Importance of Economic Growth in Achieving Environmental Sustainability - Coursework Example

?Environmental Sustainability cannot be achieved without economic Growth Introduction: This essay shall focus on how environmental stability cannot be achieved without economic growth. The premise of this research paper is that economic growth is paramount and imperative for the sustainability of the environment. The definition of sustainable development may be understood as “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”1 The concept of sustainable development focuses at having an economic growth and development of a nation without harming the current state of the environment. Development without doing any damage to the environment is the basis of sustainable development. In the early 1900s environment stability and economic growth were considered to be the opposite sides of a coin, as both could not exist mutually on the same side.2 However, a study done by the Economic Kuznets Curve has gone ahead to say that environmental stability can be achieved to a certain degree of extent along with having an economic growth. A study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania has said that environmental stability could be achieved along economic growth on the integration of policies, which connects the environment with economics and society.3 The Economic Kuznets Curve through the studies conducted has stated that at the initial stage of economic development, the environment stability stays at negative. This happens at a low per capita income level. However, once the per capita income continues to increase slowly and the environmental pollution reaches a stable level, thereafter it starts to fall down as the economy of the country improves. “At a higher level of income per capita, the demand for health and environmental quality rises with income which can translate into environmental regulation, in which case there tend to be favorable shifts in the composition of output and in the techniques of production.”4 The fundamentals of sustainable environment lie in having an endowed environmental carrying capacity with an eco efficiency of the highest order. These two instruments are paramount in having a sustainable development along with economic growth. However, it is important to note that the eco-efficiency has to be cost effective and should be limited, and is designed by the way a society produces and consumes its products. Ways to Integrate Environment and Economic Policy: There are certain ways through which the economic policy can be integrated with the environment. One of the important decisions to integrate the environmental and economic policy is to impose Environmental Taxes. Such taxes shall be charged on any kind of destructions to the environment performed for economic reasons. These taxes shall be levied on the polluters and the users of such products, thereby not only increasing the revenue of the Government which in turn will improve the economy of the nations, it shall also act as a deterrent for people to pollute the environment as the products will be extremely expensive to produce and consume. This will also provide a counter productive effect by incentivizing the environmental innovators who in turn will have to bear fewer costs for producing their goods.5 Another aspect, which the nations may look into, is allowing Tradable Permits. “Trade permits are a means of establishing caps or promoting direct investment in environmentally beneficial outcomes towards achieving environmental goals.”6 Through the exercise of tradable permits, investment can be procured into environmental projects. In this system the Government sets a maximum limit upto which pollution can be emitted into the environment. The companies, which emit a higher amount of pollutant, can trade the cap with the companies emitting lower amount of pollutant, and therefore the entire system is balanced and it is hinging on the maximum cap of emission of pollutants.7 Therefore, each and every company will try to lower its emission so as to make money by selling the advantage to other party, thereby not only it keeps the environment pollution in check, it promotes green products. By encouraging technological development the pollution of the environment can be kept in a check. By using advanced equipment to produce good and products, the industry can keep a check on the pollution through active means of production. Direct environmental regulation is the most common step, which the nations have been doing in order to keep the pollution in control. Laws on environmental standards and a limit on the green house gases have been the major environmental control acts done by the nations.8 To conclude, economic growth is required to bring about sustainability in the environment because economic growth at the end of the day focuses on the gross domestic product as well as the production factors of an economy however it is difficult to exactly point how much growth is required to bring about sustainable development. The Brundtland Commission9 has put forth certain solutions and provisions for countries around the world to follow in order to achieve their goals in a sustainable manner however it is for each country to decide that in order to vouch for growth and extract their minerals and resources, how much consumption needs to be cut down. People need to be educated and made aware regarding the ill effects of the environment and the lack of resources in the near future if they continue to look out for economic growth as their sole objective and thus political efforts like Agenda 2110 have been able to reiterate how important it is to find ways to generate economic growth without harming the environment or creating nuisance. Economic growth might have a very selfish interest or need in mind however there are ways to grow while keeping a reserve for the future and meeting the needs of the generations to come. References Adsgroup.org.uk (2012). Economic Growth & Environmental Sustainability Possible Through Aerospace. [Online] Available at: http://www.adsgroup.org.uk/articles/27855 [Accessed: 20 Nov 2012]. Attah, N. (2000). Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Growth: A Global Outlook. University of Pennsylvania Organizational Dynamics Program, [Online] Available at: http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1033&context=od_theses_msod [Accessed: 4th Nov 2012]. Beckerman, W. (2002). A poverty of reason: sustainable development and economic growth . Oakland: The Independent Institute. Daly, E. (1990). Toward some operational principles of sustainable development. Ecological Economics, 2 (1), pp.1-6. Lee, H. et al. (2005). On the Relationship between Economic Growth and Environmental Sustainability. UNESCAP, [Online] Available at: http://www.unescap.org/esd/environment/mced/documents/materials/EG_ES.pdf [Accessed: 4th Nov 2012]. Shepherd, D. (2007). Brundland Commission Report. Sustainable Development in Action, [Online] Available at: http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd15/media/backgrounder_brundtland.pdf [Accessed: 4th Nov 2012]. Suri, V. & Chapman, D. (1998). Economic growth, trade and energy: implications for the environmental Kuznets curve. Ecological Economics, 25, p.195-208. [Online] Available at: http://ejournal.narotama.ac.id/files/Suri_Economic.pdf [Accessed: 4th Nov 2012]. Un.org (2002). UN Chronicle - On the way to Rio+20: post-World Summit challenges. [Online] Available at: http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/home/archive/webarticles2012/originofuncommitmenttosustainabledevelopment4 [Accessed: 20 Nov 2012]. Unknown. (2008). An OECD Framework for Effective and Efficient Environmental Policies. Environment and Global Competitiveness, [Online] Available at: http://www.oecd.org/greengrowth/environmentalpolicytoolsandevaluation/41644480.pdf [Accessed: 4th Nov 2012]. Worldbank.org (1987). DEPweb. [Online] Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/sd.html [Accessed: 20 Nov 2012]. Read More