendly the product is. This can be done by requiring the producer to label the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the process of making the product. By doing this, consumers can make more informed decisions and avoid carbon intensive products, which are harmful for the environment.
Investing in green packaging can help decrease greenhouse gas emissions as well as help tackle plastic pollution. However, packaging is only a small portion of the emissions of a product. By requiring more information on how products are made, consumers can make a decision on buying products based on the greenhouse gas emissions it took to make that product. As a result, requiring more information can lead to a larger decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.
Wrapping everything in plastic will lead to more emissions due to the increase in plastic production and will cause more pollution, which is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.
How can we ensure businesses produce less pollution?
Making companies pay for their pollution will motivate them to find a way to pollute less, so they won’t have to pay as much. This also encourages a transition to a green economy. This can be done through methods such as enforced carbon pricing or carbon trading, which is based on the “polluter pays” principle, and is one of many ways to reduce greenhouse gases.
Awarding people and their green companies for not polluting is a good way of encouraging climate friendly action. This will increase actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, this will not encourage all companies to become green. Enforced government regulations, like making polluters pay, would decrease more greenhouse gas emissions.
Only letting polluting companies advertise would harm the growth of green companies that are reducing emissions. This is because there would not be an equal chance for green companies to increase their consumer base. As a result, only letting polluting companies advertise is not in line with the 1.5⁰C plan.
