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This report, explores in depth the concept of the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy. As a promising post-pandemic growth strategy, the BCG economy applies science, innovation, and technology to promote the efficient use of resources, maintain and restore our ecosystems, and reduce waste to build a system where businesses can thrive, while contributing to the global efforts of comprehensively addressing all environmental challenges for a sustainable planet.
This policy brief explores how the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy is a useful guiding framework in developing holistic, cross-cutting and interconnected solutions to advance sustainable and inclusive growth. BCG Economy solutions seek to close loopholes and strengthen policies that rely only on the bio-economy, the circular economy, or the green economy separately. The policy brief underlines the need to enhance the key drivers of the BCG economy: the regulatory environment; technology and innovation; and stakeholder participation.
This year❜s APEC Economic Policy Report (AEPR) sheds light on the importance of ensuring a conducive business environment, one that reduces transaction costs and facilitates firm entry, operation, and closure. Not only is this good for business and competitiveness, but it also gives firms the space to contribute toward inclusion, resilience, and sustainability goals. It further highlights the importance of measuring and recognising firms❜ contributions toward the public interest, be it in eliminating greenhouse gas emissions or serving underserved communities. In the same vein, it points out that policymakers can, through structural reform policies, do more to enable businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to contribute toward social goals; measure progress regularly and comprehensively; and incentivise private sector investment toward inclusion, resilience and sustainability.
Endorsed by APEC Economic Leaders in November 2023, the ❝San Francisco Principles on Integrating Inclusivity and Sustainability into Trade and Investment Policy❞ serve as trade and investment principles that seek to boost environmental sustainability and social well-being and are aimed at considering "economic, social and environmental dimensions in a balanced way" in APEC members❜ policies.
The project drew on the discussion on the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy spearheaded by Thailand and on how to make trade and environment policies work together in the next normal era. Its outcome report compiles APEC experts❜ insights on sustainability policies and business success stories, best practices, and product champions.
The Implementation Plan of the Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030 identifies specific voluntary actions or initiatives that economies may individually or collectively implement to deliver on the APEC Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030, which aims to establish open, transparent, productive, sustainable, and resilient APEC food systems that ensure access to sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food to meet dietary needs and food preferences for active and healthy lives.
Endorsed at the Food Security Ministerial meeting, held in 2023, in Seattle, the ❝Principles for Achieving Food Security and Sustainable Agri-food Systems in the APEC Region❞ serve as a source reference for the APEC Region and its member economies in the development of food security related policy, practices, and regulation.
The Policy Recommendations for Tourism of the Future: Regenerative Tourism provides an assessment of the tourism industry post COVID-19 pandemic, explores initiatives and provides a set of policy recommendations to revive and restore the industry for the immediate and long term. The future of tourism needs to contribute to all elements of wellbeing not only for travelers, but also for local businesses, as well as their employees. It should also be regenerative in nature, promotes sustainable practices, as well as responds to change so that it can thrive amid future crises.
At the 13th APEC Energy Ministers Meeting held in August 2023, in Seattle, Ministers agreed to the ❝Nonbinding Just Energy Transition Principles for APEC Cooperation.❞ The document recognises the need to pursue positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes while considering domestically defined economic growth priorities, meaningfully engage workforces, private sector companies and investors, and communities in an equitable and inclusive way in the transition from traditional to more green and sustainable forms of energy production. The document identifies the critical importance of decent work and quality jobs as part of any energy transition agenda, and supporting broadly shared prosperity for all, including MSMEs, women and others with untapped economic potential.
Weak or insufficient waste management and recycling (WMR) infrastructure drives solid waste pollution including marine debris and ocean plastic. This project promotes establishing environmentally sound WMR infrastructure, to enable collection and processing of recyclable materials for their sustainable recovery through recycling. It also recommends key policy areas and associated methodologies to address WMR challenges: supporting environmental regulation; improving understanding of waste and recyclable materials; materials quality and processing health and safety standards; and enabling policies for recycling infrastructure investment including public-private partnerships.
The transportation sector emits one-fifth of global carbon dioxide emissions, contributing significantly to global warming and climate change. Proven and effective policy interventions are needed to ensure a low-emission and sustainable future for land, air and sea transportation. This policy brief outlines the main policy interventions that can contribute to realizing low-emission transport systems in a timely, feasible and inclusive manner to address climate change challenges. It condenses empirical findings and key policy recommendations for the land, aviation and maritime transportation sectors. It concludes with a discussion on the need to ensure a just transition to a low-emission transport future.
One approach to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions while still creating the necessary environment for development is incorporating the long-term toll on the environment into the cost of the economic activity. To this end, APEC economies are already using instruments such as carbon pricing, but their application all over the world creates a patchwork of regulatory environments, where businesses not only face varying compliance conditions, but also bear different costs for producing the same goods and services. This project accumulates the state of carbon pricing initiatives in the Asia Pacific region, to provide a background for further discussion in APEC and international fora of what regulators are doing and explore opportunities for cooperation.