The phrase “green economy” was coined in 1989 in the title1 of the pioneering report: Blueprint for a green economy, which was commissioned by the United Kingdom Department of Environment.2 In late 2009, while searching for a response to the international financial crisis and economic downturn against the backdrop of increased commodities prices and climate change, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) helped to popularize the term when it shifted its focus from implementing the Global Green New Deal strategy in 2008 to achieving a green economy. UNEP (2011) defines green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities.

The twin concept of green growth was also initiated before the financial crisis of 2007-2008 at the fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development, which was held in Seoul from 24 to 29 March 2005. The Conference agreed to move beyond rhetoric and materialize sustainable development by adopting a path of "green growth".3 According to OECD (2011), green growth aims to foster economic growth and development, while ensuring that natural assets are used sustainably, and continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which growth and well-being rely.

The approach of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to the green economy focuses on the contribution of environmental technologies to a growing economy and emphasizes the importance of economic growth (Sutton and others, 2014). Based on the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (2013), green growth can be perceived as the process that leads to the given state of the economy that can be named as a green economy. The phrase green growth is a policy perspective aimed at operationalizing the normative concepts of green economy and sustainable development and advancing green economy and sustainable development in growth models in a way that simultaneously expands the economy, brings prosperity to all, and preserves the environment (Samans, 2013). The two concepts are closely linked and similar.                     Read More >>>