ABSTRACT
The key challenge of this book is based on the adoption of concepts – baseline frameworks and green concepts. The main distinction between a ‘classical’ and a ‘green’ approach relates to quality of living and working conditions and respect for the environment. While these are generally accepted goals, there are still inhumane working conditions, unfair treatment of labour, working poverty, technologies that cause high levels of pollution and overall have harmful effects on the quality of life. Therefore, the involvement of the business sector in greening the economy has a strong potential to improve the implementation of green concepts. The conceptual framework of green terms (job, economy, growth, policy) is not uniform. A number of theses and considerations on what is actually green exist. Differences in the width of the concept are key: for example, a generally accepted idea is that green economy relates to activities in the energy sector related to renewable energy and climate change, while wider green concepts include green jobs (which might be outside these sectors), green growth and green policies. Even if the global expert community agrees on definitions, the question is whether through the realisation of proposed concepts the distinction of key terms, such as growth, jobs and the economy is achieved. Table 7.1 summarises the interpretation of key terms – within both the classical and green approach. In recent literature, green concepts are mentioned as the basis for sustainable development in the future. In addition, there is the concept of green development as a logical step for greening the global future through the implementation of green growth based on green jobs. However, green development is mainly linked to the concept of land use, rather than the overall growth, which should be inclusive and environmentally sound with the aim to reduce poverty and build a shared perspective (see Table 7.2). Regardless of the terminology and conceptual differences, the analysis of the implementation and operationalisation of some green concepts through a variety of national economies still mainly point to the fact that the creation of green jobs is necessary, but not sufficient, to enable sustainable development. The case studies provided clearly show that although the green concept is well-intentioned, its
Table 7.1 Summary of key terms – classical and green approach
Term Classical approach Green approach
Job A set of work tasks performed by people in order to gain resources for living.
