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p. 21 of 57 BACK | NEXT I. The Changing Environment II. Driving Forces of Change III. Options and Opportunities Adoption of Proven Policy Alternatives Development Investment Opportunities New Urban-Industrial Investment Opportunities Development and Deployment of New Technologies Advances in Energy Use and Supply Strengthening the Societal Drivers of Improved Environmental Performance IV. Toward Policy Integration V. Call to Action

Asian Environment Outlook 2001 : III. Options and Opportunities

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New Urban-Industrial Investment Opportunities

These same principles also apply to urban development. It has proven extremely costly to retrofit poorly planned urban areas for environmental infrastructure. Even seemingly small features of existing urban areas, such as the width of streets, the design of houses, and the locations of places of residence and work, can become major obstacles to improving overall environmental efficiency within built-up urban areas. To the extent that new urban growth allows for effective planning for environmental infrastructure, the unit costs of investment are lower. Thus, it becomes especially important to exercise sensible planning control over rapid new urban growth.

It is obvious that an urgent requirement is to increase total investment in urban infrastructure (Panayotou 1997). This will require the identification of new sources of revenue (ADB 1999). At the “micro” level, the financial viability and sustainability of urban environmental services need to be significantly improved by implementing effective mechanisms for cost recovery. At the “macro” level, the overall financial security of agencies providing environmental infrastructure and services needs to be improved. One of the impacts of globalization has been increased access to a broader array of international funding sources. As events of recent years have demonstrated, it is important that such international capital flows be based on transparent investment criteria and effective monitoring and regulatory institutions.

New investment offers the opportunity for manufacturers to develop and sell products and services that are less energy-and materials-intensive. Perhaps the most urgent consumption concern is related to transportation. If the growing, increasingly affluent population of the Asia and Pacific region meets its mobility needs through polluting, energy-intensive automobiles and motorcycles, urban air pollution and energy usage are likely to escalate dramatically. Early adoption of alternative transportation technologies (such as fuel cells) and the accelerated retirement of the most polluting vehicles (such as two-stroke motorcycles) would reduce environmental impacts associated with the transportation demands of a growing urban population. Considerable progress is being made in PRC.

Opportunities associated with new investment remain latent and therefore will be potentially missed unless (i) effective approaches and policies are identified to influence the investment and purchasing decisions of firms and households and (ii) economically viable cleaner product and process technologies are available for widespread adoption and use.

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