Green Economy -- An Opportunity During the Global Crisis

Abstract

When talking about natural capital is often difficult to relate to it as a form of capital similar to a financial capital or human capital. The difficulty arises mainly as a result of the diversity of forms that natural capital takes and due to the fact that it is not always possible for its value to be expressed in monetary terms. Some of the goods and services provided by ecosystems, such as wood, fish or berries, are normally traded on the market and their monetary value is known. For others, such as the costs of eliminating the effects of natural disasters, for example, the monetary value can be estimated. How one could also estimate the value of ecosystem services in relation to the willingness to pay for them by those who take benefit of them, as in the case of tourism, for example. Substitution between different forms of capital is questionable in this regard, especially because in addition to its intrinsic value, the goods and services provided by ecosystems provide a wide range of socio-economic benefits out of which most cannot be replaced by technology solutions. In this context, the green economy development, which implies increasing the energy efficiency and also the mode of resource exploitation, is seen as an opportunity and a necessity at the same time. Investments which consider objectives such as reducing pollution and carbon emissions lead to, on one hand, to increasing income and to an increase in the level of employment, and on the other hand, to preventing the degradation of ecosystem goods and services and biodiversity.