Stylus/Earthscan - Cents and Sustainability: Securing Our Common Future by Decoupling Economic Growth from Environmental Pressures

Cents and Sustainability

Securing Our Common Future by Decoupling Economic Growth from Environmental Pressures

Michael Harrison Smith , Karlson 'Charlie' Hargroves , Cheryl Desha

Foreword by Gro Harlem Brundtland , Rajendra Pachauri , Kenneth Ruffing

Introduction by Jim MacNeill

Cloth: 978 1 84407 529 4
Price: $39.95

Publisher: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
August 2010 , 405 pp., 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
figures, graphs & tables

Our Common Future was one of the first sustainable development publications to suggest that the twin goals of economic growth and sustainable development could be reconciled. The focus of this new book is to provide an additional response to the call by Dr Gro Brundtland, in her 1987 Foreword, "What is needed now is a new era of economic growth--growth that is forceful and at the same time socially and environmentally sustainable." With the 20th anniversary of Our Common Future in 2007, it is clearly the time to re-examine these important issues. Significant evidence and research is now available to allow a deeper understanding of how, and under what conditions, this "forceful sustainable growth" is possible. The goal of this book is to further explore, in a modern global context, the conditions under which society can achieve a form of economic growth that is environmentally sustainable.

The introduction to Cents and Sustainability is written by Dr Jim MacNeill (former Secretary General to the Brundtland Commission, and former Director, OECD Environment Directorate 1978 -1984). The book carries forewords from Dr Gro Brundtland (former Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development), Dr Rajendra Pachauri (Chief, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and joint recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC), and Dr Kenneth Ruffing (former Deputy Director and Chief Economist of the OECD Environment Directorate 2000 - 2005). The book's authors belong to The Natural Edge Project, the team behind The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21st Century.

Table of Contents:

Forewords by Dr Gro Brundtland, Dr Kenneth G. Ruffing and Dr Rajendra Pachauri

1. Securing 'Our Common Future'

2. Achieving Economic Growth and Reducing Environmental Pressures

3. Factors that can Undermine or Even Block Efforts to Achieve Decoupling

4. Factors that affect Poorer Nations' Ability to Achieve Decoupling

5. Informing and Developing National Strategies for Decoupling

6. Responding to the Complexity of Climate Change

7. Decoupling Economic Growth from Greenhouse Gas Emissions

8. Decoupling Economic Growth from Loss of Biodiversity and the Deterioration of Natural Systems

9. Decoupling Economic Growth from Freshwater Extraction

10. Decoupling Economic Growth from Waste Production

11. Decoupling Economic Growth from Air Pollution

12. Reducing Air Pollution through Public Interest Litigation: The Delhi Pollution Case

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Reviews & Endorsements:

'I commend the team from The Natural Edge Project and their partners for undertaking to develop a response to 'Our Common Future' to mark its 20th anniversary.'
- Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland

'We have long awaited a book that tackles the formidable analytic task of developing a framework and realistic strategy to simultaneously achieve environmental sustainability, economic and jobs growth, and poverty reduction. I hope Cents and Sustainability enjoys exceptional circulation success: it surely deserves to be on the desk -nay, in the head- of political leaders, policy analysts, environmental economists, systems ecologists, and all who play a prominent part in the management of our "Only One Planet.'
- Professor Norman Myers, Green College, and External Fellow of the James Martin Institute, Oxford University

'A new growth model, achieving both economic development and environmental sustainability, is needed. Cents and Sustainability is a very timely contribution to the development of this new growth model, providing the evidence base of those policies that have already succeeded in decoupling environmental degradation from continued economic growth.'
- Dr Helen Mountford, Head of Climate Change, Natural Resources and Environmental Outlooks Division, OECD Environment Directorate, and co-author of the 2008 OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030

'This book is full of practical examples ... which show how action on climate change can improve productivity, the bottom line and thus economic growth. As such, this book is an important contribution to the debate on how to mitigate climate change in a way that also simultaneously boosts jobs and economic growth.'
- Archie Kasnet, Partner, Aedi Group, Social Entrepreneur

'We now know that we can only create a sustainable future if we take an integrated approach to our pressing problems of environmental degradation, resource limitations and poverty alleviation. Cents and Sustainability is a guide to that approach. Every decision-maker who wants to make a difference should be drawing on this wonderful resource.' Professor Ian Lowe, AO, President, Australian Conservation Foundation and joint Patron of The Natural Edge Project 'In the pursuit of prosperity and raising billions out of poverty we have inadvertently hard-coupled our ever upward development pathway with a voracious and wasteful use of natural resources. To avoid overshoot and collapse in our socio-economic and bio-physical systems we must decouple! We must kick start a sustainability revolution - one which sees an endless drive towards the limits of resource efficiency and at the same time one which sees prosperity grow and poverty diminish. To do this we need to bring Cents into the Sustainability into the debate in a much more powerful way. There is no trade off between the economy and the environment. The long term health of the former is hard-coupled to the health of the latter!'
- Greg Bourne, CEO World Wildlife Fund, Australia. Chair of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Victoria and a Member of the CSIRO Sector Advisory Council to the Natural Resource Management and Environm

"It is not wise simply to hope that our decision makers will make the right choices, especially given the fact that there are still powerful vested interests who do not want to see a transition to sustainable development. In the end, it is up to each and every one of us to leave as positive a legacy as possible to future generations. Cents and Sustainability, with its inspiring world class success stories, our earlier 1987 report to the United Nations entitled Our Common Future, and free online education and training packages by The Natural Edge Project will help empower you to play your part in helping achieve a sustainable future."
- Jim MacNeill, O.C., Secretary General, World Commission on Environment and Development

"The historical assumption that green investment comes at a cost to the economy needs to be challenged. Destroying the natural resource base upon which economies thrive, and life depends, has never made for good economics. As the world struggles to recover from one of the worst economic crises in living memory we have an opportunity to promote inclusive and sustainable development based upon green growth, energy efficiency and the sustainable use of natural resources. Cents and Sustainability offers a coherent argument and a collection of evidence to show how prudent policies, market innovation and sheer common sense can lead to green development solutions that cost less, destroy less and benefit all. This message of this book is clear. It's time to act!"
- Dr Noeleen Hezyer, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and UN Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

"In 1987, Our Common Future offered the prospect of decoupling as the resolution between environment and development. Since then the debate has been dismal and confused. Is significant, profitable decoupling somehow impossible, as traditional economists might think, or not permissable to speak of as an incomplete answer, as some on the further green edge seem to believe? Neither. Cents and Sustainability offers abundant evidence that, supported by appropriate policies and institutions, the technical ability exists for us to do much, much more to decouple human development from environmental degradation. The only negative is that this empowering work was not with us in the 1990s.
- Professor Stephen Dovers, Director, Fenner School of Environment and Society , Australian National University

"Cents and Sustainability illustrates what a significant proportion of the global investor capital community now recognise, namely that the stock of our natural and social capital affects the level of long term investor returns. Business is reliant upon the environment for inputs and waste outputs in production, along with ecosystem services for the maintenance and growth of its assets. This reliance on the environment by business exemplifies the need to significantly decouple business profits and economic growth from environment pressures to sustain long term profits and economic growth. Cents and Sustainability shows that some companies have already reduced greenhouse emissions by over 60 per cent whilst improving their bottom line. Investors now know that considering environmental and social issues does not limit financial returns; it clarifies the investment proposition and drives opportunity and innovation."
- Nick Edgerton, Sustainable Funds, AMP Capital Investors

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