Green Growth

Bringing together leading scholars of environmental policy and political economy, the book assess the impact and viability of green growth and outlines the alternatives

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