The search is on for Rio and Los Cabos deliverables: how about a ‘green growth guarantee’?

The briefing argues that the G20 and Rio+20 summits lack concrete deliverables and proposes a 'green growth guarantee' to provide developing countries with indicators, planning support, financial engagement, and peer review. The author highlights the growth of catalyst funds leveraging private investment and the need for a unified approach to sustainable development planning to avoid duplicating efforts across different international frameworks.

• The author suggests the G20 could pledge a 'green growth guarantee' to support developing countries in the planning and implementation of green growth, featuring indicators based on OECD and green economy index measures, peer review, and financial engagement.
• There is tension regarding the term 'green growth' among developing countries, who fear it may constrain their development paths, although the terms 'growth' and 'green economy' are frequently used in the Rio+20 zero draft.
• The G20 Development Working Group (DWG) has agreed to focus on recommendations for inclusive green growth policies and improving developing countries' access to financing and private sector participation.
• Recent trends show a rapid increase in 'catalyst funds' that use public money to leverage larger amounts of private capital from sources such as venture capital or pension funds.
• The World Bank argues that green growth is affordable due to 'win-wins' and cost-savings from green technologies, but notes that political and social acceptability is the most challenging aspect.
• Developing countries face a burden of overlapping frameworks, including 'green growth', 'climate compatible development', and 'low emissions development', and prefer a single overarching 'sustainable development' plan to avoid creating multiple plans for different agencies.

APA

Maxwell, S. (2012). The search is on for Rio and Los Cabos deliverables: how about a ‘green growth guarantee’? Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green-growth-guarantee-SM-03-121.pdf

Chicago

Maxwell, Simon. The search is on for Rio and Los Cabos deliverables: how about a ‘green growth guarantee’? Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2012. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green-growth-guarantee-SM-03-121.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Maxwell |first1=Simon |title=The search is on for Rio and Los Cabos deliverables: how about a ‘green growth guarantee’? |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=March 2012 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green-growth-guarantee-SM-03-121.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{maxwell2012search, author = {Maxwell, Simon}, title = {{The search is on for Rio and Los Cabos deliverables: how about a ‘green growth guarantee’?}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2012}, month = mar, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Green-growth-guarantee-SM-03-121.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }