An Integrated And Effective Nordic Ecosystem For Innovation And Green Growth

Job creation and green growth are top political priorities in all Nordic countries. New jobs will be created in existing companies and organizations, but a significant number of new jobs will have to be created in new companies based on new technologies and new business models. At the same time, the Nordic countries have all set ambitious targets for reductions in carbon emissions, and pledged to transform to a low carbon economy. The green transition is a challenging task, but does also represent major business opportunities. New companies are developed by innovative entrepreneurs throughout the Nordics. They need access to relevant, competent risk capital to grow, to create value and new jobs.

A Good Life in a Sustainable Nordic Region – Nordic Strategy for Sustainable Development is the overriding and cross-sectoral frame-work for the work of the Nordic Council of Ministers. All work carried out within the Council of Ministers will incorporate a sustainability perspective. The Nordic Council of Ministers will help the Nordic countries successively continue to improve welfare and quality of life for present and future generations, by protecting and using the earth’s ability to sustain life in all its diversity. The strategy provides long-term guidelines as far as 2025 in the following focusareas: the Nordic welfare model, viable ecosystems, changing climate, sustainable use of the earth’s resources, and education, research and innovation. The sectoral ministerial councils within the Nordic Council of Ministers will supplement the strategy with concrete measures.

After the recent financial and economic crisis, greening the economy has become a major focus for international and national discussions: How to combine forceful and effective action to meet climate change and other environmental challenges with stronger and more sustainable economic development, in both developed and developing countries. This synthesis report on the Nordic countries' environmental policy experiences, focuses on the use of economic instruments and how this policy has contributed to the integration of environmental concerns into economic growth and development policies. The report demonstrates that the Nordic countries have been successful in achieving substantial reductions in several major pollutants and clear improvements in local and regional environmental quality, while maintaining an internationally respectable rate of economic growth. This decoupling of economic development from growth in emissions has been achieved through a range of policy instruments, with a strong and increasing element of economic, market-based instruments. The challenge, and the opportunity, for the Nordic countries is to strengthen and deepen such policies, with even more effective design of and combination of policy instruments, to deal with new and remaining threats to the local, national and international environment.

Increased emphasis on the links between regional diversity and regional knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship highlights the need for a focus on the spatial aspects of these multifaceted, dynamic relationships in order to improve our understanding. By means of a conceptual approach, this timely book illustrates the links between innovation and economic development through the role of space. This thought-provoking book addresses the questions regarding diversity, innovation and clusters that require further investigation and analysis.

In 2013, the Nordic Ministers for the Environment decided to strenghten the measurement of green estimates of welfare and socio-economic developments. The report Making the Environment Count is describing how statistics on the environment and the economy thorugh the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts can be used to enable cross-sectorial analysis. The report proposes indicators that can be compiled annually in a Nordic context through existing statistics linking economic statistics to environmental statistics.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2021-727/ Our Vision 2030 seeks to make the Nordic Region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. When pursuing such an ambitious goal, it is important to monitor progress closely and regularly. The Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned Rambøll Management Consulting to draw up a baseline measurement for Our Vision and paint a picture of where the Nordic Region stands now. While the report shows that the foundations for the work are solid and progress generally good, it also identifies a number of challenges and points out where there is room for improvement, especially in terms of the green transition.

Available online: https://pub.norden.org/politiknord2022-724/ In 2019, the Nordic prime ministers adopted a vision for the Nordic Region to be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by the year 2030. The Nordic Council of Ministers was tasked with steering Nordic co-operation towards delivering this vision. The Nordic Council of Ministers is following a special action plan in its efforts relating to the vision for the period 2021 to 2024. Now, after almost two years, a mid-point evaluation has been produced. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine during the period, the Nordic Council of Ministers has delivered concrete results and made an impact. The activities of the Nordic Council of Ministers are being steered towards supporting the Nordic countries as well as possible in their realisation of the vision. Efforts relating to the green transition have been bolstered by way of DKK 120 million in additional funding thanks to a budget redistribution in the period 2021 to 2024. The mid-point evaluation was approved by the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation in September 2022.