The Green Economy: A Primer

The Green Economy Coalition defines a green economy as one providing prosperity for all within the planet's ecological limits. The document argues that a successful transition requires moving beyond narrow technocratic policies toward an inclusive social movement that values nature, tackles inequality, greens economic sectors, reforms financial systems, and implements new governance metrics.

• The Green Economy Coalition (GEC) defines a green economy as an economic system that ensures prosperity for all while remaining within the ecological limits of the planet.
• The GEC identifies five broad themes essential to a green economy: valuing nature in statistics and financial statements, tackling inequality to increase resilience, greening sectors such as food, transport, energy, and infrastructure, reforming financial systems for long-term investment, and establishing new governance and metrics like the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• There is a risk that green economy initiatives may become 'greenwashing' or narrow technocratic policies that fail to address the polluting core of the economy, merely adding a veneer of cleantech and renewable energy to a 'brown economy' model.
• As of 2017, there is a growing trend toward an 'inclusive green economy' that functions as a social movement, prioritizing the perspectives of marginalized voices and community-defined strategies over remote, technocratic planning.

APA

Hopkins, C. (2017). The Green Economy: A Primer. Green Economy Coalition. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/the-green-economy-a-primer

Chicago

Hopkins, Chris. The Green Economy: A Primer. Green Economy Coalition, 2017. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/the-green-economy-a-primer.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hopkins |first1=Chris |title=The Green Economy: A Primer |publisher=Green Economy Coalition |date=7 September 2017 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/the-green-economy-a-primer |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hopkins2017green, author = {Hopkins, Chris}, title = {{The Green Economy: A Primer}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2017}, month = sep, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/the-green-economy-a-primer}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }