The concept of a green economy has become a center of policy debates in recent years.
During the recent global financial crisis, the United Nations General Assembly and
several UN agencies underscored that the crisis represented an opportunity to promote
green economy initiatives as part of the stimulus packages being put in place to support
the recovery. Furthermore, when the GA decided to call a UN Conference on Sustainable
Development (UNCSD), to be held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, it chose as one of its
major themes “a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty
eradication”.