Progress in Green Economics E-Book
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- Herausgeber: Bentham Science Publishers
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Green economics refers to the discipline in which economists and businesses pursue policies that are conducive to minimizing environmental and ecological damage and therefore sustainable development.
Progress in Green Economics primarily focuses on developments in the transition of different industries and sectors to a sustainable, environment-friendly economic model. The book presents 7 chapters that cover different topics that reflect these developments in the field from a number of academic and practical angles.
The topics covered in the book include a review of the Food Energy Water Waste (FEWW) paradigm in Asian countries, an analysis of green economic forces in the Arctic region, green economics for protected area tourism, a conceptual analysis of green economics strategy, sustainable development and green banking in South Africa, and six sigma methodology for implementing green economic policies in different industries. Each chapter is organized into reader-friendly sections and is supplemented with references for the benefit of more involved scholars.
The multi-regional perspectives, along with the theoretical and practical information on the topic make this reference a timely and handy resource on green economics and sustainable development for academics, scholars, industrialists, policymakers and economics enthusiasts alike.
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Seitenzahl: 242
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
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PREFACE
Economics is known as the dismal science. Then comes green economics, aimed at reshaping it fundamentally to embrace socio-cultural and ecological considerations of development. The new science of green economics speaks the language of hope. It proposes that sustainable development is possible without excluding the marginalized, and without degrading nature and culture. It also offers the frameworks and tools to study economic challenges under this new lens. Due to its very nature, Green Economics is an emergent transdisciplinary field of investigation.
There was a sudden momentum in the scholarly parlances and policy circles when this idea first came up. Then, it continued its existence as a topic for armchair discussions. Fast forward to 2020, industries have been observed as making massive investments into the green economy. There is a heightened realization in various industries that embracing the principles of green economics is an essential basis of competitive advantage. At one point in time, technologies that powered the upcoming green economy were not efficient as per the profit maximization equations, which guided managerial decision making. Things have changed more recently; green technologies now are not just eco-friendly but also more efficient and effective. Regulatory pressures and increasing customer preference for green products have added to this momentum.
We must recognize that economics should serve nature rather than being subservient to the immediate concerns of profit-maximizing businesses. The (counter)discipline of Green Economics offers the philosophical basis and theoretical frameworks for systematic investigations in this topical area. Economics, as we know it traditionally, does not engage seamlessly with knowledge in natural sciences, and this has crippled efforts to infuse into its considerations on environmental issues and sustainability in general. Even when the traditional economics discipline engaged with other social sciences, it was always with the prejudice that its perspectives triumphed over those of others. In this regard, green economics promises a broader range of multidisciplinarily sourced actionable knowledge that can make a positive change in the world. It also deconstructs some of the internal contradictions within economics and makes it a science of hope.
The contributors highlight the progress made in greening different industries and sectors of the economy in different national cultural contexts. Green economics takes different shapes in different industries, with associated challenges and opportunities. In certain industries, greenification has been far more straightforward than in others. In many traditional industries, greening would mean fundamental restructurings of processes; the enormity of effort needed, coupled with uncertain rewards in the short term, meant greater resistance. Service industries had to maneuver additional nuances associated with the intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability of the very products they offered. At the firm level, new businesses found themselves naturally poised to take advantage of the promises of the green economy while many established giants struggled to do anything other than superficial greenwashing.
At least half of the manuscripts included in this volume highlight services. Service industries have a cardinal role in enforcing the above mandate. Service processes need to be made more sustainable. Fortunately, key stakeholders, including business managements, customers, and governments, are in broad agreement regarding this, although their reasons for support vary widely. Also, there is relatively less accord on how to implement green practices in different industry segments. Given the nuanced nature of services, there is not always a simple way to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage by following textbook green practices, either. This has actually led to a wide range of service innovations, some of which have become benchmarks for others to emulate. Innovations are not just in products (e.g., use of organically grown food products in the restaurants) but also in processes (e.g., algorithms that power global cargo movements, with the objective of minimizing carbon footprints) and philosophies that frame industries (e.g., a focus on sustaining healthy lifestyles versus reactive medical interventions to cure diseases in the hospitals).
The first chapter, titled The “FEWW” Nexus in Green Economics for Asian Countries is an attempt to survey the contours of circular economy, which powers greening efforts in the economy. The basic aim of the chapter is to understand the concept of a “Circular Economy” from the context of developing economies in Asia. It explores the dimensions of a circular economy as the nexus of four key issues – Food, Energy, Water and Waste - the “FEWW Nexus”. It involves the perspectives of national and local governments to outline strategies that can be used for developing circular economy policies and action. The chapter presents the “GET Matrix” as a concrete multi-stakeholder policy tool, bringing together three policy patterns – the Global-National-Local pattern; the Governments-Business-Civil Society pattern; and the Governance-Education and Technology pattern.
The second chapter, titled Green Economic Transition Scenarios in the Arctic Region attempts to create and draw potential future alternatives for the development of transition to green energy in the Arctic region by 2030. The authors developed three green transition scenarios with the objective of identifying possible alternatives of green transition evolution in the Arctic region by 2030. In addition to that, the authors developed a framework of key driving forces influencing green transition in the Arctic region and introduced wild scenarios of green transition in the Arctic region.
The third chapter, titled Green Economy in the Services: In the Context of Tourism delves into nuances of greening tourism, one of those meta-industries hugely blamed for environmental degradation. This chapter investigates the present status of ecotourism practiced in protected areas of Tripura, India, since 2011-12, on the basis of both field surveys of tourists and spot visits to destinations. Protected area tourism in the State is primarily viewed as a part of circuit tourism development impairing the overall growth of ecotourism development in the state. As one protected area accounts for 80% of tourists visited, it amply demonstrates lopsided ecotourism growth in spite of potentiality. It also exhibits wide differences between destination-specific plans and their implementation coupled with irregular animal population census affecting conservation and preservation efforts of wildlife sanctuaries.
The fourth chapter, titled Strategic Policies for Green Economy: A Conceptual Analysis studies the need for vision-driven policies for a circular economy that sustains nature and societies. One central challenge of our times is the strategic need of applying business strategies for developing a sustainable economy. This posits that social innovation organizations must collaborate in the innovation territories to create spaces for the creation of knowledge with purpose, giving the necessary field for inclusive capitalism for consumers according to the emerging technologies, the sustainability and the green economy. Based on the needs of the developing world, researchers must continue investigating public policies that idealistically can be created as a contribution to sustainability and competitiveness.
The fifth chapter, titled Green Economy for Sustainable Development focuses on efforts that are being made by the South African government in ensuring the country’s readiness for sustainable development through green economy. In achieving the objective of this paper, the authors examine various legislative frameworks, policies and programs directed at making the country green economy ready. Although the country has established and executed many programs in this direction, the paper concludes that more actions, including enlightenment campaigns by the provincial and municipal governments, are still needed to provide a better understanding of the significance of the green economy to the entire citizenry.
The sixth chapter, titled Case Studies in Green Banking, begins with a presentation of the concept of sustainable development as an outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), named the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, held in 1992, to reconcile worldwide economic development with protection of the environment. It then goes on to investigate what banks could do to green economies, in the context of Africa, specifically South Africa. It documents what top banks are doing in this regard and also proposes what they could do better in the future. Green money is both a driver and an outcome of the greenification of economy, which is a circular process.
The seventh chapter, titled Lean Six Sigma as a Methodology to Implement Green Economics Initiatives observes a critical move in cutting edge economies from how to attract green economics funders to how to better manage data analytics and development processes. The achievement lies in having the capacity to impart, offer, and utilize data analytics to mitigate complex issues; to adapt to new requirements and evolving conditions; to marshal and extend the wave of innovation; and to usher new management techniques, as observed by the author. Methodologies, including Lean (elimination of waste), Six Sigma (SS) (metrically defined), Lean Six Sigma (LSS), and Total Quality Management (TQM) (built-in quality) are examined in relation to how LSS is utilized to improve green economics in manufacturing, automotive, healthcare, and higher education industries.
In summary, did we achieve progress in transforming our economy for the better, and in making it greener? The evidence presented in this book by means of contributions from around the world indicates a moderate yes. No doubt there are areas needing significant improvement. We need to recognize the fact that we are attempting to green the economy constructed while being dictated by the rules of grey economics. There are limits beyond which progress is impossible unless we demolish the old system entirely. This might happen, but not too soon. There are powerful vested interest groups who gain from the way things are currently, and they would not let anything greater than greenwashing. An inflection point might come in the form of a black swan event; Covid-19 has contributed to some of it but it is not enough. Also, obviously, none of us wants a calamity to be the trigger for the greenification of the economy.
List of Contributors
The “FEWW” Nexus in Green Economics for Asian Countries
Hari Srinivas1,*Abstract
The basic aim of the chapter is to understand the concept of a “Circular Economy” from the context of developing economies in Asia. It explores the dimensions of a circular economy as the nexus of four key issues – Food, Energy, Water and Waste - the “FEWW Nexus”. It takes the perspectives of national and local governments to outline strategies that can be used for developing circular economy policies and action. The chapter presents the “GET Matrix” as a concrete multi-stakeholder policy tool, bringing together three policy patterns, the Global-National-Local pattern; the Governments-Business-Civil Society pattern; and the Governance-Education and Technology pattern.
What is a Circular Economy?
A circular economy (CE) is based on the principles of ensuring that production and consumption systems contribute to sustainable development, including minimizing waste and pollution, reusing and recycling products and materials, regenerating natural systems, and other issues related to a sustainable lifestyle.
The concept is not new, however, it derives its initial inspiration from the “3R” approach, i.e., reduce, reuse, recycle. Various other concepts and approaches have since been incorporated and linked to under the broader umbrella of the CE concept, including the ones listed in Table 1.
Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and/or recycling to create a “closed-loop system”, minimizing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution and carbon emissions (Geissdoerfer, 2017). The circular economy aims to keep products, equipment and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources.
A circular economy is ultimately an alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. Its core lies in sustainable development itself - environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social equity.
There are a number of components of a well-functioning circular economy that we need to keep in mind. At its core, a circular economy looks at the economic functions of production and consumption from a sustainability perspective (and not just a profit motive). It looks at all aspects of a product in its entire life cycle, from its design stage to the final disassembly/disposal stages.
So for a country’s economy to become “circular”, policies, strategies and laws/regulations need to be implemented with a number of new ideas in mind:
Design for the environment: Products and services (whether produced by private entities or public agencies) will have to be designed for the environment (DfE). Right at the design stage, the product/service not only takes into account aesthetics and convenience in using the product, but also issues such as using less natural materials (and more recycled materials), using less energy in production and use (and using more renewable energy), maximum recycling of product components and materials, and designing for easy disassembly so as to facilitate recycling and reuse.Preserve and extend product lifespans: Inherent in a circular economy’s products and services is the need to preserve and extend a product’s life span to facilitate material efficiency and longer use, and to reduce wastes generated from discarded products.Prioritize renewable/reusable resources: At every stage of a product/service’s life cycle, priority has to be given to ensure both resource efficiency and energy efficiency to make sure that material and energy resources are obtained from renewable or reusable/recyclable sources.Use waste as a resource: By-products generated at every stage of a product or service’s life cycle, which would otherwise be considered as “waste, ” can and should be reused/recycled, that is, returned as a resource to the product’s lifecycle, or used as an input in another product. Such “wastes” can be both materials and energy resources.Rethink the business models: While the primary focus of a circular economy is material and energy efficiency, many countries and businesses are attempting to develop new business models that highlight circularity, models that also take into account economic and financial instruments that facilitate and promote circular economy. These include, for example, economy-wide investment in green technologies, subsides for developing environmentally friendly technologies and products, taxes and fines for industrial emissions/pollution, etc. New business models, for example, focus on developing products for “Pay to use” instead of “ownership”, where the producer remains the product’s owner (facilitating recycling and recovery, while extending product’s lifespan).What becomes clear is that we need an approach (PBL, 2019) that goes beyond the traditional “3Rs” or reduce, reuse and recyle, to include, for example
Rethink (Using resources more efficiently by changing the way we think about products and production processes. Is the product the best way to meet the demand? Could we use fewer or different resources in its production?)Redesign (Design differently; for example, by considering reuse, repair and recycling options in advance of production)Repair and remanufacturing (Product repair, maintenance and revision in order to reduce material use)Recycling (Processing and reuse of materials); recover (Recover energy and materials from products)Disposal (Waste disposal and incineration without energy recovery is avoided where possible).The FEWW Nexus
Operationalizing the circular economy concept requires us to look at sustainable development, consumption and production, from a cyclical perspective. Ultimately, developing and implementing multi-stakeholder policies for a CE should help us achieve sustainability, targeting all aspects of our everyday lifestyles.
Nowhere is this more true, for example, than in the nexus between food, energy, water and waste - four key resources that help us define and better understand much of our daily lifestyles and consequent environmental, social and economic problems that they generate. These four issues are prime examples of problems the will help us in operationalizing a “circular” economy (Fig. 1).
Cities and towns, human settlements in general, form the perfect laboratory for us to understand many of the consumption and production patterns that eventually result in the myriad of global environmental problems we face. Central to facilitating these systems is the economic management systems of food, energy, water and waste, each dependent on and influencing the others.
Besides the inherent interconnectedness between themselves, the four issues form the key starting points for a city or village's contribution to the global environmental problems that we are facing today directly and indirectly: climate change, biodiversity, desertification, etc.
Fig. (1)) The FEWW Nexus.Food
Food and agricultural systems require considerable amounts of water and energy during their production, transportation and storage before consumption in an urban area. However, even before the food has reached a plate, 50% of the food will have been wasted or spoiled (creating additional problems in the form of wastes, GHG emissions and pollution).
CE Policy focus for Food:Ensuring the security of food production and consumption systems, including food waste - Sustainability dimensions of the food cycle.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations in 2018, it was estimated that about 1.5 billion tonnes of global food was wasted or lost, which accounted for approximately one-third of total food production. Wasting food means wasting water and energy, since producing, processing and consuming food contributes to about 70% of total global water withdrawn and 30% global energy consumed.
The CE components of food focus on two aspects – food security, i.e., ensuring reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food; and food loss, i.e., food that is wasted during its both production and consumption cycles, including food production, processing transportation, sales and preparation stages.
Current estimates of food loss/food waste point to almost 50% of all food prepared worldwide being unconsumed and resulting in significant resources, including energy, water, land, being waste; besides, the food itself creates further waste that needs the energy to dispose, and methane and CO2 emissions to contend with.
Food policies in a circular economy need to focus on ensuring the security of food production and consumption systems, including reducing food waste. This would call for a revamped understanding of the sustainability dimensions of the food cycle.
Revamping the food cycle, agriculture production systems, distribution storage and sales [“farm-to-plate” startegies], lies at the core of improving food security. A circular economy would contribute to food security and reduction of food loss by
developing food production and food loss assessment methodologies and tools
