Abstract
Green economy refers to an economic system that in the words of the United Nations (UN) “aims at improving human well-being and social equity by internalizing its environmental impacts and significantly reducing ecological risks and scarcities.” The founding principle of the green economy is that the search for a reduced dependence on natural resources drives innovation capabilities towards the reduction of hidden diseconomies, the use of renewable inputs, and a higher systemic resilience that provides a better quality of life for all within the ecological limits of the planet.
Green economy has a complex and science-based nature, because the correct interpretation of the different interests at stake requires a rigorous and objective understanding of social, economic, and environmental phenomena. It shares the orientation toward profit and value-creation which are the cornerstones of more traditional – and still dominant – forms of the economy. Despite that, it introduces a previously suspended commitment to inclusiveness, equality, and waste prevention that is relevant at both micro- and macrolevels.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barbier, E. B. (2012). The green economy post Rio+20. Science, 338(6109), 887–888. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1227360.
Bina, O. (2013). The green economy and sustainable development: An uneasy balance? Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 31(6), 1023–1047. https://doi.org/10.1068/c1310j.
Borel-Saladin, J. M., & Turok, I. N. (2013). The green economy: Incremental change or transformation? Environmental Policy and Governance, 23(4), 209–220. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1614.
D’Amato, D., Droste, N., Allen, B., Kettunen, M., Lähtinen, K., Korhonen, J., … Toppinen, A. (2017). Green, circular, bio economy: A comparative analysis of sustainability avenues. Journal of Cleaner Production, 168, 716–734. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.053.
Dittmar, M. (2014). Development towards sustainability: How to judge past and proposed policies? Science of the Total Environment, 472, 282–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.11.020.
Droste, N., Hansjürgens, B., Kuikman, P., Otter, N., Antikainen, R., Leskinen, P., … Thomsen, M. (2016). Steering innovations towards a green economy: Understanding government intervention. Journal of Cleaner Production, 135, 426–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.123.
Gasparatos, A., Doll, C. N. H., Esteban, M., Ahmed, A., & Olang, T. A. (2017). Renewable energy and biodiversity: Implications for transitioning to a green economy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 70, 161–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.08.030.
Gouvea, R., Kassicieh, S., & Montoya, M. J. R. (2013). Using the quadruple helix to design strategies for the green economy. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(2), 221–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2012.05.003.
Loiseau, E., Saikku, L., Antikainen, R., Droste, N., Hansjürgens, B., Pitkänen, K., … Thomsen, M. (2016). Green economy and related concepts: An overview. Journal of Cleaner Production, 139, 361–371. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.024.
Marcus, A., Shrivastava, P., Sharma, S., & Pogutz, S. (Eds.). (2016). Cross-sector leadership for the green economy: Integrating research and practice on sustainable enterprise. New York: Springer.
Porter, M. E., & van der Linde, C. (1995). Toward a new conception of the environment-competitiveness relationship. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9(4), 97–118. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.9.4.97.
Rizzi, F., Bartolozzi, I., Borghini, A., & Frey, M. (2013). Environmental management of end-of-life products: Nine factors of sustainability in collaborative networks. Business Strategy and the Environment, 22(8), 561–572. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.1766.
Rizzi, F., Frey, M., Testa, F., & Appolloni, A. (2014). Environmental value chain in green SME networks: The threat of the Abilene paradox. Journal of Cleaner Production, 85(1), 265–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.001.
Sheldon, R. A. (2016). Green chemistry and resource efficiency: Towards a green economy. Green Chemistry, 18(11), 3180–3183. https://doi.org/10.1039/C6GC90040B.
Shmelev, S. (Ed.). (2016). Green economy reader: Lectures in ecological economics and sustainability. New York: Springer.
Smit, S., & Musango, J. K. (2015). Towards connecting green economy with informal economy in South Africa: A review and way forward. Ecological Economics, 116, 154–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.04.022.
Website Citations
https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sectors/environment/environment-and-green-economy/green-economy_en. Accessed 1 Mar 2019.
https://www.unece.org/sustainable-development/green-economy/what-does-green-economy-mean.html. Accessed 1 Mar 2019.
https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/green-economy. Accessed 1 Mar 2019.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Chirieleison, C., Rizzi, F. (2023). Green Economy. In: Idowu, S.O., Schmidpeter, R., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Del Baldo, M., Abreu, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25984-5_145
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25984-5_145
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-25983-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25984-5
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences