The Banking Executive Magazine - September 2023 Issue

The Transition to Green Economy INTRODUCTION This article traces the road to the transition to green economy in the Arab world highlighting efforts of the Union of Arab Banks to promote giga projects (giant projects) including green projects, and the efforts of the United Nations Development Pro- gramme (UNDP) and the Islamic De- velopment Bank (ISDB) to develop a comprehensive green transition facil- ity to support the sustainable green growth of the Arab States. The article overviews the definition of the green economy and green in- vestment and clarifies the differences between green economy, blue econ- omy, and circular economy. The ar- ticle highlights the principles of green economy and drivers of green economic growth. The best green technology innovations are enumer- ated and an overview of digital tech- nologies for the green economy and the growth of the sustainable infor- mation technology market are overviewed. A comparison between Green IT (Information Technology) and IT for Green is also drawn. Vari- ous Green economy models are overviewed with case studies from South Korea, China, and Brazil. The article concludes with the road for the transition to green economy in the Arab states. WHAT IS A GREEN ECONOMY? A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politi- cally applied focus. According to the 2011 United Nation Environment Program (UNEP) Green Economy, the green economy must not only be efficient, but also fair. Fairness im- plies recognizing global and country level equity dimensions, particularly in assuring a just transition to an economy that is low-carbon, re- source efficient, and socially inclu- sive. the BANKING EXECUTIVE 22 ISSUE 177 SEPTEMBER 2023 THE TRANSITION TO GREEN ECONOMY IN THE ARAB WORLD BY DR SOHA MAAD