Green economy

A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment.[1][2][3] It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politically applied focus.[4][5] The 2011 UNEP Green Economy Report argues "that to be green, an economy must not only be efficient, but also fair. Fairness implies recognizing global and country level equity dimensions, particularly in assuring a Just Transition to an economy that is low-carbon, resource efficient, and socially inclusive."[6]

A feature distinguishing it from prior economic regimes is the direct valuation of natural capital and ecological services as having economic value (see The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity and Bank of Natural Capital) and a full cost accounting regime in which costs externalized onto society via ecosystems are reliably traced back to, and accounted for as liabilities of, the entity that does the harm or neglects an asset.[7]

Green sticker and ecolabel practices have emerged as consumer facing indicators of friendliness to the environment and sustainable development. Many industries are starting to adopt these standards as a way to promote their greening practices in a globalizing economy. Also known as sustainability standards, these standards are special rules that guarantee the products bought do not hurt the environment and the people that make them. The number of these standards has grown recently and they can now help build a new, greener economy. They focus on economic sectors like forestry, farming, mining or fishing among others; concentrate on environmental factors like protecting water sources and biodiversity, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions; support social protections and workers’ rights; and home in on specific parts of production processes.[8]

  1. ^ Loiseau, Eleonore; Saikku, Laura; Antikainen, Riina; Droste, Nils; Hansjürgens, Bernd; Pitkänen, Kati; Leskinen, Pekka; Kuikman, Peter; Thomsen, Marianne (2016). "Green economy and related concepts: An overview". Journal of Cleaner Production. 139: 361–371. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.024.
  2. ^ Georgeson, Lucien; Maslin, Mark; Poessinouw, Martyn (2017). "The global green economy: a review of concepts, definitions, measurement methodologies and their interactions". Geo: Geography and Environment. 4 (1). doi:10.1002/geo2.36.
  3. ^ Telukdarie, Arnesh; Katsumbe, Tatenda; Mahure, Hlobisile; Murulane, Khuliso (2024). "Exploring the green economy – A systems thinking modelling approach". Journal of Cleaner Production. 436: 140611. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.140611.
  4. ^ "United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)". Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  5. ^ Lynn R. Kahle, Eda Gurel-Atay, Eds (2014). Communicating Sustainability for the Green Economy. New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-3680-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ UNEP, 2011, Towards a Green Economy: Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, www.unep.org/greeneconomy
  7. ^ Runnals, D. (2011) “Environment and economy: joined at the hip or just strange bedfellows?”. S.A.P.I.EN.S. 4 (1)
  8. ^ "About UNFSS". UNFSS. Retrieved 2021-03-03.