CLIMATE  |  BASIC PAPERS

From Planetary Emergency to Regenerative Economies - Accounting for Nature in Measures of Sustainable Development

by Jana Stöver and André Reichel

PUBLISHED

10. AUGUST 2022

Abstract

Starting from a world in which resources have become scarce and planetary boundaries have been reached or exceeded, the paper discusses how these changes affect our understanding of (economic) progress and sustainable development. In doing so, the paper addresses three important points in the discussion on sustainability. Firstly, the question of “means” and “ends”, secondly, the visualization of this reality in the measurement of sustainable development, taking into account the specific characteristics of the environment/nature, and thirdly, the question of whether a concept that maps “regenerative development” could be suitable to account for the current state of natural systems that have already exceeded their (planetary) limits.

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KNOWLEDGE BASE

During the high point of market orthodoxy, economists argued that the most 'efficient' way to combat climate change was to simply let markets determine the price of carbon emissions. Today, there is a growing consensus that prices need to be regulated and that a carbon price on its own might not be enough.

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