The phrase “green economy” has come to refer to an economy which has reduced its negative impacts on nature – air, water, biodiversity and climate. Since the industrial revolution, economic growth has been associated with ever greater use of materials and energy, and considerable damage to the natural environment. Over the last forty years there has been mounting concern that this route to development is unsustainable, particularly with the continuing growth of world population, and ever more evidence of the dramatic potential impact of climate change.

The promise of the green economy is to ‘decouple’ economic growth from both greater use of resources and damage to the environment, through the development of new products, processes, services and ways of life. A central concern is to accelerate a shift towards low carbon products and processes. However, the green economy label is used much more widely, to encompass changes to water use, forestation, lifestyles and biodiversity. It also encompasses strategies of abatement (to prevent climate change) as well as strategies for adaptation and mitigation.

The shift to greener economies depends on new technologies in all fields; changes to the design of markets; and also social changes, including the adoption of different lifestyles. So far, most of the policy focus has been on technology and market design. These will continue to be priorities as more is learned about where best to concentrate R&D and how to design markets. However, much greater attention to issues of social design and social innovation over the next 10-20 years are expected, much of it focused on cities, since social barriers to adoption are already proving more important than strictly technological barriers.

A central challenge in all discussions of the green economy is how to deal both practically and morally with the huge unevenness of development which has left some parts of the world with far greater ecological footprints than others. Both within nations and globally, the green economy debate brings together questions of technology, economics, politics and morality. The precise form that green economies will take is impossible to predict. But it is now certain that all economic policy, and much policy around cities and social design, will increasingly be seen through a green lens.