Green Technologies: Innovations for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Sustainable development has placed a center stage on green technologies. This is due to the fact that they pledge to address the heavy environmental, economic and social crises and threats of the 21 st century. The necessity of this shift towards appropriate technologies is the urgency and high demand of climate change, depletion of resources, and implications of those changes on human well-being and international stability.. This paper explores green technologies by outlining where they have been, a roadmap for their future, where they have or could be used and ways in which they can be focused to yield the best possible outcomes for people and the planet. The key aspects of the technologies identified in of energy efficiency, carbon footprints, circular economies and importantly ethical, legal and social aspects in their adoption, through discussing more than a dozen innovations, classified broadly by the areas of Sustainability, Agriculture, Waste & Circular Economy, Transport, Construction and Spaces. The inclusion of various case studies from different regions adds to the discussion by contributing examples of successes and limitations in the practice of green innovations. Throughout the discussion, two important challenges to scaling up the transition to the desirable green and sustainable technologies were identified: economic challenges, policy and government action challenges, and technology challenges. The report concludes with recommendations for global cooperative research and renewable energy focused policies to have the biggest impact on reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Green technologies occupy the place of responsibility between science society and policy - they are vital for the present and future of society and the planet, so the aim in this academic report is to demonstrate their importance for a sustainable future.