How to achieve a green economy

risks and ecological scarcities (UNEP 2010).
It is an economy or economic development model based on sustainable development.
It refers to using various everyday methods to help save the world and its environment.

A green economy has developments which meet the three pillars of sustainable development, namely, economic, social and environmental.
Sustainable development pillars

All developmental projects or ventures should be:
1. Environmentally sustainable, the earth is a closed system with finite resources and limited capacity for self-regulation and self-renewal.
Everyone depends on the earth’s natural resources, and therefore an economic system that respects the integrity of ecosystems and ensures the resilience of life supporting systems must be created.

2. Socially just, the culture and human dignity are precious resources in the same way as our natural resources and therefore require responsible stewardship to avoid their depletion. A vibrant economic system that ensures all people have access to a decent standard of living and full opportunities for personal and social development must therefore be created.
3. Economically viable, Green Economy is a global aggregate of individual communities meeting the needs of its citizens through responsible, local production and exchange of goods and services.

What are the main sectors of a green
economy?
1. Renewable Energy – Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished).

The mainstream forms of renewable energy include wind power, hydropower, solar, energy, biomass, biofuel and geothermal energy.
Initially, renewable energy is expensive but generally gets cheaper with time, while fossil fuels generally get more expensive with time. Renewable energy technologies are declining in price for three main reasons.

a). Once the renewable infrastructure is built, the fuel is free forever. The wind and the sun and the earth itself provide fuel that is free, in amounts that are effectively limitless.
b). While fossil fuel technologies are maturer, renewable energy technologies are being rapidly improved.
c). Innovation and ingenuity give us the ability to constantly increase the efficiency of renewable energy and continually reduce its cost.

Renewable energy projects in many developing countries have demonstrated that renewable energy can directly contribute to poverty alleviation by providing the energy needed for creating businesses and employment. Renewable energy technologies can also make indirect contributions to alleviating poverty by providing energy for cooking, space heating and lighting. It can also contribute to education, by providing electricity to schools.

2. Clean Transportation – Sustainable transport (or green transport) refers to any means of transport with low impact on the environment, and includes walking and cycling, green vehicles, car sharing, and building or protecting urban transport systems that are fuel-efficient, space-saving and promote healthy lifestyles.
Transport systems have significant impacts on the environment, accounting for between 20 percent and 25 percent of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Greenhouse gas emissions from transport are increasing at a faster rate than any other energy using sector. Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution and smog. EMA has from the beginning of 2011 fined a total of 574 vehicles for excessive exhaust fumes in a bid to reduce air pollution.

The social costs of transport include road crashes, air pollution, physical inactivity, time taken away from the family while commuting and vulnerability to fuel price increases.

3. Water Management – Half of the world’s people now live in towns and cities, a figure expected to reach two-thirds by 2050.
Much effort in water management should therefore be directed at optimising re-use of water and in minimising the environmental impact of water use on the natural environment. The green technology initiative calls for such innovations like water harvesting in tackling water scarcity. It therefore becomes very important to employ effective systems in water management.

4. Sustainable Agriculture – Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment that will last over the long-term.

Possible practices of sustainable agriculture are crop rotation and soil amendment, both designed to ensure that crops being cultivated can obtain the necessary nutrients for healthy growth. Soil amendments would include using locally available compost manure as in the case of conservation farming used in most rural Zimbabwean communities.

How can your company go green?

As a way of giving back to their community and of demonstrating industry’s concern about the environment and the health of the planet, many companies are going green and implementing various techniques and strategies for improving the environment and help reduce their impact on the environment.
A company can, for example, adopt a stretch of road to keep it free from litter, or enforce policies in the workplace about not wasting paper. Many companies going green implement strict policies about recycling within their facilities, and encourage their employees to practice green habits.

Companies should reduce their carbon footprints, the total set of greenhouse gas emissions by an organisation, event, product or person.
It is often expressed as the amount of carbon dioxide or equivalent of other greenhouse gases emitted. Greening the economy initiative has come to Zimbabwe against a background of the global trend of high levels of industrialisation, which increases emissions of greenhouse gases.

Environmental issues cut across all societal as well as business divide adding that greening the economy is key to the country as we move towards a global trend of high levels of consumption.
The Environmental Management Agency is there to regulate activities in the country and give advice and guideline towards going green so that various development entities are sensitive to the environment.