States Regenerate: Greening Government for Our Planet, Wealth, and Health
Despite global efforts, the planet remains on track for a century of rising seas, expanding deserts, and flooded cities.
Governments are responding by setting out ambitious plans for a ‘green recovery’ from the pandemic, and setting increasingly ambitious net-zero targets. But States Regenerate argues that government must look beyond the economy alone if global decarbonisation targets are to be met. To address the climate crisis, governments must also focus on decarbonising their own organisations and operations.
States Regenerate recommends how governments around the world could collectively shift £7.8 trillion annually towards green purchasing. Governments have a unique capacity to drive decarbonisation because of their purchasing power and dominant role in financing and managing polluting assets like infrastructure.
Intended to showcase opportunities and ideas for governments around the world, States Regenerate features expert comment on what needs to happen now, and highlights five key areas where government can make change:
- Creating the leadership and accountability mechanisms to enable a green transition in government, including an office with responsibility for oversight and opportunities for citizen engagement.
- Decarbonising public procurement—which comprises some 12% of global GDP—both as an end in itself and to encourage wider decarbonisation in the economy.
- Prioritising the decarbonisation of physical infrastructure, including through turning public transportation into a local and national mission, decarbonising building construction and use, and launching tree-planting programmes.
- Managing environmental public goods like water reserves and clean air.
- Making the most of data and innovation in partnership with other sectors.
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