Ecological Modernization of Industrial Society — Three Strategic Elements

Abstract

At a Forum on Industry and the Environment in New Delhi, India professor Stephan Paulus gave a definition of ecological modernization. In both the East and the West, economists, planners and engineers are seeking a solution to the problem of how to change the traditional patterns of resource use. Harmonizing ecology and economy in a specific sense relies on the premise that a reduction in the resource input of production will lead to an ex ante reduction of emissions and wastes that have a negative impact on the natural environment. In order to clarify the relationship between economic structure, structural change, and environmental impacts, one needs suitable information concerning the material side of production, for environmental protection and resource conservation by the economy — and thus its long-term sustainability — cannot be described appropriately in such terms as income, investment and consumption. Less is known about the environmental relevance of the input factors in industrial production, or on the question of which indicators provide environmentally significant information about the structure of the economy.