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24 GREEN ECONOMY Challenges and opportunities The necessarily systemic character of the transition to a green economy Alexandre d´Avignon 1 Luiz Antônio Cruz Caruso 2 The green economy as defined in the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) publication, “Towards a green economy: pathways to sustainable development and poverty eradication”, brings a series of challenges. This economy seeks human well-being and social equity, while reducing environmental risks and resource scarcity, and is characterized by low carbon intensity. Certainly this was not the first expression that captures the aspirations of those who seek structural changes in the capitalist economy, focused on values other than the maximization of profits, in a perfectly competitive market tending to equilibrium. The breakthrough of this approach is essentially in its overcoming the anthropocentric view of nature and the planet, in which these must serve humankind and attend its needs. As René Passet (1991) pointed, the order and the cycles of nature must be respected so as not to exhaust its potentialities and energy sources. Nº 8 • June 2011 The biosphere and the interactions of its subsystems (atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biota) determine the conditions under which human activities can take place, whether social or economic. Ultimately, it is the biosphere that will determine the limits and possibilities of mutual influence between living beings and the planet. Humans are part of this whole, and an important part because of their ability to intervene in the environment, but there is not a hierarchy in which humans are at the top. The relationship between human societies and the biosphere cannot be reduced to economic or even social dimensions. Human activities such as are analyzed in economics through the relations of production, exchange, consumption, etc. represent only a first sphere of human practices in an ordainment with specific rules established, included in a broader social sphere, civil society, the state, ideologies etc. Yet the latter is circumscribed, in turn, by an even broader universe consisting of inanimate and living matter, which surrounds and extends beyond. It is within these three spheres – modes of production, formation of society and the 1. Professor of the Program for Public Policies, Strategies and Development of the Economics Institute of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPED/IE/UFRJ) and researcher at the Program for Energy Planning (COPPE/UFRJ). 2. Doctoral student at the Program for Public Policies, Estrategies and Development of the Economics Institute of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PPED/IE/UFRJ).
25 GREEN ECONOMY Challenges and opportunities The necessarily systemic character of the transition to a green economy Alexandre d'Avignon Luiz Caruso biosphere – that human activities are inserted. The reproduction and functioning of each sphere are regulated by the other two. Due to the relationship between these three spheres of inclusion, it can be affirmed that the elements of the economic sphere belong to the biosphere and obey its laws, but that all elements of the biosphere do not belong necessarily pertain to the economic sphere of economy and are not subject to its rules. As James Lovelock (2001) states, the earth became what it is through its habitation by living beings and these have been the means but not the purpose for the planet’s development. It is interesting to observe, however, that at UNEP’s homepage on the internet, where the above publication can be accessed, is a statement in small print: “environment for development.” Is this not a contradiction of the perception of the program regarding the proposed definition of green economy in the publication? Painting neoclassical economics green is not the solution. We need a structural change in the “household management” (oikos = house + nomia = management, study or laws, according to Houaiss, 2001), referring to the planet as the home of all living beings and, as such, needing to be preserved and respected. Making the conventional economy green, from UNEP’s perspective, is to prioritize growth of income and employment. The latter are to be stimulated by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution and promote the efficient use of energy and natural resources, preventing the loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity. These investments will be catalyzed and supported by public policy reforms and regulatory changes. The proposed route of development should maintain, enhance and, where necessary, restore natural capital, since it is a critical economic asset that generates public benefits, especially for poor people whose livelihoods and security depend essentially on nature. Nº 8 • June 2011 Encouraging public and private entities to assume primary responsibility, in which the action of external private or public agents is proposed as the solution, is precisely the approach criticized by Elinor Ostrom (2008). According to her, this option comes from a metaphorical and specific view contained in the “Tragedy of the Commons”, described by Garrett Hardin in 1968, and the Prisoner’s Dilemma model proposed by the same author, as well as the “Logic of Collective Action” developed by Mancur Olson with the idea of free riding in joint activities in a community for the public good. Ostrom questions currently fashionable approaches involving intervention by coercive or regulatory state action or by the definition of ownership through privatization. Empirically, such approaches are associated with a huge list of failures. In Ostrom’s view, solutions should always be defined on a case-by-case basis through agreement among stakeholders, for managing what she calls the use of common resources, i.e., public goods. The author describes a number of real alternative solutions to external intervention.
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