GEC Global Meeting 2019: Background Briefing & Context

This briefing document provides context for the 2019 Green Economy Coalition (GEC) Global Meeting in Cape Town. It reviews the state of the global green transition in 2018, outlines the GEC's ten-year history and mission to champion inclusion, equity, and environmental limits, and defines the meeting's focus on ensuring 'everyone gets a stake' in the transition through participation, livelihoods, and ownership rights.

• The global transition to green economies in 2018 showed significant progress in renewable energy and finance, with renewables accounting for approximately 70% of net additions to global power generation capacity and private investment in the green economy reaching 9.3 trillion USD since 2007. Specific achievements include China investing 126 billion USD in renewables, the issuance of 1.45 trillion USD in green and climate-sensitive bonds, and Norway's 1 trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund divesting from coal.
• Despite green growth, the document identifies critical crises in biodiversity and social stability. Approximately 58% of Earth's land surface has lost enough biodiversity to threaten the ability of ecosystems to support human societies. Furthermore, the gap between the world's richest and poorest continues to grow, and populism is accelerating; by January 2019, five of the seven largest democracies (US, Brazil, India, Mexico, and the Philippines) were led by populist leaders.
• The Green Economy Coalition (GEC), founded in 2009 by WWF, IIED, UNEP, and IUCN, focuses on five key actions to accelerate the transition: measuring and governing (connecting SDGs to corporate reporting and national wealth accounts), reforming financial systems (green monetary policy and carbon pricing), greening economic sectors (sector transition plans and carbon budgets), tackling inequality (progressive welfare and reskilling), and valuing nature (natural and social capital accounting).
• The 2019 Global Meeting focuses on the concept of 'everyone getting a stake,' arguing that environmental protection fails if it does not improve lives. The GEC proposes three practical steps for inclusion: ensuring voice and participation for affected communities, providing new livelihood opportunities (such as Spain's coal-miner support or South Africa's Working for Water Programmes), and establishing rights and ownership (citing community energy in Denmark and locally owned forests in Nepal and Sweden).

APA

Green Economy Coalition (2019). GEC Global Meeting 2019: Background Briefing & Context. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/Cape-Town-Global-Meet-2019/BACKGROUND-BRIEF-for-GEC-Global-Meeting-2019.pdf

Chicago

Green Economy Coalition. GEC Global Meeting 2019: Background Briefing & Context. 2019. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/Cape-Town-Global-Meet-2019/BACKGROUND-BRIEF-for-GEC-Global-Meeting-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Economy Coalition |title=GEC Global Meeting 2019: Background Briefing & Context |date=2019 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/Cape-Town-Global-Meet-2019/BACKGROUND-BRIEF-for-GEC-Global-Meeting-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greeneconomycoalition2019gec, author = {{Green Economy Coalition}}, title = {{GEC Global Meeting 2019: Background Briefing \& Context}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2019}, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/Cape-Town-Global-Meet-2019/BACKGROUND-BRIEF-for-GEC-Global-Meeting-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }