'Green growth' won't stop climate change (report)

Can Green Growth Really Work?

Many economists and policy makers advocate "green growth" as the new growth paradigm, based on enhanced material/resource/energy efficiency, structural changes towards a service economy and a switch to renewable energy. This paper argues that growth, technological change, population-expansion and governance constraints cast a very long shadow on "green growth" hopes. Such an evolutionary approach will be insufficient to cope with the complexities of climate change. It may rather give false hope and excuses to do nothing really fundamental. Its proponents need to realize that the required transformation goes far beyond innovation and structural changes to include better distribution of income and wealth, limitation of market power of dominant economic agents, and a culture of sufficiency.