Green Development

The concept of sustainability lies at the core of the challenge of environment and development and the way governments, business and environmental groups respond to it. Green Development provides a clear and coherent analysis of sustainable development in both theory and practice. This third edition retains the clear and powerful argument of previous editions, but has been updated to reflect advances in ideas and changes in international policy. Greater attention has been given to political ecology, environmental risk and the environmental impacts of development. This fully revised third edition discusses: the origins of thinking about sustainability and sustainable development and its evolution to the present day the ideas that dominate mainstream sustainable development (ecological modernization, market environmentalism and environmental economics) the nature and diversity of alternative ideas about sustainability that challenge ‘business as usual’ thinking (for example ecosocialism, ecofeminism, deep ecology and political ecology) the dilemmas of sustainability in the context of dryland degradation, deforestation, biodiversity conservation, dam construction and urban and industrial development the nature of policy choices about the environment and development strategies and between reformist and radical responses to the contemporary global dilemmas. Green Development offers clear insights into the challenges of environmental sustainability and social and economic development. It is unique in offering a synthesis of theoretical ideas on sustainability and in its coverage of the extensive literature on the environment and development around the world. This book has proved its value to generations of students as an authoritative, thought-provoking and readable guide to the field of sustainable development.

This revised and updated new edition retains the clear and powerful argument which characterized the original. It gives a valuable analysis of the theory and practice of sustainable development and suggests that at the start of the new millennium, we should think radically about the challenge of sustainability. Fully revised, this latest edition includes further reading, chapter outlines, chapter summaries and new discussion topics, and explores: the roots of sustainable development thinking and its evolution in the last three decades of the twentieth century the dominant ideas within mainstream sustainable development the nature and diversity of alternative ideas about sustainability the problems of environmental degradation and the environmental impacts of development strategies for building sustainability in development from above and below. Offering a synthesis of theoretical ideas on sustainability based on the industrialized economies of the North and the practical, applied ideas in the South which tend to ignore 'First World' theory, this important text gives a clear discussion of theory and extensive practical insights drawn from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

A ‘green economy’ must be built on ‘green jobs’ - the kind of employment that is low carbon, intended to reduce energy use and expected to restore environmental quality. But attempts to define exactly what a ‘green job’ is have led to varied and often contradictory answers. There are many unresolved questions including whether we consider jobs in the nuclear fuel industry to be green jobs? Or is a worker at a glass making company which supplies the glass for the solar photovoltaic industry doing a green job given that glass making is a ‘dirty’ industry? This book deals with the relationship between "green" concepts (green jobs, green economy, green growth) and sustainable development. It examines to which extent creation of green jobs supports overall economic development as opposed to creation of elitist jobs and greenwashing. In order to do so, general conceptual frameworks for green jobs, green economy, green growth and green policy are presented as well as their implementation in ten countries selected among the Group of Twenty. The selection includes advanced (the European Union, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, Republic of Korea, Japan) and developing countries (Mexico, China, Turkey and Brazil). The analysis presented in this book shows that although green concept is well-intentioned, its implementation depends on local circumstances – economic, political and social. Developed countries perceive green growth as a way to create new markets and demand, while developing countries rely more on labor intensive growth and less expensive green jobs. Thus, greening the economy does not diminish differences between rich and poor. This book is suitable for those who study and work in Ecological Economics, Sustainable Development and Labor Economics.

The book examines problems associated with green growth and sustainable development on the basis of recent contributions in economics, natural sciences and applied mathematics, especially optimal control theory. Its main topics include pollution, biodiversity, exhaustible resources and climate change. The integrating framework of the book is dynamic systems theory which offers a common basis for multidisciplinatory research and mathematical tools for solving complicated models, leading to new insights in environmental issues. ​

Can China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promote sustainable development, alongside its primary aims of increasing commercial connectivity with China’s partners? In discussions of the BRI the focus has tended to be on the implications for infrastructure construction, connectivity, and economic diplomacy. Rather less attention has been paid to its potential impact on sustainability. The initiative has not only set principles to prevent climate change and promote sustainable development, but also pledged to align with the UN’s environmental objectives. The contributors to this volume describe and evaluate the consequent policy coordination in the areas of green finance, green energy, and sustainable development in the Belt and Road regions. They examine both the challenges and opportunities of these projects, and the role that Hong Kong can play in supporting their assessment, finance, and implementation. With contributions from authors based in mainland China, Hong Kong, Australia, Qatar, the UK, and the US – with experience in corporate social responsibility, international finance, environmental policy, and international relations – this book presents a thorough and rigorous analysis of the green side of the BRI. A valuable resource for scholars of the BRI and its many implications for China, its partners, and the development of sustainable infrastructure.

The legal and economic landscape for building and development have fundamentally been altered by the country's major environmental problems - climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion, pollution, and unsustainable natural resource consumption rates. The editors provide practical information for lawyers to assist their clients in fully understanding green building and sustainable development concepts so they can operate successfully in the evolving economic and regulatory environment while minimizing the potential cost penalty of business-as-usual practices.

The concept of sustainability lies at the core of the challenge of environment and development, and the way governments, business and environmental groups respond to it. Green Development provides a clear and coherent analysis of sustainable development in both theory and practice. Green Development explores the origins and evolution of mainstream thinking about sustainable development and offers a critique of the ideas behind them. It draws a link between theory and practice by discussing the nature of the environmental degradation and the impacts of development. It argues that, ultimately, ‘green’ development has to be about political economy, about the distribution of power, and not about environmental quality. Its focus is strongly on the developing world. The fourth edition retains the broad structure of previous editions, but has been updated to reflect advances in ideas and changes in international policy. Greater attention has been given to the political ecology of development, market-based and neoliberal environmentalism, and degrowth. This fully revised edition discusses: the origins of thinking about sustainability and sustainable development, and its evolution to the present day; the ideas that dominate mainstream sustainable development (including natural capital, the green economy, market environmentalism and ecological modernisation); critiques of mainstream ideas and of neoliberal framings of sustainability, and alternative ideas about sustainability that challenge ‘business as usual’ thinking, such as arguments about limits to growth and calls for degrowth; the dilemmas of sustainability in the context of forests, desertification, food and farming, biodiversity conservation and dam construction; the challenge of policy choices about sustainability, particularly between reformist and radical responses to the contemporary global dilemmas. Green Development offers clear insights into the challenges of environmental sustainability, and social and economic development. It is unique in offering a synthesis of theoretical ideas on sustainability and in its coverage of the extensive literature on environment and development around the world. The book has proved its value to generations of students as an authoritative, thought-provoking and readable guide to the field of sustainable development.

The book evaluates and analyses the level of green development in over 100 major cities in Asia Pacific. A quantitative analysis of the relationship with economic growth, income distribution, innovation capabilities, service sector, governance levels, and city clusters are accumulated and presented in the form of a new index; the Urban Green Development Index (UGDI). Amongst the cities discussed in the case studies are Penang (Malaysia), Singapore, Vladivostok (Russia), Portland (USA), Hamburg (Germany), and Stockholm (Sweden).