As the United Nations Secretary General noted in November 2022 during the twenty-seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the world is on “a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator”.

In order to address the scale of this challenge at the required pace, Governments and businesses must work in unison and rapidly transform their economies. Supporting policymakers from 10 countries in Asia and the Pacific and Latin America to scale up their efforts in promoting the green transition of business, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in partnership with the Government of Colombia convened a community of practice for these policymakers and developed this report in collaboration with them. The 10 countries represented in the community of practice are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Peru, the Republic of Korea, and Thailand.

This report is structured according to the framework of the impact economy policy toolbox, shown in the figure below. It highlights examples of existing policy measures implemented in the 10 countries represented in the community of practice. The case studies are organized according to three functions of Governments in their interaction with the private sector.

(1) Market facilitator – Creating strategies and organizations that set the direction and enable the implementation of the green transition of business.

(2) Market regulator – Implementing laws that enable, support and incentivize the green transition of business.

(3) Market participant – Taking part in market exchanges by providing capital or sourcing from green enterprises.

This framework can serve as a toolbox to identify policy gaps and opportunities for government measures to promote the green transition of business and the transition to a green economy.