STRATEGIES AND MEASURES FOR ENSURING THE TRANSITION TO A GREEN ECONOMY

ABSTRACT

The article is devoted to the adopted strategies and measures to ensure the transition to a ‘green’ economy in Uzbekistan and analyzes the problems and opportunities in ensuring the transition to the green economy and the results of ensuring sustainable economic growth in the future. The analyzes provide opinions on the issues of development and transition to the green economy in the sectors and industries of Uzbekistan. The main goal of the transition to the green economy is to protect the environment in the process of globalization, to improve the well-being of human life, and to ensure the further development of the economy.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Статья посвящена принятым стратегиям и мерам по обеспечению перехода к «зеленой» экономике в нашей стране и анализирует проблемы и возможности в обеспечении перехода к «зеленой» экономике и результаты обеспечения устойчивого экономического роста в будущем. В анализах представлены мнения по вопросам развития и перехода к зеленой экономике в отраслях и отраслях нашей страны. Главной целью перехода к зеленой экономике является защита окружающей среды в процессе глобализации, повышение благосостояния бытия человеческой жизни, и обеспечить дальнейшее развитие экономики.

Ключевые слова: зеленая экономика, устойчивый экономический рост, устойчивое развитие, экологические проблемы, экономическое развитие.

Keywords: green economy, sustainable economic growth, sustainable development, environmental problems, economic development.

Green economy appeared as a branch of economics at the end of the last century. This economy is a component of the natural environment and is one of its directions. The concept of green economy is related to green politics, such as ecological economics, environmental economics, resource-based economics, human development, feminist economics, which includes ideas from many other areas of economic science and philosophy includes a lean economy.

Development of society, rapid growth of the population, increase of production and waste, environmental problems are expanding and accumulating. The most urgent problems: maintaining favorable conditions for the life of society, depletion of natural resources and environmental safety.

The global problems of our time, and first of all, the global environmental crisis, encourage humanity to green all spheres of activity, and create the need to urgently search for alternative models of world economic growth. In this regard, many countries of the world have realized the need to green the economy, reconsider people’s lifestyles, and have begun to change existing development models in favor of more efficient management of limited resources, that is, sustainable development.

Green economy is an economic system, the main goal of which is to develop all spheres of the economy while preserving the ecology of the planet. Thus, the green economy is an economic system based on further development of the economy related to the production and service sectors while preserving the resources necessary for human life and health, the environment and ecology as a whole; a new direction of activity is understood.        

A green economy is an economy that leads to improvements in human well-being and social equity, and significant reductions in environmental risks and environmental deficits. The main goal of the green economy concept is to ensure sustainable economic growth and increase investments, while simultaneously improving the quality of environmental protection and social integration. The goal of the green economy is to achieve sustainable economic growth with the rational use of natural resources and the relative reduction of negative environmental impacts.

In recent decades, for most developed and developing countries, the stability of economic growth, expanding the use of resources and reducing harmful effects on the environment are the priority tasks.

The concept of green growth aimed at achieving sustainable growth through efficient and responsible use of natural resources has become an integral part of the economic policies of many governments since its introduction in the late 2000s.

It is since the need for effective use of today’s limited resources is the main issue of the economy and the guarantee of the economic stabilization process. Unfair behavior towards the environment to satisfy unlimited needs can endanger the lives of future generations. Therefore, today the role of green economy is incomparable.

In the period of modernization of the world economy, the transition to many updated innovative technologies, the factor of economic efficiency is considered as the driving force of development. However, it should be noted that it is important to prevent their negative impact on the quality of life and living environment of the population. It supports the green strategies of countries. In recent years, national economies and international organizations have been directing large amounts of funds to the development of various sectors of the green economy.

The methodological basis of the research is determined by the views of the academic scientific schools that study the evolution and development processes of the environmental economy, ecological economy and the economy of sustainable development. The materials of the United Nations, the World Bank and other organizations are widely used to one degree or another, regulating various aspects of the ecological economy in the context of sustainable development.

Today, the green economy is seen as an economy that improves human well-being and ensures social equality, while significantly reducing environmental risks and degradation. In a green economy, income and employment growth is achieved through public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, increase energy, and resource efficiency, and prevent biodiversity loss.

The transition to a green economy restores and expands natural capital, reduces carbon emissions, and creates a better environment for people to live and work in the long term.

In the strategy of the transition to a green economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the period of from 2019 to 2030, special attention is paid to the plan of measures for the development of the economy and priority tasks for the coming years. The strategic mechanism of the transition to the green economy is an effective means of transition to sustainable development at the global and national level, and is based on the principles of environmental efficiency, resource saving, and intersectoral nature.

In Uzbekistan, comprehensive measures aimed at deepening structural changes, modernization and diversification of the basic sectors of the economy, and at the same time socio-economic development of the regions are being implemented.

The main tasks of the transition of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the green economy were as follows:

- increasing the energy efficiency of the economy and rational use of natural resources through the development of technological modernization and financial mechanisms;

- inclusion of green criteria based on advanced international standards in the priorities of state investments and expenditures;

- to support the implementation of pilot projects in the directions of transition to a green economy through the development of state incentive mechanisms, development of public-private partnerships, and the activation of cooperation with international financial institutions;

- development of the system of training and retraining of personnel related to the labor market in the green economy by encouraging investments in education, developing cooperation with leading foreign educational institutions and scientific centers;

- taking measures to mitigate the negative impact of the environmental crisis on the island;

- strengthening international cooperation in the field of green economy, including bilateral and multilateral agreements.

As a result of the strategy implementation, it is expected to achieve the following by 2030:

- reducing greenhouse gas emissions per unit of GDP by 35% from the 2010 level;

- increase the production capacity of renewable energy sources by 15 GW and increase their share to more than 30% of the total volume of electricity production;

- increase energy efficiency in the industrial sector by at least 20%;

- reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 30%, including expanding the use of renewable energy sources;

- significantly increase the efficiency of water use in all sectors of the economy, introduce water-saving irrigation technology on an area of up to 1 million hectares;

- by planting 200 million saplings per year and increasing the total number of saplings to 1 billion, expanding green spaces in cities by more than 30 percent;

- increase the reserve index of the republic's forest fund to more than 90 million cubic meters;

- increase the level of processing of generated solid household waste from 65 percent.

The process of transition to a green economy is of particular importance for each country and is directly dependent on such characteristics as natural capital, human capital and the level of economic development of the country. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to create a favorable environment for the transition process. If the incentives used at the national level, including investments and public purchases, are directed to the development of the green economy, the process of greening the economic system will be accelerated. As the world experience of creating and developing the green economy shows, this process is long-term, with large investments. It is characterized by the fact that the main focus is on the effective use of renewable energy sources and the development of energy-saving technologies.

Based on the discussions, the main tasks to be implemented in the transition to the green economic system in ensuring sustainable economic growth:

- firstly, in order to meet the needs of the population and increase their well-being, living standards and quality, it is necessary to increase the creation of material benefits without harming ecology and the environment;

- secondly, energy resources are needed for production and economic development, which should be increased at the expense of renewable energy sources, replacement of public transport with electric ones, and construction of energy-saving buildings;

- thirdly, it is necessary to pay special attention to the production of environmentally friendly products by creating environmentally friendly technologies that do not release harmful gases into the environment;

- fourthly, on the one hand, taking into account the limitlessness of human needs at a time when all resources in nature are limited, taking into account measures to expand the production of benefits without reducing natural resources in order to ensure their compatibility is one of the urgent issues;

- fifth, in order to meet the constantly growing needs of the population, great importance is attached to the question of how much to produce, how to produce, and to whom to produce while protecting the environment.

Today, the use of green economy plays an important role in ensuring economic growth and stability. There are several environmental problems that are rapidly expanding. They are the development of society, the rapid growth of the population, the increase in production and waste. The most urgent problems are maintaining favorable conditions for the life of society, depletion of natural resources and environmental safety. The global problems of our time are the global environmental crisis encourage humanity to green all spheres of activity, and to urgently search for alternative models of world economic growth is causing the necessity. In this regard, many countries of the world have realized the need to green the economy, reconsider people’s lifestyles, and have begun to change existing development models in favor of more efficient management of limited resources, that is, sustainable development.

References:

1. Vakhobov A. V., Khajibakiyev Sh. Kh.: ‘Green economy’ textbook.
2. Decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated October 4, 2019 ‘Strategy approval of the transition to a green economy’, URL: https://www.lex.uz/docs/-4539502#-45426143.
3. Olmasov A., Vakhobov A. V., Economic theory.
4. Information of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan, URL:  https://www.cityeconomy.uz/uz.
5. URL:  https://www.unep.org is the official website of the United Nations Environment Programme.
6. Decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 2, 2022. ‘Measures taken to increase the efficiency of reforms aimed at the transition to a green economy of the Republic of Uzbekistan until 2030’, URL:  https://www.lex. uz/ru/docs/-6303230.