A Green Economy

Jean-Jacques Lambin
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Jean-Jacques Lambin: Università degli studi di Milano-Bicocca

Chapter 4 in Rethinking the Market Economy, 2014, pp 59-85 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Sustainable development is a widely used term, but its implementation in real life raises difficult operational questions. For environmentalists, the term is directly connected with natural capital and as such is defined as development that does not exceed the carrying capacity of the environment, that is, the size of the economy at which resources depletion is exactly compensated by renewal processes for a species. The cost of exploiting the earth is largely absent from the prices in the marketplace. The greening objective is a major progression in economics because it proposes to put a price on the use of natural resources too often thought of as free goods and of unlimited availability.1 The goal of a green economy is to align two objectives considered as mutually supportive: saving the planet and stimulating economic growth2 or, more pragmatically, making sure that the next generation will enjoy at least the same well-being as the present one. The green policy proponents have argued that green technology, green taxes, eco-conscious behaviours and the like could contribute, not only to protect but also to restore the environment, by improving bad business practices of corporations that are destroying the world. The greatest challenge confronting the capitalist system is the climate change problem.

Keywords: Carbon Emission; Market Economy; Carbon Price; Triple Bottom Line; Capitalist System (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-39291-6_4

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137392916_4

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