Sustainability and economic opportunity

24 July 2009 - Posted by Bert Aldridge - 0 Comments

In a recent Op Ed in the Observer, English Prime Minister Gordon Brown made what we think of as the obvious connection between sustainability and economic opportunity. He said: "The global environmental sector will be worth £4.3 trillion by 2015 and sustain tens of millions of jobs. So the countries and companies that develop the technologies and services fastest will, as with the industrial revolution, reap the richest rewards."

Nothing revolutionary here, plenty of other politicians are making the same point, but every little bit helps. There remains a disconnect about the humanness of climate change / sustainability because the discourse has for so long been framed as an environmental issue. And, if it's only environmental, some people are able to think 'there's nothing I can do about it'. Sustainability is both a human problem, and a human solution. The economic frame, the weight of change that will come, is perhaps the most powerful way of making this point in a time of global recession.

Tags: Economy, England, Opportunity