Sustainable economics & policy
Green Growth
Fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which well-being relies — the OECD's defining formula.
Definition
Green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies. Launched as the OECD's strategy in 2011, it focuses on the synergies and trade-offs between the environmental and economic pillars of sustainable development, using innovation, investment, and pricing to decouple growth from environmental degradation.
References
official definition
Overview
What it means
Green growth is the optimistic middle position in the growth debate: growth and environmental protection are not inherently contradictory if prices, technology, and policy align. Critics — from degrowth and steady-state perspectives — question whether absolute decoupling at the required scale and speed is empirically achievable, making green growth as much a hypothesis under test as a strategy.
How it is used
The concept structures OECD country reviews, green growth indicators, and national strategies; sibling institutions (GGGI, Global Green Growth Platform) operationalise it in developing countries.
Why it matters
It is the dominant policy frame for reconciling development with environmental limits — and the debate over its validity defines the economics of sustainability.
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