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Green growth
Green growth is a concept in economic theory and policymaking used to describe paths of economic growth that are environmentally sustainable. The term was coined in 2005 by the South Korean Rae Kwon Chung (de), a director at UNESCAP. It is based on the understanding that as long as economic growth remains a predominant goal, a decoupling of economic growth from resource use and adverse environmental impacts is required. As such, green growth is closely related to the concepts of green economy and low-carbon or sustainable development. A main driver for green growth is the transition towards sustainable energy systems. Advocates of green growth policies argue that well-implemented green policies can create opportunities for employment in sectors such as renewable energy, green agriculture, or sustainable forestry.
Several countries and international organizations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank, and United Nations, have developed strategies on green growth; others, such as the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), are specifically dedicated to the issue. The term green growth has been used to describe national or international strategies, for example as part of economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession, often framed as a green recovery.
Critics of green growth highlight how green growth approaches do not fully account for the underlying economic systems change needed in order to address the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis and other environmental degradation. Critics point instead to alternative frameworks for economic change such as a circular economy, steady-state economy, degrowth, doughnut economics and others.
Green growth and related concepts stem from the observation that economic growth of the past 250 years has come largely at the expense of the environment upon which economic activities rely. The concept of green growth assumes that economic growth and development can continue while associated negative impacts on the environment, including climate change, are reduced – or while the natural environment continues to provide ecosystem services –, meaning that a decoupling takes place.
On the subject of decoupling, a distinction is made between relative and absolute decoupling: Relative decoupling occurs when environmental pressure still grows, but less so than the gross domestic product (GDP). With absolute decoupling, an absolute reduction in resource use or emissions occurs, while the economy grows.
Further distinctions are made based on what is taken into account: decoupling economic growth from resource use (resource decoupling) or from environmental pressure (impact decoupling), different indicators for economic growth and environmental pressures (e.g. resource use, emissions, biodiversity loss), only the domestic level or also impacts along the global value chain, the entire economy or individual sectors (e.g. energy, agriculture), temporary vs. permanent decoupling, or decoupling to reach certain targets (e.g. limiting global warming to 1.5 °C or staying within planetary boundaries).
While the related concepts of green growth, green economy and low-carbon development have received increasing international attention in recent years, the debate on growing environmental degradation in the face of economic growth dates back several decades. It was for example discussed in the 1972 report The Limits to Growth by the Club of Rome and reflected in the I = PAT-equation developed in the early 1970s. The consequent understanding of the need for a sustainable development was in the focus of the 1987 Brundtland Report as well as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), or Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), theorizing that environmental pressure from economic growth first increases, then automatically decreases due in part to tertiarization, is disputed. Further influential developments include work by the economists Nicholas Stern and William Nordhaus, making the case for integrating environmental concerns into economic activities: The 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change assessed the economic costs and risks of climate change and concluded that "the benefits of strong and early action far outweigh the economic costs of not acting".
The term "green growth" originates from the Asia Pacific Region and first emerged at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development (MCED) in Seoul, South Korea in 2005, where the Seoul Initiative Network on Green Growth was founded. Several international organisations had since turned their attention to green growth, in part to stimulate the economy during the 2008 financial crisis: At the request of countries, the OECD in 2011 published a Green Growth Strategy and in 2012, the World Bank, UNEP, OECD and GGGI launched the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP).
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Green growth
Green growth is a concept in economic theory and policymaking used to describe paths of economic growth that are environmentally sustainable. The term was coined in 2005 by the South Korean Rae Kwon Chung (de), a director at UNESCAP. It is based on the understanding that as long as economic growth remains a predominant goal, a decoupling of economic growth from resource use and adverse environmental impacts is required. As such, green growth is closely related to the concepts of green economy and low-carbon or sustainable development. A main driver for green growth is the transition towards sustainable energy systems. Advocates of green growth policies argue that well-implemented green policies can create opportunities for employment in sectors such as renewable energy, green agriculture, or sustainable forestry.
Several countries and international organizations, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank, and United Nations, have developed strategies on green growth; others, such as the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), are specifically dedicated to the issue. The term green growth has been used to describe national or international strategies, for example as part of economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession, often framed as a green recovery.
Critics of green growth highlight how green growth approaches do not fully account for the underlying economic systems change needed in order to address the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis and other environmental degradation. Critics point instead to alternative frameworks for economic change such as a circular economy, steady-state economy, degrowth, doughnut economics and others.
Green growth and related concepts stem from the observation that economic growth of the past 250 years has come largely at the expense of the environment upon which economic activities rely. The concept of green growth assumes that economic growth and development can continue while associated negative impacts on the environment, including climate change, are reduced – or while the natural environment continues to provide ecosystem services –, meaning that a decoupling takes place.
On the subject of decoupling, a distinction is made between relative and absolute decoupling: Relative decoupling occurs when environmental pressure still grows, but less so than the gross domestic product (GDP). With absolute decoupling, an absolute reduction in resource use or emissions occurs, while the economy grows.
Further distinctions are made based on what is taken into account: decoupling economic growth from resource use (resource decoupling) or from environmental pressure (impact decoupling), different indicators for economic growth and environmental pressures (e.g. resource use, emissions, biodiversity loss), only the domestic level or also impacts along the global value chain, the entire economy or individual sectors (e.g. energy, agriculture), temporary vs. permanent decoupling, or decoupling to reach certain targets (e.g. limiting global warming to 1.5 °C or staying within planetary boundaries).
While the related concepts of green growth, green economy and low-carbon development have received increasing international attention in recent years, the debate on growing environmental degradation in the face of economic growth dates back several decades. It was for example discussed in the 1972 report The Limits to Growth by the Club of Rome and reflected in the I = PAT-equation developed in the early 1970s. The consequent understanding of the need for a sustainable development was in the focus of the 1987 Brundtland Report as well as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), or Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), theorizing that environmental pressure from economic growth first increases, then automatically decreases due in part to tertiarization, is disputed. Further influential developments include work by the economists Nicholas Stern and William Nordhaus, making the case for integrating environmental concerns into economic activities: The 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change assessed the economic costs and risks of climate change and concluded that "the benefits of strong and early action far outweigh the economic costs of not acting".
The term "green growth" originates from the Asia Pacific Region and first emerged at the Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development (MCED) in Seoul, South Korea in 2005, where the Seoul Initiative Network on Green Growth was founded. Several international organisations had since turned their attention to green growth, in part to stimulate the economy during the 2008 financial crisis: At the request of countries, the OECD in 2011 published a Green Growth Strategy and in 2012, the World Bank, UNEP, OECD and GGGI launched the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP).