A Conceptual and Legal Perspective on the Green Economy

• Author: Annalisa Savaresi,Elisa Morgera
• Published date: 01 April 2013
• Date: 01 April 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12016

A Conceptual and Legal Perspective on

the Green Economy

Elisa Morgera and Annalisa Savaresi

The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable

Development had as one of its two main themes ‘a

green economy in the context of sustainable develop-

ment and poverty eradication’. The Conference did not

agree upon a definition of ‘green economy’ and limited

itself to ‘[encouraging] each country to consider the

implementation of green economy policies’ as one of

the different approaches available to achieve sustain-

able development. Nevertheless, its outcome document

provides a host of indications about the challenges and

opportunities to achieve sustainable development

through the green economy. This article offers a con-

ceptual and legal perspective on the green economy by

investigating the evolution of the related policy debate

and focusing on whether the text on the green economy

adopted at Rio+20 provides new insights on the imple-

mentation of sustainable development, notably in rela-

tion to environmental integration, intra-generational

equity, human rights and corporate accountability.

INTRODUCTION

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Devel-

opment (UNCSD, or ‘Rio+20’) had as one of its two

main themes ‘a green economy in the context of sus-

tainable development and poverty eradication’.1The

Conference did not agree upon a consensus definition

of ‘green economy’ and limited itself to ‘[encouraging]

each country to consider the implementation of green

economy policies’ as one of the different approaches

available to achieve sustainable development.2Never-

theless, the Rio+20 outcome document provides several

indications of the challenges to, and opportunities for,

achieving sustainable development through the green

economy. Against this background, this article offers a

conceptual and legal perspective on the green economy

as a means of implementation for sustainable develop-

ment by investigating the evolution of the related policy

debate, starting from the shift in discourse from ‘green

growth’ to ‘green economy’. It then assesses whether

the text on the green economy included in the outcome

document provides new insights on the implementa-

tion of sustainable development, notably in relation to

key principles of international environmental law, such

as environmental integration and intra-generational

equity, and challenging questions for the development

and implementation of international environmental

law, such as the link to human rights and corporate

accountability.

ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF

THE DISCOURSE

The notion of ‘green economy’ is rooted in environmen-

tal economics. The term appears in a 1989 report by

Pearce et al., which elaborated the cornerstones of

environmental valuation, based upon the premise that

placing proper values on the services provided by

the natural environment is necessary to ensure its

sustainable use and conservation.3These ideas have

increasingly underpinned environmental regulatory

experiments, most notably schemes for the payments of

ecosystem services.4Economic valuation has gradually

become prominent in multilateral environmental nego-

tiations. It was given wide resonance by the Stern

Review on the Economics of Climate Change.5More

recently, the report on the Economics of Ecosystems

1Implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the Further Imple-

mentation of Agenda 21 and the Outcomes of the World Summit

on Sustainable Development (UNGA Resolution A/RES/64/236,

24 December 2009), at paragraph 20(a).

2The Future We Want (UN Doc. A/RES/66/288, 11 September 2012),

Annex, at paragraphs 56 and 62.

3D. Pearce, A. Markandya and E.B. Barbier, Blueprint for a Green

Economy (Earthscan, 1989), at 5.

4There are several def‌initions of the term ‘payment for ecosystem

services’ in the literature. They may be def‌ined as voluntary transac-

tions where a well-def‌ined ecosystem service (or type of land use

likely to secure that service) is bought by at least one ecosystem

service buyer from at least one ecosystem service provider, if and

only if the provider secures ecosystem service provision (condition-

ality). S. Wunder, Payments for Environmental Services: Some Nuts

and Bolts (Center for International Forestry Research, 2005).

5N. Stern, The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review

(Cambridge University Press, 2007). The United Kingdom submitted

a summary of the f‌indings of the review. See UNFCCC Dialogue on

Long-term Cooperative Action to Address Climate Change by

Enhancing Implementation of the Convention Second Workshop,

Nairobi, 15–16 November 2006, Dialogue Working Paper 20/

Add.1 (2006), found at: <http://unfccc.int/f‌iles/meetings/dialogue/

application/pdf/wp_20_add.1_e.pdf>.

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Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

RECIEL 22 (1) 2013. ISSN 0962-8797

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

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