Long-term projections suggest that without policy changes, the continuation of “business-as-usual” economic growth and development will have serious impacts on natural resources and the ecosystem. Green growth provides a practical and flexible approach for achieving concrete, measurable progress across its economic and environmental dimensions, while taking full account of the social consequences of greening the growth dynamic of economies. To support governments in applying an integrated and whole-of-government approach to policy making, the OECD has developed a new conceptual framework for policy coherence for sustainable development (‘the PCSD Framework’). This module applies the PCSD Framework to green growth. See below for the Screening Checklist. For more information, consult the complete Toolkit and the Annotations for the green growth module.

1. Consider the contextual factors which may support or hinder green growth

Contextual factors can be divided into enabling environments (enablers) which have a positive impact on sustainable development outcomes, and systemic conditions (disablers) which have a negative impact on sustainable development outcomes. The role of policies is to strengthen enabling environments and to remove or minimise the effect of systemic conditions.  

• Does the national government promote a regulatory environment that is conducive to green growth?
• What incentives do businesses and national governments have to invest and move towards green growth? This might include both generic incentives (e.g. competitive advantage for companies moving to green growth), or incentives embodied in the current institutional framework?
• Is the current structure of taxation and government spending aligned to green growth? For example, are there fossil fuel subsidies or energy-related taxes and tax expenditures conducive to low-carbon and green growth?
• Have systemic issues which negatively affect policy outcomes been identified by the national government? To what extent are they being minimised?
• Do appropriate governance mechanisms exist to deal with e.g. inertia in economic systems or market failures that lead to inefficient resource use? 

2. Ensure coherence at and between different levels of governance (vertical coherence)

While national, sub-national and municipal governments face different challenges and opportunities in promoting green growth, their policies and actions need to be coherent and strive towards the same overall objectives. Multilevel governance – co-ordination between different levels of government, private sector and civil society – is necessary for integrating environmental and economic priorities in pursuit of green growth. At the same time, local and national strategies need to be aligned with broader international agendas. 

International co-operation: 

• Which of the international agreements relevant for green-growth and sustainable development (e.g. on climate, energy, green trade and investment) is the country a party to? This might include both legally binding instruments such as conventions, or adherence to e.g. OECD guidelines.
• Is there a clear commitment at the highest political level to take action towards green growth and sustainable development? 
• Is there coherence between (the national implementation of) different international frameworks and agreements, including the SDGs and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change?
• What are the main environmentally related targets at the national level? For example, commitments for reducing GHGs emissions and eliminating environmentally harmful subsidies? 
• What measures are in place (such as action plan or legal frameworks) to support domestic compliance and implementation of international commitments?
• Does the government provide assistance or collaborate with other countries to support the implementation of international frameworks for green growth and sustainable development? 

National level:

• To what extent has the national government integrated green growth objectives into broader economic policy-making and national development planning?
• Is there a national strategy for green growth? If so, how does it link to SDG implementation and the obligations in multilateral environmental agreements such as climate change agreements?
• Is policy coherence an element of the strategy for implementation? Are there mechanisms for policy co-ordination at the national level? What is the role of the Centre of Government (e.g. Prime Minister’s Office)?
• Is there involvement of the finance ministry in the formulation of the national green-growth strategy?

Sub-national level:

• How have subnational-level actors (public and private) been involved in the formulation of national green-growth strategies? 
• Have the responsibilities been specified between the national and sub-national levels for policy implementation?
• Are the respective mandates of different levels of government conducive to or hindering green growth objectives?
• Do municipalities and agencies at the local level have the capacity and skills to implement green growth measures? Is there clear guidance for implementation at the local level?

3. Identify policy interlinkages of relevance to green growth (horizontal coherence)

The 2030 Agenda will require policy makers need to recognise and promote synergies between some SDGs and targets, while at the same time minimising potential conflicts between others (Table 2). Specifically, green growth requires aligning economic and environmental objectives so that they are mutually reinforcing and not working at cross-purposes. 

Does the national government:

• consider economic, social and environmental policy inter-linkages (synergies and trade-offs) when designing new and/or implementing existing policies?
• ensure consistency between objectives and implementation practices of existing sectoral policies and green growth objectives?
• promote institutional arrangements that facilitate integrated policy making (e.g. cross-ministerial working groups)?
• With regard to the SDGs, does the national government consider the interactions between different goals and targets?
• If a green growth strategy exists at the national level, is there a good understanding of how it can contribute to achieve the SDGs?

4. Consider the various sources of finance (public, private, domestic, foreign)

Financial flows need to act both as an engine for growth and development as well as an incentive to maintain the quality of the global commons. However, the investment needs for a transition to the green economy are great and funds will be required from both public and private sources. 

• Has the range of potential sources for finance been identified (public, private, domestic, foreign)?
• Are there any policies or mechanisms in place to support coordination between international, regional and national funding instruments?
• When engaging in subsidy reform, does the national government also consider the coherence of subsidies with other national government objectives (e.g. on developing countries)?
• What are the framework conditions to ensure contributions from private sources? 

How does the national government:

• Promote environmental and social disclosure?
• Encourage the greening of sovereign wealth funds?
• Participate in the co-ordination of development finance institutions? 

5. Assess the impact of policies

Any one policy or policy change can have impacts on three conceptual dimensions of sustainable development. These include effects on wellbeing (here and now); transboundary effects (elsewhere); and intergenerational effects (later).

• What approaches are used by the national government to appraise the effects of its policies ex ante and/or evaluate them ex post? Do these tools capture the environmental consequences of policy choices? Do these approaches capture the different dimensions of sustainable development, i.e. here and now, later, and elsewhere?
• Are appropriate monitoring and reporting systems in place for tracking progress towards green growth?