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STS429 Margarita R.
stemmed from the identification of the need to address multiple issues in an
integrated way, to overcome these existing interrelated crises and to better
avoid any further ones. The green economy looks for the growth of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) and jobs through shifting investments towards clean
technologies and natural capital as well as human resources and social
institutions. According to the UNEP, the basic principles of green economy are
following:
Justice and objectivity, both within a single generation and between
generations;
Coherence with the principles of sustainable development;
A preventive approach to social and environmental impacts;
Evaluation of natural and social capital, for example, the
internationalization of external costs, green accounting, costs over the
entire life cycle and improved management;
Sustainable and efficient use of resources, consumption and
production;
The need to achieve existing macroeconomic goals through the
creation of green jobs, poverty eradication, increased competitiveness
and growth in key sectors.
Additionally, the OECD has developed and introduced the concept of
“green growth”, defining it as the maximum guarantee of economic growth
and development, without affecting the quantity and quality of natural assets
and using the growth potential that arises during the transition to a green
economy. That is, “green growth” is GDP growth, which is subject to “green”
conditions and focuses on “green” sectors as new growth engines.
It is important to say that there is no single internationally-accepted
definition of the green economy until now. Besides the concepts mentioned
above, other international organizations created their own definitions of green
economy and green growth, highlighting the following:
Global Green New Deal (2009): “The economic crisis provides the
opportunity to introduce a global green new deal, which consists in
stimulating the economy towards the development of green sectors,
green infrastructure and green jobs. A greening infrastructure is a
process of transforming a business activity such that it reduces
emissions of greenhouse gases and consumption of resources,
produces less waste, and reduces social inequalities at the same time,
ensuring the return on natural, human and economic capital”.
World Bank (2012): “Green growth is an effective growth in terms of
using clean resources, i.e. reducing pollution and environmental
degradation, resistant to natural hazards and using environmental
management to prevent other disasters”.
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