Grünen Kapitalismus - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung

“There is only one thing bigger than Mother Nature
and that is Father Profit.”
Thomas L. Friedman, in his 2008 call
for a “green revolution”
“The goals should always be to right the ship
and let private enterprise do its magic.”
Barack Obama, in his 12 March 2009
meeting with the Business Roundtable
At a conceptual level, it is clear that “green capitalism” seeks to bind together
two antagonistic notions. To be green means to prioritize the health
of the ecosphere, with all that this entails in terms of curbing greenhouse
gases and preserving biodiversity. To promote capitalism, by contrast,
is to foster growth and accumulation, treating both the workforce
and the natural environment as mere inputs.
Capital is no stranger to contradiction, however. Just as it seeks to balance
market-expansion with wage-restraint, so it must seek to balance perpetual
growth with preservation of the basic conditions for survival. Despite
the ultimate incompatibility of these two goals, therefore, capital must
to some extent pursue both at once. Although green capitalism is an
oxymoron, it is therefore nonetheless a policy-objective. Its proponents
thus find themselves in an ongoing two-front struggle against, on the
one hand, capital’s more short-sighted advocates and, on the other, the
demand for a far-reaching ecologically grounded conversion of production
and consumption.
We may examine the green capitalist agenda under several headings.
The first is theoretical; here we distinguish between a dominant trend
which attempts to reconcile ecological concerns with standard corporate
practice, and an “alternative” approach which is critical of corporate capital
but supportive of free markets and localism. The second involves the
translation of these theoretical approaches into organizational expressions,
including lobbying groups, grassroots organizations, and thinktanks.
Third are government agencies, considered both at the level of
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