Poverty reduction can also be green and fair. People often feel they have good reason to cut down rain forests – to provide a living for their families – but when offered an alternative, may be more than willing to protect the land. Costa Rica revolutionized conservation by providing cash payments for environmental services on the premise that those who maintain natural resources should be compensated for doing so. Forests now cover more than 50% of Costa Rica's land, compared with 21% in 1980. Through the UN, several other countries are working to replicate this success.

Agricultural reforms can promote growth and equality. By building roads, establishing property rights, giving loans, and providing irrigation and better seeds, some governments like China's, for example have targeted growth to benefit poor farmers, and in doing so have produced nationwide benefits. We should note that around 70% of farmers in the world are women, mostly poor women in the countryside who rely on small patches of land. Today, many support programs are still targeted at men, with women's work counted as domestic chores. The UN has estimated that bringing female farmers' yields to the level of those produced by men could reduce the number of hungry people by 100 million.

Micro credit schemes if properly designed can have environmental as well as social advantages. Originally created for women and others who were excluded from most sources of loans, micro credit has helped to confirm the potential of women across the world, proving that they can be good entrepreneurs given the chance. In the mountains of Vietnam, a poverty reduction program found that men were too reckless and ambitious with their investments, and demanded female leadership as a loan condition.

Solar Sister, a renewable energy company in rural South Africa has generated $46 for every $1 invested in solar power. This is especially important when we consider that 3 billion people still rely on wood or some other biomass for cooking. Aside from its time consumption, using these fuels indoors is bad for health. From the above examples it is visible that balancing economic growth and equality with environmental sustainability is not only possible but essential. No country can reach its full potential without half of its workforce and creative talent. Gender equality in the workforce grows the economy by increasing productivity and creative capacity. By the same token, while we need to understand that developing countries will not sacrifice development for the environment, it is also crucial to remember that development comes to a stop if natural resources are exhausted, water polluted and soil degraded in the process. No country has yet achieved environmental sustainability to be aligned with their development goals, but some countries are making progress. Brazil has reduced poverty and inequality while cutting deforestation by 80%. Ethiopia's growth has mainly benefited the poor, and the country aims to become a middle-income nation without increasing its carbon emissions.

Sustainability and equality are requirements for development. Getting three times the benefit from the same effort makes common sense.