Green plans are comprehensive and integrated strategies for the deliberate pursuit of sustainable development. Government, business, and NGO sectors are all involved as partners in developing and implementing the plans. Also referred to as strategic environmental management plans, green plans apply the business model of “managing for results” to achieve longterm environmental and economic goals and to secure a high quality of life for present and future generations.

You may learn more about Green Plans by downloading and reading the RRI publication, Green Plans, working strategies for a sustainable future, a primer (400k). (Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, required to read the PDF document.)

You may also read the publication online by following the links below.

Gro Harlem Brundtland
Former Prime Minister of Norway

Green Plans, working strategies for a sustainable future, a primer.

1. What are green plans?

2. Why are green plans needed?

3. Where are green plans in place?
  The Netherlands
  New Zealand
  United States

4. Who benefits from green plans?
  Public and private sector advantages

5. How are green plans initiated and sustained?
  Principles guiding the green plan process
  Translating green plan principles into practice
  From process to product

6. Frequently Asked Questions

7. Glossary of Terms

8. Further Reading

Green planning is certainly the hope of the future…We are in a critical time in regard to our environment, and [green plans] may ultimately prove to be what saves us.

Cecil D. Andrus
Former Governor of Idaho
Chairman, Andrus Center for Public Policy