SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT NOTES 2020
Complete the sentence: the idea of Sustainable Development means the necessity
of integration of following aspects (dimensions) of socio-economic development
The so called ecological Kuznet’s curve and the Hotelling’s Principle, along with the
Nordhaus’s back-stop technology concept, underlie the ecological growth
optimism of neoclassical growth theory. Explain briefly the sense of that optimism
What mean the principles of (1) weak principle of capital/growth sustainability and
(2) strong principle of capital/growth sustainability
Explain briefly the concept of ecological Kuznets’ curve and its criticism in ecological
economics
List the so called idealizational goals of Sustainable Development
Explain briefly the essence of intergenerational justice in the development process
Complete the sentence: according to the concept of circular economy, in the
subsystem of natural resources outcomes of economic processes depend on ….
List main four components of natural capital
What means the notion of intergenerational compensation with regard to the weak
principle of capital and growth sustainability
Present the functional division of environmental indicator
Complete the sentence: the concept of homo sustinens is a critique of neoclassical
concept of ……… and is an attempt at finding microeconomic/anthropologic
foundations of …
Connect in logical pairs the following concepts:
Homo oeconomicus – homo sustinens
Utility maximization hypothesis - hypothesis of survival of homo sapiens as a
biological species
What is the sense of Polluter Pays Principle as the internalization principle in
ecological policy
What means the principle of openness as one of the foundations of ecological policy
in a market economy
Give the definition of reactive ecological policy in a market economy
What is the nature of legal-administrative methods of ecological policy and what are
main kinds of those methods
List at least five kinds of economic instruments of ecological policy
PRESENTATION 1
Introductory remarks (message of Sustainable Development)
We know that even well functioning perfectly competitive markets may be
insufficient when it comes to proper allocation of resources in time because the
future is not adequately rewarded in any market (Robert M. Solow, Nobel Prize
winner in economics, 1987); it also refers to long term individual investments (e.g.
concerning health or good quality life after retirement (a related idea of paternalistic
libertarianism of Thaler/Sunstein)
, There are only two things that are really not limited: (1) number of generations
which we are responsible for and (2) frontiers of our intellectual capabilities (Jan
Tinbergen, Nobel Prize winner in economics, 1969)
The XXI century will be the age of natural environment or it will not at all (Ulrich von
Weizsäcker, founder and president of the Umwelt und Energie Institut, Wuppertal,
Germany)
Challenge of SD in the context of global climate change
I. Sustainable Development (ecodevelopment) – origins of the concept
Critique of mainstream economics’ (mainly neoclassical) theories and models of
economic growth
Criticism of identification of economic growth, understood as the maximization of
social welfare measured by the GDP or consumption per capita, with economic
development
Criticism of traditional growth theories (neoclassical and Keynesian) for not taking
into consideration negative social, ecological and other outcomes of conventionally
measured GDP growth and for ignoring many important factors influencing social
welfare (e.g. environmental quality, access to education, income inequalities, social
exclusion etc.)
Modifications of traditional economic growth models and theories through taking
into account the scarcity of natural resources and ecological quality (balance) in
growth models (e.g. neoclassical and Keynesian models of ecologically and –
simultaneously - ecologically and economically balanced economic growth
I.Sustainable Development– origins of the concept
Development of entirely new foundations of research on inter- relationships between
the economy and the natural environment
mass balance approach and ecological input-output analysis: economic growth as the
process of exchange of the matter in the complex megasystem: natural environment
– economy – society
Energetic (based on principles of thermodynamics and entropy) analysis of value of
goods and services, a well as of economic growth: calculus of accumulated energy-
intensity (consumption) of goods, enterprises and economies, energetic growth
models and energetic comparison of countries’ economic „conventional”(GDP
measured) growth, energetic „decoupling” of growth
Models of circular economy (in different spatial scale: from local communities to the
global economy)
Development of environmental valuations (valuing) methods and techniques,
including market related methods, natural capital assessment and ecosystems’
services value (both in the mainstream economics and heterodox schools: ecological
economics, sustainability economics, evolutionary economics and others)
Critique of standard patterns and pathes of economic growth and socio-economic
development:
, GDP/consumption maximization related growth as contributing to accelerated
depletion of natural resources, ecological deterioration and declining environmental
quality of life
GDP based growth as not necessarily resulting in the increase of subjective welfare:
welfare versus well-being and happiness (Esterlin paradox)
Critique of standard models of economic policy models (sectoral and macroeconomic
policies and their „greening”)
Evolution of environmental/ecological policy: from „reactive” (end-of-pipe-
approach), through „preventive” (integrated) environmental protection (ecological)
policy towards the policy of sustainable development and the concept of „green
economy”
Idea of Sustainable Development as reaction to natural resources and energy barriers
to economic growth and social development
the reaction concerned is primarily connected with the growing internationalization
and globalization of those barriers
On the one hand, it results in numerous attempts at regional (as in the case of
European Union’s ecological and Sustainable Development policy, and climate policy
in particular), international and global activities to mitigate and event prevent from
specific ecological issues (e.g. global warming, ozon layer hole, desertification – a
case of Sub-Saharan Africa, losses in global biodiversity – eg. danger of extinction of
many species, mass deforestation),
on the other, it frequently leads to growing rivalry in the access to limited resources
(e.g. the case of the so called rare earth metals), and primary energy carriers in
particular: ecological neo- imperialism, threats and dangers connected with using
supplies of primary energy carriers for the achievement of political goals (energy
terrorism).
Idea of SD (less poverty and more social inclusion) as respond to increasing
stratification in contemporary world (growing income and ownership divergence in
and between countries, as well as cultural and civilizational differences, and dangers
related to them); the threat of the so called new feudalism
Sustainable Development as an attempt at integrated (holistic, comprehensive) and
not fragmentary perception and understanding of development of economy and
human society, as the integration of following aspects (dimensions) of that
development:
1. Ecological (related to natural environment)
2. Economic
3. Technological and scientific
4. Cultural and institutional
5. Ethical (in broader approach: axiological) and related to social awareness
Perceived from a broad ontological and cognitive perspective, Sustainable
Development may be considered as an attempt at new holistic understanding of the
fundamental relation:
man (mankind, society) – natural environment (nature)
in economics, ethics, and philosophy (ecological and/or sustainability economics – as
opposed to neoclassical/mainstream economics, environmental/ecological ethics,
ecophilosophy), in accordance with above mentioned concept of integrated order
, II. Sustainable Development: idea, definition, features and objectives
Sustainability of development (growth) means that:
needs of currently living generations are not satisfied at the cost of diminishing the
possibilities of future generations to satisfy their needs („Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs”, Brundtland’s * Commission
Report**)
current generations are not better off through making future generations worse off in
terms of their welfare/well-being (there is no intergenerational „trade-off” of welfare
at the cost of future generations), neither in environmental nor economic dimension
* G. H.Brundtland, Norway’s Prime Minister, WHO General Director
* * Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on
Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) for the II
World Conference on Environment and Development, 1987
Sustainable – capable of self-enhancing and self-supporting its duration and growth
in the long-run: e.g. sustained catch in the fishery, sustained wood cutting in the
forestry, sustained exploitation/depletion of natural resources, sustained return on
capital in the bank, sustained consumption in the family
Sustainability means that we maximize a certain value (asset, income, yield, return
etc.) not at a given point of time (in the short-run) but in the long-run or even from
the secular perspective (e.g. inter -generational one )
There are over one hundred definitions of SD in the subject literature and policy
documents. Their most common feature is, in accordance with the Brundtland
Commission’s definition, the idea of intergenerational justice (economic,
environmental and social), sometimes being also called fairness or equity
Diversification of definitions is mostly, but not exclusively, caused by the adoption of
various criteria of sustainability
The very idea of justice may also refer to currently living generations. The idea of SD
means then striving for diminishing income, social, environmental quality related
and other disparities between countries, regions etc. (e.g. within the so called
Millennium Goals of the United Nations, the EU regional, ecological and social
policies or national regional development policies). In terms of intra-generational
justice (equity), the idea of SD implies more social cohesion (economic, social,
environmental, with taking into account their spatial dimension: more spatial
cohesion in the process of socio-economic development
Polish controversies: balanced/equlibrium development versus permanent, durable
or sustained development, Sustainable Development versus „Eco-development” (or
„green development”)
Sustainable Development – basic definition
„Sustainable Development is to maximize the net benefits of
economic development while protecting and providing playback of the usefulness
and quality of natural resources in the long term” (Pearce/Turner)
Development is sustained when no component of the vector of economic,
environmental and social objectives of the whole process of socio-economic
Complete the sentence: the idea of Sustainable Development means the necessity
of integration of following aspects (dimensions) of socio-economic development
The so called ecological Kuznet’s curve and the Hotelling’s Principle, along with the
Nordhaus’s back-stop technology concept, underlie the ecological growth
optimism of neoclassical growth theory. Explain briefly the sense of that optimism
What mean the principles of (1) weak principle of capital/growth sustainability and
(2) strong principle of capital/growth sustainability
Explain briefly the concept of ecological Kuznets’ curve and its criticism in ecological
economics
List the so called idealizational goals of Sustainable Development
Explain briefly the essence of intergenerational justice in the development process
Complete the sentence: according to the concept of circular economy, in the
subsystem of natural resources outcomes of economic processes depend on ….
List main four components of natural capital
What means the notion of intergenerational compensation with regard to the weak
principle of capital and growth sustainability
Present the functional division of environmental indicator
Complete the sentence: the concept of homo sustinens is a critique of neoclassical
concept of ……… and is an attempt at finding microeconomic/anthropologic
foundations of …
Connect in logical pairs the following concepts:
Homo oeconomicus – homo sustinens
Utility maximization hypothesis - hypothesis of survival of homo sapiens as a
biological species
What is the sense of Polluter Pays Principle as the internalization principle in
ecological policy
What means the principle of openness as one of the foundations of ecological policy
in a market economy
Give the definition of reactive ecological policy in a market economy
What is the nature of legal-administrative methods of ecological policy and what are
main kinds of those methods
List at least five kinds of economic instruments of ecological policy
PRESENTATION 1
Introductory remarks (message of Sustainable Development)
We know that even well functioning perfectly competitive markets may be
insufficient when it comes to proper allocation of resources in time because the
future is not adequately rewarded in any market (Robert M. Solow, Nobel Prize
winner in economics, 1987); it also refers to long term individual investments (e.g.
concerning health or good quality life after retirement (a related idea of paternalistic
libertarianism of Thaler/Sunstein)
, There are only two things that are really not limited: (1) number of generations
which we are responsible for and (2) frontiers of our intellectual capabilities (Jan
Tinbergen, Nobel Prize winner in economics, 1969)
The XXI century will be the age of natural environment or it will not at all (Ulrich von
Weizsäcker, founder and president of the Umwelt und Energie Institut, Wuppertal,
Germany)
Challenge of SD in the context of global climate change
I. Sustainable Development (ecodevelopment) – origins of the concept
Critique of mainstream economics’ (mainly neoclassical) theories and models of
economic growth
Criticism of identification of economic growth, understood as the maximization of
social welfare measured by the GDP or consumption per capita, with economic
development
Criticism of traditional growth theories (neoclassical and Keynesian) for not taking
into consideration negative social, ecological and other outcomes of conventionally
measured GDP growth and for ignoring many important factors influencing social
welfare (e.g. environmental quality, access to education, income inequalities, social
exclusion etc.)
Modifications of traditional economic growth models and theories through taking
into account the scarcity of natural resources and ecological quality (balance) in
growth models (e.g. neoclassical and Keynesian models of ecologically and –
simultaneously - ecologically and economically balanced economic growth
I.Sustainable Development– origins of the concept
Development of entirely new foundations of research on inter- relationships between
the economy and the natural environment
mass balance approach and ecological input-output analysis: economic growth as the
process of exchange of the matter in the complex megasystem: natural environment
– economy – society
Energetic (based on principles of thermodynamics and entropy) analysis of value of
goods and services, a well as of economic growth: calculus of accumulated energy-
intensity (consumption) of goods, enterprises and economies, energetic growth
models and energetic comparison of countries’ economic „conventional”(GDP
measured) growth, energetic „decoupling” of growth
Models of circular economy (in different spatial scale: from local communities to the
global economy)
Development of environmental valuations (valuing) methods and techniques,
including market related methods, natural capital assessment and ecosystems’
services value (both in the mainstream economics and heterodox schools: ecological
economics, sustainability economics, evolutionary economics and others)
Critique of standard patterns and pathes of economic growth and socio-economic
development:
, GDP/consumption maximization related growth as contributing to accelerated
depletion of natural resources, ecological deterioration and declining environmental
quality of life
GDP based growth as not necessarily resulting in the increase of subjective welfare:
welfare versus well-being and happiness (Esterlin paradox)
Critique of standard models of economic policy models (sectoral and macroeconomic
policies and their „greening”)
Evolution of environmental/ecological policy: from „reactive” (end-of-pipe-
approach), through „preventive” (integrated) environmental protection (ecological)
policy towards the policy of sustainable development and the concept of „green
economy”
Idea of Sustainable Development as reaction to natural resources and energy barriers
to economic growth and social development
the reaction concerned is primarily connected with the growing internationalization
and globalization of those barriers
On the one hand, it results in numerous attempts at regional (as in the case of
European Union’s ecological and Sustainable Development policy, and climate policy
in particular), international and global activities to mitigate and event prevent from
specific ecological issues (e.g. global warming, ozon layer hole, desertification – a
case of Sub-Saharan Africa, losses in global biodiversity – eg. danger of extinction of
many species, mass deforestation),
on the other, it frequently leads to growing rivalry in the access to limited resources
(e.g. the case of the so called rare earth metals), and primary energy carriers in
particular: ecological neo- imperialism, threats and dangers connected with using
supplies of primary energy carriers for the achievement of political goals (energy
terrorism).
Idea of SD (less poverty and more social inclusion) as respond to increasing
stratification in contemporary world (growing income and ownership divergence in
and between countries, as well as cultural and civilizational differences, and dangers
related to them); the threat of the so called new feudalism
Sustainable Development as an attempt at integrated (holistic, comprehensive) and
not fragmentary perception and understanding of development of economy and
human society, as the integration of following aspects (dimensions) of that
development:
1. Ecological (related to natural environment)
2. Economic
3. Technological and scientific
4. Cultural and institutional
5. Ethical (in broader approach: axiological) and related to social awareness
Perceived from a broad ontological and cognitive perspective, Sustainable
Development may be considered as an attempt at new holistic understanding of the
fundamental relation:
man (mankind, society) – natural environment (nature)
in economics, ethics, and philosophy (ecological and/or sustainability economics – as
opposed to neoclassical/mainstream economics, environmental/ecological ethics,
ecophilosophy), in accordance with above mentioned concept of integrated order
, II. Sustainable Development: idea, definition, features and objectives
Sustainability of development (growth) means that:
needs of currently living generations are not satisfied at the cost of diminishing the
possibilities of future generations to satisfy their needs („Sustainable development is
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs”, Brundtland’s * Commission
Report**)
current generations are not better off through making future generations worse off in
terms of their welfare/well-being (there is no intergenerational „trade-off” of welfare
at the cost of future generations), neither in environmental nor economic dimension
* G. H.Brundtland, Norway’s Prime Minister, WHO General Director
* * Our Common Future: Report of the World Commission on
Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) for the II
World Conference on Environment and Development, 1987
Sustainable – capable of self-enhancing and self-supporting its duration and growth
in the long-run: e.g. sustained catch in the fishery, sustained wood cutting in the
forestry, sustained exploitation/depletion of natural resources, sustained return on
capital in the bank, sustained consumption in the family
Sustainability means that we maximize a certain value (asset, income, yield, return
etc.) not at a given point of time (in the short-run) but in the long-run or even from
the secular perspective (e.g. inter -generational one )
There are over one hundred definitions of SD in the subject literature and policy
documents. Their most common feature is, in accordance with the Brundtland
Commission’s definition, the idea of intergenerational justice (economic,
environmental and social), sometimes being also called fairness or equity
Diversification of definitions is mostly, but not exclusively, caused by the adoption of
various criteria of sustainability
The very idea of justice may also refer to currently living generations. The idea of SD
means then striving for diminishing income, social, environmental quality related
and other disparities between countries, regions etc. (e.g. within the so called
Millennium Goals of the United Nations, the EU regional, ecological and social
policies or national regional development policies). In terms of intra-generational
justice (equity), the idea of SD implies more social cohesion (economic, social,
environmental, with taking into account their spatial dimension: more spatial
cohesion in the process of socio-economic development
Polish controversies: balanced/equlibrium development versus permanent, durable
or sustained development, Sustainable Development versus „Eco-development” (or
„green development”)
Sustainable Development – basic definition
„Sustainable Development is to maximize the net benefits of
economic development while protecting and providing playback of the usefulness
and quality of natural resources in the long term” (Pearce/Turner)
Development is sustained when no component of the vector of economic,
environmental and social objectives of the whole process of socio-economic
