To minimize the pollution impacts of the old dirty economy only model on the environment is the goal of green markets to ensure environmental sustainability and addressing the economy polluting problem of the dominant non-renewable energy based economy.
But what would be really best for environmental sustainability would be a dominant, if not fully, renewable energy based economy.
Therefore, clean economies would be better than green economies in environmental sustainability terms. But the need to transition to the clean economy is not mention in millennium development goal # 7; it only has goals to reduce pollution, to increase renewable energy sources apparently as complements, but not goals for planning for as transition from green economies, still a partially dirty economy, to clean economies and have clean energy as permanent substitue for dirty energy..
Why neither of the 17 sustainable development goals including SDG #7 are capturing the need, which we know it will come, to transition to clean economies?
Dear Lucio,
I think that full transition to clean economy is still not a viable option. But of course we need it in some future. Hydrocarbons still represent above 80% of consumed energy, and every 1% gain by renewable is not an easy problem. Building capacity of wind and solar energy does not result in proportional increase of their share in electricity production, because we need to balance every moment demand and supply, while supply from these sources is random. There are not enough biofuels to replace all oil, even in theoretical limit. There is fear for nuclear energy (rather clean) after Fukushima disaster, and there is no breakthrough in other energy technologies like nuclear synthesis. As for pollution, some measures are applied for its reduction, but their economic effect is negative; they result in slowing economic growth. That is why we cannot move too fast. Finally, fall in oil prices last year kills economic incentives for fast transition to renewable energies.
Hi Lucio,
Or to support Yuri's statement more bluntly:
Economies are not sure of the extent they would wish to go, in terms of the tradeoff between accelerated growth and clean environment !!
Hence the hesitation !!
-Sanjay
Dear Lucio,
I thin that an important part of the discussions in this sense (omissions of certain goals and tools) are based on the fact that many stakeholders use green/sustainable/clean/renewable indistinctly.
Dear Yuri, I agree with you that full transition to clean economy is still not a viable right now because of the steep renewable energy technology gap that we have, option right now, but that it is not an excuse for getting ready now for what we know will come in the future whether we are ready or not then....That is not an excuse to avoid mentioning in the goals the need to transition to clean economies and the need to get ready....
Humans are going to space to colonize, they are creating the knowledge and the science to survive there, and know we can survive there before we arrive...Humans know they can not be polluting for ever and that the clean world will come, why not to start planning such a transition so that we can transition smoothly while the partially dirty green economy is still alive and before it dies,,,,
In case you have not seen these publications Yuri, I am sharing them here as food for thoughts:
Understanding the Road Towards the Current Dominant Non-Renewable Energy Use Based Economy: Using An Inversegram to Point Out a Step by Step Strategy Towards an Efficient Dominant Renewable Energy Use Based Economy
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281230333_Understanding_the_Road_Towards_the_Current_Dominant_Non-Renewable_Energy_Use_Based_Economy_Using_An_Inversegram_to_Point_Out_a_Step_by_Step_Strategy_Towards_an_Efficient_Dominant_Renewable_Energy_Use_
From dying to eternal economies: When should the paradigm shift from the non-renewable resources based economy take place?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281276531_From_dying_to_eternal_economies_When_should_the_paradigm_shift_from_the_non-renewable_resources_based_economy_take_place
Have a nice day Yuri
Article Understanding the Road Towards the Current Dominant Non-Rene...
Article From dying to eternal economies: When should the paradigm sh...
Dear Sanjoy, you are right mainstream economies are fixed on the trade off accelerated growth and clean environment, which explains why the mantra right now is on "low carbon based development" where you can still pollute but not that much....
Is not there too a trade off between accelerated green growth and clean environment?, it is there yet they still shifted from the traditional market of Adam Smith to green markets and green growth; and therefore fully dirty economies like the traditional market are not good for the environment, but partially dirty economies like green markets are fine....I am okay with this, but we need to transition to the clean economy later know, economists know or should know this, why not to start getting ready puttling global and local plans on how to do that smoothly and use the dirty economy to get there?...
Also Sanjoy, as food for thoughts if the world is not ready today for clean markets, they are not ready too for optimal growth markets, like sustainability markets....And we are in the precarious situation today because main stream economists accepted and promoted without questioning the traditional market of Adam Smith and we know now as highlighted by the criticism of the 1987 bruntland commission report that assuming markes work under social and environmental externality neutrality and now we have to step by step correct the traditional market, in this case to make environmentally friendly...
You may find these publications interesting Sanyoy: Have a nice day!
Understanding the Death and Paradigm Shift of Adam Smith’s model: Was Going Green the Only Option? If not, Is This Option the Most Sustainable One?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299882613_Understanding_the_Death_and_Paradigm_Shift_of_Adam_Smith%27s_model_Was_Going_Green_the_Only_Option_If_not_Is_This_Option_the_Most_Sustainable_One
The Unintended Consequences of Paradigm Death and Shift: Was the Arrow Impossibility Theorem Left Behind?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299879934_The_Unintended_Consequences_of_Paradigm_Death_and_Shift_Was_the_Arrow_Impossibility_Theorem_Left_Behind
Article Understanding the Death and Paradigm Shift of Adam Smith’s m...
Article The Unintended Consequences of Paradigm Death and Shift: Was...
A. J. good day. You are right, mainstream thinkers specially at the UN like endorsing concepts that can mean many things like "sustainable development"...to be use at convenience dependent on the message you want to pass
Renewables are clean and have a positive impact of environmental sustainability....clean economies are in the very long-term future, this is no where in the SDGs framework or the paris agreement to my knowledge....
Green as of today is no clean and has a negative impact on environmental sustainability, now supposedly minimal. This is in SDG #7...
Have a nice day;
Lucio
Thanks Lucio, for the pubs.
Will be looking them up sometime, and getting back to you thereafter...
-Sanjay
Dear Lucio, thank you for your suggestions. I also worked on this topic and the difficulties for transition are summarized in this chapter: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273707005_Renewable_Energy_Models_Implications_and_Prospects
Unfortunately, I am not allowed to put its text here, but I put abstract below:
This paper investigates the prospects of renewable energy from an economic point of view and presents a few economic models that address specific issues. Although the transition to renewable energy is inevitable given the threats the world faces when avoiding that, the path is not so simple and is definitely cannot be driven by only market forces. The upshot is that the prospects of substantial and cheap availability of renewable energy is very unlikely on economic grounds unless a number of issues in particular substantial technical breakthroughs and binding agreements on global warming mitigation are simultaneously satisfied. Otherwise crucial players will counteract undermining the apparent profitability. However, there is no alternative to renewable energy. Ultimately, renewable energy must prove its use in the market and energy poverty in the Third World provides a huge and profitable playground for renewables.
Chapter Renewable Energy: Models, Implications, and Prospects
Dear Yuri, in that paper I suggested a step by step approach to get ready for this issues because:
1) the world is not ready now for the clean economy because of the deep renewable energy technology gap of today and the economy black outs it would create:
2) a smooth step by step transition is easier to sell and the taxing of the dirty economy could provide the cash flow to pay for the transition;
3) to hightlight that a fully renewable energy based economy is possible only in the very, very long term, so in the long term the goal should be a dominant renewable energy based economy;
4) but wee needed to start the planning of this transition at RIO +20 2012 or in the 2915 paris agreement and the current UN Sustainaile development agenda and goals, but we missed those opportunities; and
5) the more we wait to start planning or to transition the less likely is it will be a smooth process so a social tsunami may over take green markets.
In case you have not seen this paper I am sharing it here Yuri:
Have a nice day;
Respectfully yours;
From dying to eternal economies: When should the paradigm shift from the non-renewable resources based economy take place?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281276531_From_dying_to_eternal_economies_When_should_the_paradigm_shift_from_the_non-renewable_resources_based_economy_take_place
Article From dying to eternal economies: When should the paradigm sh...
Dear friends,
I am sharing here this article unpublished and you can use it as food for thoughts:
Is Environmental Externality Management a Correction of Adam Smith’s Model to Make It Environmentally Friendly and Shift it Towards Green Markets or Is It a Distortion on Top of Another Distortion?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309463581_Is_Environmental_Externality_Management_a_Correction_of_Adam_Smith%27s_Model_to_Make_It_Environmentally_Friendly_and_Shift_it_Towards_Green_Markets_or_Is_It_a_Distortion_on_Top_of_Another_Distortion
Have a nice day
Article Is Environmental Externality Management a Correction of Adam...
Dear friends, here sharing my most recent article which I trust you may find interesting in terms of food for thoughts:
If Going From Free Markets to Non-Free Markets is the Way to Go: Does This Means the End of Rational Decision Making Thinking or Is This Just a Temporary Block of a Perfect Paradigm Shift to Green Markets?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312092336_If_Going_From_Free_Markets_to_Non-Free_Markets_is_the_Way_to_Go_Does_This_Means_the_End_of_Rational_Decision_Making_Thinking_or_Is_This_Just_a_Temporary_Block_of_a_Perfect_Paradigm_Shift_to_Green_Mark
Article If Going From Free Markets to Non-Free Markets is the Way to...
An interesting question. Regardless of the objectively obtained answer, various solutions based on ecological innovations, renewable energy technologies, green economy, clean economy, recycling of recyclable materials, etc. should be developed. This way, added value can be generated based on synergy achieved in parallel, mutually reinforcing processes . In this way, this kind of ecological added value can help to create a new economy in the future based on more sustainable development.
I invite you to the discussion
Dear Dariusz, thank you for your comment...
I asked the question to bring attention to what main stream thinkers in the development agenda may have missed or are missing....
When the bruntland commission/1987 told us to go beyond business as usual I thought about a two step long term approach:
a) to move from full dirty economies to partially clean economies(green markets
b) to transition from green markets or partially clean economy to fully clean markets
While the original millenium development goals, the 2012 shift to green market thinking, the new UN development goals, and the paris agreements all talk about green markets/green economies, they do not talk about the need in the end to transition to a fully clean economy.
As you may know, the history of what happened after the 2012 shift from perfect tradtional market theory to perfect green market theory to achieve a perfect shift to green market or green economies shows that the theory does not match the current practice....in practice since 2012 we have moved towards a world of DWARF GREEN MARKETS...markets under eternal government intervention....
Have a nice day!
Those interested in green market thinking may find the following article full of food for thoughts
From Traditional Markets to Green Markets: A Look at Markets Under Perfect Green Market Competition
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330617155_From_Traditional_Markets_to_Green_Markets_A_Look_at_Markets_Under_Perfect_Green_Market_Competition
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330701187_From_Traditional_Markets_to_Green_Markets_A_Look_at_Markets_Under_Perfect_Green_Market_Competition
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