A macroeconomic perspective on green growth

Abstract

Prevailing political economy is failing to maintain environmental, social, political and economic coherence. A fundamental shift towards a new economic model is needed ‘where the acknowledged priority is to sustain human and natural communities’ (GTI in Beyond the growth paradigm: creating a unified progressive politics, 2011: 1). Therefore, it is widely accepted that the current linear so-called “take-make-dispose” economy is not sustainable and that solutions need to be found in order to decrease both the input of limited resources as well as the output of human waste in any form. This paper examines how far the ideas of green growth are capable of handling this problem as they promise material welfare while reducing the impacts on the environment. Even though the underlying approaches like a circular economy, zero-emissions economy or Factor X seem to be desirable, there is reasonable scepticism in how far advances in resource efficiency can ensure a sustainable future while industrialised societies are constantly raising living standards. We show that there is an intrinsic contradiction within the desire for green growth to be an integral step into a sustainable future.