IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v31y2013i6p1023-1047.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Green Economy and Sustainable Development: An Uneasy Balance?

Author

Listed:
  • Olivia Bina

    (Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Av. Professor Aníbal de Bettencourt 9, 1600-189 Lisbon, Portugal; and Geography and Resource Management, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (or Rio+20) was conceived at a time of great concern for the health of the world economy. In this atmosphere ‘green economy’ was chosen as one of two central themes for the conference, building on a burgeoning body of literature on the green economy and growth. This research examines the relationship and influence between the double crisis and the rise of ‘greening’ as part of the solution. The aim is to understand what defines and distinguishes the proposals contained in twenty-four sources on the green economy (including policy documents by international agencies and think tanks, and research papers), and what is the meaning and implication of the rising greening agenda for sustainable development as it enters the 21st century. Through a systematic qualitative analysis of textual material, three categories of discourse that can illuminate the meaning and implication of greening are identified: ‘almost business as usual’, ‘greening’, and ‘all change’. An analysis of their relationship with Dryzek's classification of environmental discourse leads to the identification of three interrelated patterns: (1) scarcity and limits, (2) means and ends, and (3) reductionism and unity—which deepen our understanding of the tensions between emerging propositions. The patterns help explain the meaning and implications of greening for sustainable development, revealing an economisation and polarisation of discourses, the persisting weak interpretation of sustainable development, and a tension between the fixing or shifting of dominant socioeconomic paradigms that underpin its conceptualisation.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivia Bina, 2013. "The Green Economy and Sustainable Development: An Uneasy Balance?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(6), pages 1023-1047, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:31:y:2013:i:6:p:1023-1047
    DOI: 10.1068/c1310j
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c1310j
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c1310j?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Crotty, 2012. "The great austerity war: what caused the US deficit crisis and who should pay to fix it?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 36(1), pages 79-104.
    2. John H Matthews & Frederick Boltz, 2012. "The Shifting Boundaries of Sustainability Science: Are We Doomed Yet?," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-4, June.
    3. Eric Neumayer, 2013. "Weak versus Strong Sustainability," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14993.
    4. Laura Fano Morrissey, 2012. "Neo-liberal Conservation and the Cementing of Inequality: Interview with Bram Büscher," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 55(1), pages 13-16, March.
    5. Angela Zarro, 2012. "Rio Summit 2012: What to expect? Interview with Tariq Banuri," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 55(1), pages 10-12, March.
    6. Kevin Anderson & Alice Bows, 2012. "A new paradigm for climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(9), pages 639-640, September.
    7. Bina, Olivia & Vaz, Sofia Guedes, 2011. "Humans, environment and economies: From vicious relationships to virtuous responsibility," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 170-178.
    8. Ekins, Paul & Simon, Sandrine & Deutsch, Lisa & Folke, Carl & De Groot, Rudolf, 2003. "A framework for the practical application of the concepts of critical natural capital and strong sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2-3), pages 165-185, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tubadji, Annie & Nijkamp, Peter, 2017. "Green Online vs Green Offline preferences on local public goods trade-offs and house prices," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 72-86.
    2. Andreas, Jan-Justus & Burns, Charlotte & Touza, Julia, 2017. "Renewable Energy as a Luxury? A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the Role of the Economy in the EU's Renewable Energy Transitions During the ‘Double Crisis’," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 81-90.
    3. Vandeventer, James Scott & Cattaneo, Claudio & Zografos, Christos, 2019. "A Degrowth Transition: Pathways for the Degrowth Niche to Replace the Capitalist-Growth Regime," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 272-286.
    4. Mirjana Radović-Marković & Branko Živanović, 2019. "Fostering Green Entrepreneurship and Women’s Empowerment through Education and Banks’ Investments in Tourism: Evidence from Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Virginia Navajas-Romero & Rosalía Díaz-Carrión & Antonio Ariza-Montes, 2019. "Decent Work as Determinant of Work Engagement on Dependent Self-Employed," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-17, April.
    6. Elena-Madalina Vatamanescu & Vlad-Andrei Alexandru & Georgiana Cristea & Loredana Radu & Oana Chirica, 2018. "A Demand-Side Perspective of Bioeconomy: The Influence of Online Intellectual Capital on Consumption," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 20(49), pages 536-536, August.
    7. repec:aud:audfin:v:20:y:2018:i:49:p:536 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Matraeva, Lilia & Solodukha, Petr & Erokhin, Sergey & Babenko, Maria, 2019. "Improvement of Russian energy efficiency strategy within the framework of "green economy" concept (based on the analysis of experience of foreign countries)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 478-486.
    9. David Meek, 2015. "Counter-Summitry: La Via Campesina, the People's Summit, and Rio+20," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(2), pages 11-18, May.
    10. Tim Forsyth & Les Levidow, 2015. "An Ontological Politics of Comparative Environmental Analysis: The Green Economy and Local Diversity," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 15(3), pages 140-151, August.
    11. Claude Villeneuve & David Tremblay & Olivier Riffon & Georges Y. Lanmafankpotin & Sylvie Bouchard, 2017. "A Systemic Tool and Process for Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-29, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Baumgärtner, Stefan & Quaas, Martin F., 2009. "Ecological-economic viability as a criterion of strong sustainability under uncertainty," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 2008-2020, May.
    2. Silvio Franco & Barbara Pancino & Angelo Martella, 2021. "Mapping National Environmental Sustainability Distribution by Ecological Footprint: The Case of Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Dietz, Simon & Neumayer, Eric, 2007. "Weak and strong sustainability in the SEEA: Concepts and measurement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 617-626, March.
    4. Jean-François Ruault & Alice Dupré La Tour & André Evette & Sandrine Allain & Jean-Marc Callois, 2022. "A biodiversity-employment framework to protect biodiversity," Post-Print hal-03365820, HAL.
    5. Jukka Mähönen, 2020. "Comprehensive Approach to Relevant and Reliable Reporting in Europe: A Dream Impossible?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-38, June.
    6. Kajsa Borgnäs, 2017. "Indicators as ‘circular argumentation constructs’? An input–output analysis of the variable structure of five environmental sustainability country rankings," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 769-790, June.
    7. Missemer, Antoine, 2018. "Natural Capital as an Economic Concept, History and Contemporary Issues," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 90-96.
    8. Ahi, Payman & Searcy, Cory & Jaber, Mohamad Y., 2018. "A Quantitative Approach for Assessing Sustainability Performance of Corporations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 336-346.
    9. Konrad Ott, 2014. "Institutionalizing Strong Sustainability: A Rawlsian Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-19, February.
    10. Ewa Roszkowska & Marzena Filipowicz-Chomko, 2020. "Measuring sustainable development in the education area using multi-criteria methods: a case study," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 28(4), pages 1219-1241, December.
    11. Cook, David & Davidsdottir, Brynhildur & Petursson, Jón Geir, 2015. "Accounting for the utilisation of geothermal energy resources within the genuine progress indicator—A methodological review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 211-220.
    12. Brand, Fridolin, 2009. "Critical natural capital revisited: Ecological resilience and sustainable development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 605-612, January.
    13. Pelenc, Jérôme & Ballet, Jérôme, 2015. "Strong sustainability, critical natural capital and the capability approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 36-44.
    14. Martinet, Vincent, 2011. "A characterization of sustainability with indicators," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 183-197, March.
    15. Pearson, Leonie J. & Kashima, Yoshihisa & Pearson, Craig J., 2012. "Clarifying protected and utilitarian values of critical capital," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 206-210.
    16. Ruault, Jean-François & Dupré la Tour, Alice & Evette, André & Allain, Sandrine & Callois, Jean-Marc, 2022. "A biodiversity-employment framework to protect biodiversity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    17. Klauer, Bernd & Bartkowski, Bartosz & Manstetten, Reiner & Petersen, Thomas, 2017. "Sustainability as a Fair Bequest: An Evaluation Challenge," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 136-143.
    18. Khosravi, Faramarz & Izbirak, Gokhan & Shavarani, Seyed Mahdi, 2021. "Application of bootstrap re-sampling method in statistical measurement of sustainability," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Hanna Ahlström, 2019. "Policy Hotspots for Sustainability: Changes in the EU Regulation of Sustainable Business and Finance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.
    20. Lázaro-Touza, Lara & Atkinson, Giles, 2013. "Nature, roads or hospitals? An empirical evaluation of ‘sustainable development preferences’," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 63-72.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:31:y:2013:i:6:p:1023-1047. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.