Measuring What Matters

The Green Economy Coalition advocates for a systemic shift from narrow economic metrics like GDP toward a 'green economy' that prioritizes human wellbeing and ecological health. The report identifies five key action areas: redefining progress through new metrics, reforming financial flows to reduce short-termism, greening high-impact sectors (energy, food, housing, transport), investing in people to ensure inclusive growth, and managing natural systems to protect essential ecosystem services. It concludes with nine guiding principles for a fair and inclusive transition, emphasizing the need for multi-stakeholder engagement and a move away from resource-intensive growth.

• Current economic progress is distorted by a reliance on narrow metrics like GDP, which fail to account for environmental depletion or social wellbeing. For example, in the USA between 2000 and 2010, GDP rose by nearly 18% while median family income declined and poverty levels increased.
• Financial markets are currently hindered by short-term goals and an overreliance on derivatives, which discourages the long-term investment needed for green transitions. Smaller 'value-based' banks are found to be more resilient and provide better returns than Globally Systemically Important Financial Institutions (GSIFIs).
• High-impact sectors such as energy, food, housing, and transport offer the greatest opportunities for innovation. The global low-carbon market was valued at over GBP 3 trillion and was projected to reach GBP 4 trillion by 2015.
• Inclusive economic growth is essential for resilience, as the concentration of power undermines the ability of economies to adapt. Investing 2% of GDP in the green economy could potentially create up to 9.6 million new jobs per year.
• Economic growth that ignores natural capital is unsustainable because resource-intensive growth increases commodity prices, carbon-intensive growth causes climate-related economic costs, and ecosystem destruction undermines future livelihoods.
• Natural ecosystems provide essential services valued at over USD 72 trillion annually, yet nearly two-thirds of the globe's ecosystems were reported as degraded as of 2010.
• The transition to a green economy requires a new social contract based on nine principles: Sustainability, Justice, Dignity, Healthy Planet, Inclusion, Good Governance and Accountability, Resilience, Efficiency and Sufficiency, and the Generations Principle.

APA

Green Economy Coalition (n.d.). Measuring What Matters. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/gec-2012-green-economy-pocketbook.pdf

Chicago

Green Economy Coalition. Measuring What Matters. n.d. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/gec-2012-green-economy-pocketbook.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Economy Coalition |title=Measuring What Matters |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/gec-2012-green-economy-pocketbook.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greeneconomycoalitionndmeasuring, author = {{Green Economy Coalition}}, title = {{Measuring What Matters}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/gec-2012-green-economy-pocketbook.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }