CHRISTIAN DE PERTHUIS AND PIERRE-ANDRÉ JOUVET G R E E N C A P I TA L A N EW PERSPECTIVE G ROWTH ON Green Capital Green Capital A New Perspective on Growth Christian de Perthuis and Pierre-André Jouvet Translated by Michael Westlake columbia university press new york Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2013 Odile Jacob Translation copyright © 2015 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Perthuis, Christian de. [Capital vert. English] Green capital : a new perspective on growth / Christian de Perthuis, Pierre-André Jouvet; translated by Michael Westlake. pages cm Translation of: Le capital vert : une nouvelle perspective de croissance, published in 2013. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-17140-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-231-54036-0 (e-book) 1. Environmental economics. 2. Sustainable development. I. Jouvet, Pierre-André. II. Title. HC79.E5P45713 2015 333.7—dc23 2015002297 Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Cover design: Noah Arlow References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. Contents introduction The Color of Growth 1 1 Growth: A Historical Accident? 9 2 The Spaceship Problem: An Optimal Population Size? 18 3 Degrowth: Good Questions, Bad Answers 26 4 Introducing the Environment into the Calculation of Wealth 36 Contents 5 “Natural Capital” Revisited 47 6 Hotelling: Beyond the Wall of Scarcity 55 7 Nature Has No Price: How Then Is the Cost of Its Degradation to Be Measured? 67 8 Beyond Hotelling: Natural Capital as a Factor Required for Growth 76 9 Water, the Shepherd, and the Owner: A Choice of Green Growth Models 89 10 How Much Is Your Genome Worth? 99 11 The Enhancement of Biodiversity: Managing Access, Pricing Usage 112 12 Climate Change: The Challenges of Carbon Pricing 122 13 International Climate Negotiations 137 vi Contents 14 The “Energy Transition”: Not Enough or Too Much Oil and Gas? 152 15 The Inescapable Question of the Price of Energy 164 16 Nuclear Energy: A Rising-Cost Technology 177 17 Growth-Generating Innovations 185 18 Planning or the Market: What Are the Catalysts? 197 19 European Strategy: Jump Out of the Warm Water! 214 conclusion Green Capital, Green Capitalism? 231 Notes 237 Index 259 vii Green Capital