3. «THE GREEN ECONOMY RECONCILES ECONOMY WITH ECOLOGY»
Independently of the current crisis, the proponents say: A green economy reconciles ecology and economy. «Environmental protection with economic growth is not a contradiction; rather they mutually condition each other».10 The prominent scientist Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker argues: «A wave of new, fascinating technological innovations could become the greatest hope for a new upswing».11 A strategy against increasing environmental destruction consists in recognising the economic value of nature and giving it a price. Nature, so goes the assumption, will be protected if it is included in the calculation as «natural capital». «The prices should express the ecological truth», – this sentence sounds quite sincere and straightforward.
The green economy is seen by its proponents as an economic growth engine: The United Nations predict higher growth rates in 2010 to 2050 for the «green investment scenario» than for «business as usual». «Business as usual» means upholding the non-sustainable path of development. For Germany, a growth rate of 2.4 % is predicted for 2020 in a green economy as against 1.8 % if if business as usual continues; the respective predicted rates of unemployment are 5.6 % and 8.5 %.12
A few years ago it was estimated that environmental technologies in Germany are already responsible for 8 % of GDP and that this share will increase to 14 % by 2020.13
7
10 Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, Op. cit. , p. 10. 11 Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker/Karlson Hargroves/Michael Smith (2010): Faktor Fünf: Die Formel für nachhaltiges Wachstum [Factor Five: Transforming the Global Economy through 80 % Improvements in Resource Productivity], p. 25, Munich. 12 Martin Jänicke (2011): «Green Growth«. Vom Wachstum der Öko-Industrie zum nachhaltigen Wirtschaften [«Green Growth«: From the Growth oft he Eco-Industry to Sustainable Economy]. Forschungszentrum für Umweltpolitik, Berlin. 13 Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (Hrsg., 2009), Op. cit., p. 2.