Theoretical and Applied Economics (Jan 2013)
Green economic growth premise for sustainable development
Abstract
Accelerating the global issues such as natural resource depletion, damage to the natural environment, economic and financial crises and consumption growth led to the shift of the development paradigm from consumption to sustainable development and recognition of the new path, namely green economy.At the European level a number of international organizations discussed issues of transition to green economy (EC, UNEP, OECD). In 2008, UNEP launched “Green Economy Initiative to Get the Global Markets Back to Work”, aiming to mobilize and re-focuse the global economy towards.This is the twin challenge of moving towards a green economy: radically reducing the footprint of developed countries, while simultaneously raising levels of social and material well being in developing countries.Without public intervention, the related market failures (i.e. market prices that do not fully reflect the environmental degradation generated by economic activity) may delay or even prevent the development of environmentally-friendly technologies.Furthermore, in sectors such as electricity, network effects arising from existing infrastructures create additional barriers to the adoption of alternative sources of power, further hampering incentives to invest in new technologies.Given that the transition to a green economy requires increasing of investment in economic sectors that contribute to enhancing of natural capital and reduce environmental risks, we intend to analyze the main measures taken by Romania to ensure transition to green economy.
