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Greening the Economy for the Sustainability Transition: An International Legal Perspective

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Abstract

The greening of the economy has emerged in recent years as an attempt to integrate sustainability into the economic growth paradigm. Through this, the international community is hoping to finally push the world into a green transition – even, in some instances, at the expense of “pure” economic growth. Against this background, the concepts of green economy and green growth have been examined from a legal standpoint. Numerous international and regional organizations have also addressed these terms, offering guidelines and clarifications. This chapter analyzes the development of these concepts in the legal field, along with the recommendations made by scholars and international organizations. Such analysis highlights several important barriers that should be taken into consideration for the international community in order to keep promoting the green transition.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term “green economy” appears 23 times in the declaration 12 of which as green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/rio20/futurewewant A/RES/66/288 – The Future We Want.

  2. 2.

    According to Smulders et al., “The weak view holds that typically there are trade-offs between income growth and the environment, but that appropriate policies can soften this trade-off while taking advantage of those win–win opportunities that do exist” (Smulders et al. 2014, p. 425).

  3. 3.

    As noted by the WTO Appellate Body in the USA – Shrimp “this preambular language reflects the intentions of negotiators of the WTO Agreement, we believe it must add colour, texture and shading to our interpretation of the agreements annexed to the WTO Agreement” (Appellate Body Report 1998, para. 153).

  4. 4.

    For instance, in the trade field, restrictive measures even if on the letter of the law are justified by environmental considerations in practice could be hidden forms of protectionism.

  5. 5.

    According to Gupta and Sanchez, global green governance is currently “reactive, incoherent and fragmented, lacks the tools to implement a systemic approach, is ad hoc rather than principled, is becoming politically charged, and may be unable to support the implementation of a green economy and cope with the societal changes expected by 2050” (Gupta and Sanchez 2012, p. 12).

  6. 6.

    (“The Bank recognizes the importance of green economic growth and the long-term benefits that it will provide in Asia. The Bank aims to build upon existing green economic growth initiatives in Asia, and to provide support for new ones at the regional, national and subnational level and within the private sector. Planning, investment and capacity building measures that the Bank supports help to ‘green’ both infrastructure and interconnectivity.”) (AIIB Environmental and Social Framework 2016, at ¶ 18).

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Research Executive Agency Grant Agreement No. 269327 for the project “Evaluating Policies for Sustainable Energy Investments: Towards an Integrated Approach on National and International Stage,” with the results coordinated by gLAWcal (Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development) and led by Professor Paolo Davide Farah.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Law & Development (CLD), College of Law, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

    Imad Antoine Ibrahim

  2. gLAWcal – Global Law Initiative for Sustainable Development, Essex, UK

    Imad Antoine Ibrahim & Davide Giacomo Zoppolato

  3. Global Studies, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy

    Davide Giacomo Zoppolato

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  1. Imad Antoine Ibrahim
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  2. Davide Giacomo Zoppolato
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Ibrahim, I.A., Zoppolato, D.G. (2021). Greening the Economy for the Sustainability Transition: An International Legal Perspective. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32811-5_115-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32811-5_115-1

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