Approaches to green economy: A conceptual overview

Abstract

This study presents a literature review of theoretical approaches concerning sustainable green economic growth. In recent years, the global economy has faced a series of profound challenges, including the 2008 financial crisis, the Russia–Ukraine war, the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, and ongoing instability in the Middle East. In response, the concept of the Green Economy has emerged as a nature-centered and competitively structured paradigm, offering seemingly promising solutions for economic development.Among the three prevailing perspectives on Green Economy, the first—optimistic green growth—advocates that technological advancement and economic development are key instruments for resolving environmental issues. This view is often framed within the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis. In contrast, the growth-agnostic perspective critiques this optimism by arguing that neither economic growth nor environmental sustainability alone is sufficient; rather, the continuation of social welfare should be the central objective. Each of these perspectives exhibits internal coherence while also presenting areas that require further empirical validation.From a theoretical standpoint, designing and implementing green development strategies that prioritize social welfare remains a complex endeavor. However, the example of Scandinavian countries, which have made notable progress in this domain, demonstrates that such an approach is not unattainable. The third perspective, degrowth, represents a school of thought that explicitly endorses economic contraction as a pathway toward sustainability.