UNRISD has just published the first papers in a new series on the Social Dimensions of Green Economy and Sustainable Development. This Occasional Paper series, produced in collaboration with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) for Rio+20, aims to stimulate debate around the
social dimensions of green economy and sustainable development.
Poverty reduction and equitable development are often assumed to be outcomes of low-carbon growth, which in turn is achieved principally through market mechanisms. Targeted social protection interventions are designed in tandem to compensate or protect marginalized or disadvantaged groups. Yet the papers in this series show that deeper transformation of the social structures, institutions and power relations underpinning vulnerability and inequality is required to ensure that development processes are greener and fairer for all. Social policy, broadly conceived, has a key role to play in both achieving this transformation, and supporting changes in the structures of production and consumption necessary for a green economy.
The papers in this series are drawn from a conference, Green Economy and Sustainable Development: Bringing Back the Social Dimension, that UNRISD held in October 2011.
The first four papers in the series are listed below.