The discourse of `green growth' has recently gained ground in environmental governance deliberations and policy proposals. It is presented as a fresh and innovative agenda centred on the deployment of engineering sophistication, managerial acumen and market mechanisms to redress the environmental and social derelictions of the existing development model.
But the green growth project is deeply inadequate, whether assessed against criteria of social justice or the achievement of sustainable economic life upon a materially finite planet. This volume outlines three main lines of critique. First, it traces the development of the green growth discourse quaideology. It asks: what explains modern society's investment in it, why has it emerged as a master concept in the contemporary conjuncture, and what social forces does it serve? Second, it unpicks and explains the contradictions within a series of prominent green growth projects. Finally, it weighs up the merits and demerits of alternative strategies and policies, asking the vital question: `if not green growth, then what?'
The discourse of `green growth' has recently gained ground in environmental governance deliberations and policy proposals. It is presented as a fresh and innovative agenda centred on the deployment of engineering sophistication, managerial acumen and market mechanisms to redress the environmental and social derelictions of the existing development model.
But the green growth project is deeply inadequate, whether assessed against criteria of social justice or the achievement of sustainable economic life upon a materially finite planet. This volume outlines three main lines of critique. First, it traces the development of the green growth discourse quaideology. It asks: what explains modern society's investment in it, why has it emerged as a master concept in the contemporary conjuncture, and what social forces does it serve? Second, it unpicks and explains the contradictions within a series of prominent green growth projects. Finally, it weighs up the merits and demerits of alternative strategies and policies, asking the vital question: `if not green growth, then what?'
Introduction - Gareth Dale, Manu V. Mathai and Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira Part I: Contradictions of Green Growth 1. Can Green Growth Really Work? A Reality Check that Elaborates on the True (Socio-)Economics of Climate Change - Ulrich Hoffmann 2. What is the 'Green' in 'Green Growth'? - Larry Lohmann 3. The How and for Whom of Green Governmentality - Adrian Parr 4. Degrowth and the Roots of Neoclassical Economics - James Meadway Part II: Case Studies 5. Giving Green Teeth to the Tiger? A Critique of 'Green Growth' in South Korea - Bettina Bluemling and Sun-Jin Yun 6. Lessons from the EU: Why Capitalism Cannot be Rescued from its Own Contradictions - Birgit Mahnkopf 7. The Green Growth Trap in Brazil - Ricardo Abramovay 8. Green Jobs to Promote Sustainable Development: Creating a Value Chain of Solid Waste Recycling in Brazil - Anne Posthuma and Paulo Sergio Muçouçah 9. Trends of Social Metabolism and Environmental Conflict: A Comparison Between India and Latin America - Joan Martinez-Alier, Federico Demaria, Leah Temper and Mariana Walter Part III: Emerging Alternatives? 10. Beyond 'Development' and 'Growth': The Search for Alternatives in India Towards a Sustainable and Equitable World - Ashish Kothari 11. Reconsidering Growth in the Greenhouse: The Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) as a Practical Strategy for the Twenty-First Century - Job Taminiau and John Byrne 12. Alternatives to Green Growth? Possibilities and Contradictions of Self-Managed Food Production - Steffen Böhm, Maria Ceci Araujo Misoczky, David Watson and Sanjay Lanka
Bringing together leading scholars of environmental policy and political economy, the book assess the impact and viability of green growth and outlines the alternatives
Gareth Dale teaches politics at Brunel University. His publications include books on Karl Polanyi, the GDR and Eastern Europe, and international migration. Manu V. Mathai is assistant professor in the School of Development at Azim Premji University. He received his PhD in energy and environmental policy from the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware. He researches and teaches about the intersection of energy, environment and human development. Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira teaches at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV-EAESP and FGV-EBAPE) as well as the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPEAD-UFRJ) and Fudan University, Shanghai. He is also a visiting research fellow at United Nations University (UNU-IIGH), Kuala Lumpur. He was assistant director and senior research fellow at the United Nations University (UNU-IAS) from August 2009 to 2015. His academic interests are in the political economy of sustainable development, particularly in patterns of environmental governance and in the implementation of global policies at the local level.
[A]n exciting contribution to the literature on sustainable
development and political economy.'
*Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration*
A much welcomed contribution to the most significant debate of our
time … Given the ‘do or die’ imperative radically to rewire our
systems of production and consumption as quickly and justly as
possible, Green Growth: Ideology, Political Economy, and the
Alternatives is crucial reading for all.'
*Marx and Philosophy Review of Books*
Contains thoughtful analyses. The book's central message is that
capitalism probably can't green itself. Moreover, green growth is
the latest ideological reshaping of the hegemony of capital.
Recommended.
*Choice*
i>'The volume is required reading for anyone who wants to
understand the most pressing concern of our time.
*LSE Review of Books*
Green Growth offers us much insight and should be considered a
significant contribution to the fields of sustainable development,
political ecology and ecological economics. More profoundly,
however, it helps us question whether the idea of economic growth
can ever be meaningfully greened.
*Strategic Analysis*
Read this important book for a set of excellent critical guides to
alternatives to our destructive and wasteful economic system.
*Barbara Harriss-White, Wolfson College, Oxford*
The green economy is based on a simple narrative: a business model
approach to the salvage of our globe. It is therefore highly
opportune that this book critically reviews the green-growth
paradigm, and offers alternatives.
*Barbara Unmuessig, president, Heinrich Boell Foundation*
Essential reading for all of us who wish to see a greener
future.
*Derek Wall, Green Party of England and Wales*
A courageous, critical, and desperately-needed critique of the
greatest illusion of our time. In one incisive and insightful
chapter after another, the contributors eviscerate the neoliberal
growth fantasy while offering an intellectual agenda relevant to
contemporary struggles for the liberation of life in the
twenty-first century.
*Jason W. Moore, author of Capitalism in the Web of Life*
Sustainable development has fallen victim to the ideological
determinism of free market economics. Is “green growth” really a
solution to sustainable development? This book gives insightful
responses to this question.
*José Goldemberg, former Secretary of the Environment for
Brazil*
The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is
delighted to be a part of this publication, which is expected to
produce long-term gains by enhancing scientific and policy capacity
on green growth in the context of sustainable development.
*Linda Anne Stevenson, head of communication and scientific
affairs, APN*
A significant and thoughtful intervention. The range and breadth of
scholars and practitioners in this compendium make it
indispensable.
*Mahesh Rangarajan, author of Nature and Nation*
What you won't find in this book are stale dyads, recycled
conceptual dead-ends, or any intellectual grandstanding. Instead
Dale, Mathai, de Oliveira and their authors are to be commended for
exemplary scholarship, and for charting a realistic path to a
better ecological and social future.
*Sarah Bracking, University of Manchester and University of
KwaZulu-Natal*
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