Costing the Earth?

Perspectives of Sustainable Development
By Bernd Meyer

The United Nations estimates that the global population will grow to 9 billion by 2050. At the current rate, this will mean a 50% increase in our consumption of natural resources by 2030, with a similar increase in the production of harmful waste and greenhouse gases. 

Our economies must react. “Sustainable behavior must pay off” – this is one of the central tenets of The Sustainability Project. Costing the Earth: Restructuring the Economy for Sustainable Development outlines the economic conditions for achieving the goal of sustainable development, in Europe and around the world. It also explains the incentives for sustainable economic management using economic tools.

Bernd Meyer is Professor of Macro Economics at the University of Osnabr?ck. He was chairman of the department of Evolutionary Economics at the Society of Economic and Social Sciences, and chairman of the Council of Advisors for Economic-Environmental Accounting at the German Ministry for the Environment.