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Rio+20 Policy Brief: A green economy for a planet under pressure
Planet under pressure (IGBP), 2012
by: Planet Under Pressure (IGBP)

This policy brief by Planet under Pressure is one of nine policy briefs produced by the scientific community to inform the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The brief suggests that the current concept of the egreen economyf is based on a traditional and trickle]down economic growth theory which has rendered it inadequate. In this light, the document sets out a series of guidelines for the social and technological transformation needed for a new economic system:


1. Find common agreement on an agreed set of planetary boundaries that the global society should not cross.

2. Establish a common set of rules for the global economic system that emphasises not short]term monetary benefits, but long]term sustainable well]being.

3. Allow all countries to give their citizens access to the six key instrumental freedoms.

4. Establish a set of rules on technology transfer and development, which would enable technology to be either developed or adapted locally.

5. Measure country progress by establishing a new set of accounts that track well]being and not just economic performance.

United Nations