What would a green economy look like? (WDM)

World Development Movement / May 2012

WDM say there is no agreement on what the green economy is but they see it as a re-engineering of the global economy to respect environmental limits, prioritise social goals and end the obsession with limitless growth.

Food and energy sovereignty would be central pillars so communities can control food and energy production to meet their own needs.

They label proposals that seek to value nature to protect it as the ‘false green economy’. WDM argues that this sounds like a good idea but it is actually a Trojan horse that will mean the private sector takes control over nature away from communities. Under this ‘false green economy’ nature will only be protected if “more profit can be made from conserving it than trashing it”.

It will also lead to the ‘financialization’ of nature whereby banks and pension funds will speculate on green markets. Similar processes are already underway with carbon markets that “value air” and food speculation that has contributed to high food prices.

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This summary was prepared by Why Green Economy?. The views expressed have been paraphrased. See the original source for more information.