Study Resource Efficiency Gains and Green Growth Perspectives in Azerbaijan Naila Aliyeva October 2012 n Azerbaijan’s economy relies heavily on the exploitation of its natural resources caus­ing several environmental problems, most importantly a scarcity of water. By gain­ing energy mainly out of gas and oil and tolerating outdated vehicle standards, the country’s CO 2 emissions rank above regional average. n There exist several governmental programmes on energy efficiency, renewable en­ergies and ecological sustainable development. However, most proposed activities were not carried out as authorities suffer from institutional and organisational weak­nesses. Azerbaijan acknowledges several international agreements, but the imple­mentation patterns of international standards are very low. n The main potential for green growth in Azerbaijan lies in the generation of energy, transportation and housing. Green jobs will emerge mainly in the sectors of alterna­tive energy generation, construction and eco-tourism. The main obstacles to green growth are corruption, low salaries in and lacking funds of research institutes, low awareness levels among the population, poor business climate, a brain drain due to emigration and a large informal sector.