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A CASE STUDY ON HOW SWITZERLAND TRANSFORMS INTO

THE GREEN ECONOMY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR VIETNAM

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Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan , Do Thi Kieu Trang
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Abstract: For the last ten years, the term ‘green economy’ has emerged and been used widely
worldwide. Developed and developing countries employ it as the framework to develop their economies
sustainably. As the word ‘green’ suggests, these countries aim to use their resources more effectively,
lowering carbon emissions, causing less environmental damage, improving people’s health, etc. There
are successful go-green countries, and there are trying ones. In this article, the researchers have done
some in-office research on how Switzerland, a European country, has successfully developed ‘green
economies.’ Based on Switzerland’s success, the authors propose some recommendations hoping that
Vietnam can become a green, sustainable, and developed country.
Keyword: green economy, green economics, sustainable, framework, natural resources

1. Introduction
1.1. Definition of green economy
The term “green economy” was first used in the 1989 report ‘Blueprint for a Green
Economy’ by a group of leading environmental economists. The document advised the
UK Government on whether the phrase ‘sustainable development’ has a universal
definition and what effects it has on how economic success is measured and how projects
and policies are evaluated. In 1991, the authors published a sequel to the first report
entitled Blueprint 2: Greening the World Economy. Then, in 1994, they continued with
Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development. The initial Blueprint report was

mainly about what economics can and should support environmental policy. However,
in the sequels, the author group expanded on this idea to address issues with the global
economy, such as resource depletion in poor nations, climate change, ozone depletion,
resource losses, and tropical deforestation. These reports were based on environmental
economics practice and research for many years.
In October 2008, the Green Economy Initiative was launched by UNEP to analyze

and support policies for investing in green sectors and for greening environmentally
unfriendly sectors. As part of this Initiative, Blueprint for a Green Economy authors
were asked to prepare the report ‘Global Green New Deal’ (GGND). This report was
released in April 2009 with a mix of policy actions that would stimulate economic
recovery and improve the sustainability of the world economy at the same time. The
GGND called for governments to spend more on green sectors and set out three
objectives: recover the economy, erase poverty and, and reduce carbon emissions and

ecosystem degradation. A framework for green stimulus programs and supportive
domestic and international policies are also proposed (UNEMG, 2011).
Before the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in June 2009, the UN
released an interagency statement that considered the green economy a solution to

16 Hanoi Open University, Email: kimngan.kt@hou.edu.vn
17 Hanoi Open University
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