On 28 July 2011, the United Nations University-Institute for Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) held a joint workshop on “Greening Growth in Asia: Making Co-benefits Mainstream.” Forty participants from government agencies, international organizations, and research institutions discussed 1) the linkage between green growth and co-benefits; 2) a researchers’ perspective on co-benefits; and 3) a policymakers’ perspective on co-benefits. The discussions were framed around two goals:

• To exchange knowledge between policymakers and researchers on co-benefits;
• To identify pragmatic steps for mainstreaming co-benefits into decision making processes in Asia.

The following key messages from the meeting were shared during the plenary session of the International Forum for a Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP) on 26 and 27 July 2011 in Yokohama, Japan.

• There are many points of overlap between co-benefits and green growth, including alleviating poverty and avoiding unsustainable development paths found in much of the developed world.
• The synergies between co-benefits and green growth promise to be particularly great in Asia’s cities where there is a quickly increasing need to drive down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
• It will be increasingly important for policymaker’s to integrate co-benefits considerations into their decision making processes. In so doing, it is important to position co-benefits at the heart of that process. It is equally important to recognize that there are a series of institutional issues that are outside the technical analysis but could multiply the benefits flowing from a decision.
• There are several tools that could help ease the quantification and integration of co-benefits, though data remains a challenge. The co-benefits calculator offer a simple, easy-to-use tool to scope initial benefits before more rigorous calculations are made. It will be important to develop similar tools for other sectors and other pollutants (including short-lived climate forcers).
• Even more challenge is the misperception that quantifying co-benefits is difficult and there are insufficient incentives to make the effort needed to overcome those difficulties.
• One of the biggest hurdles to co-benefits is the lack of institutional memory in key agencies. This can be overcome, however, by appealing to high level decision makers to mandate the inclusion of co-benefits into decisions.