ABSTRACT
Ecological modernization refers to theory claiming that there are reformist solutions to the environmental problems facing society. The term “ecological modernization” is attributed to Martin Jänicke and Joseph Huber who started using and promoting it in the early 1980s in Germany. Important theorists of ecological modernization are the environmental scientist Ernst-Ulrich von Weiszäcker, sociologists Gert Spaargaren and Arthur Mol. Ecological modernization has five core components: it believes “decoupling” of economic growth from environmental degradation is possible; it regards environmental degradation as a problem of collective action, to be overcome by coordination and better incentive setting; it makes environmental damage calculable hence it seeks to allow for an analysis of costs and benefits of environmental pollution; it seeks to internalize environmental costs into mainstream calculations, whether that is on the level of business and corporations or in terms of the analysis of macro-economic performance, thus “greening the economy”; and it has firm belief in the potential of technological and social innovation.
