Enabling a Flourishing Earth: Challenges for the Green Economy, Opportunities for Global Governance

Abstract

This article addresses the two key themes of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), taking an integrative perspective. The case is being made that a ‘green economy’ remains illusionary without major reforms of the UN system of global governance; and that reforms in governance require the implementation of a new economic vision. An integrative perspective requires a commonly shared moral basis, as exemplified by the Earth Charter.