According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), environmentally responsive or green budgeting means using the tools of budgetary policy-making to help achieve environmental goals. This includes evaluating environmental impacts of budgetary and fiscal policies and assessing their coherence towards the delivery of national and international commitments. Green budgeting can also contribute to informed, evidence-based debate and discussion on sustainable growth.
In essence, green budgeting refers to use of the budgetary system to achieve improved environmental outcomes (OECD 2018). Some of the environmental impacts of fiscal policy are positive. Examples include funding for environmental protection, R&D spending on green technologies, environmental regulation, the collection, monitoring, reporting of environmental data, and research on how to conserve the environment. Other environmental impacts of fiscal policies can be negative, such as those from fossil fuel and agriculture subsidies or subsidized water and electricity consumption.
What is Green Budgeting?
The OECD launched the Paris Collaborative on Green Budgeting in December 2017. The objective is to adapt conventional budgeting tools to help align national expenditure and revenue processes with climate and other environmental goals. This requires establishing clear connections between public finance and environmental impacts. The OECD has identified several components of green budgeting that might be included in the annual budget documentation or a separate ‘Green Budget Statement’. These components amongst others include impacts of existing spending and revenue policies and any new policies or measures being introduced in the budget.
This story is from the November 2020 edition of TerraGreen.
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This story is from the November 2020 edition of TerraGreen.
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