In this class we analysed some economic views in relation to the environment: Innovations, neoclassicals, environmental, ecological, and green economic models.

Innovation’s economies are based in green growth and decoupling, which is the process of separation of economic activity and materials, detaching the economic growth from natural resources.

Neoclassical and some environmental economic views are pointing to who made the business needs to take care of the problem, such as pollution for example. However, still attached to the market as the best mechanism for arranging economies, therefore related to economic growth.

Ecological economy: move the environmental concerns into the centre stage, but allows the growth “optional”, steady-state economy (eco capitalism).

Green economy: is the more radical vision, as explained by the economist Cato, this vision includes political intervention and is related to the structural transformation of the economies, not accepting any previous model for example capitalism and its growth, asking for a creation of a new economic model.

We also analyse the rebound effect, where technologies that are designed to be more efficient are then used more frequently, therefore the saving in energy is not occurring.

As part of the ecological modernisation (that has this positive connotation) we analyse the concepts of decoupling, detaching economic growth from natural resources and degrowth, no growth at all, lowering the levels of consumption as processes to reach reconciliation the economy and the ecology.