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17 Minn. J.L. Sci. & Tech. 153 (2016)
The Green Economy Paradox: A Critical Inquiry into Sustainability Indexes

handle is hein.journals/mipr17 and id is 161 raw text is: The Green Economy Paradox: A Critical Inquiry into Sustainability Indexes Oren Perez* ABSTRACT The idea of green economy, which was placed on the global agenda by the Rio+20 conference, claims to serve as a bridge between the demands of global capitalism and the vision of sus- tainability. In the corporate social responsibility (CSR) litera- ture, writers such as Michael Porter and Mark Kramer have made a similar claim, arguing that there is a positive correla- tion between corporate social performance and corporate finan- cial performance. I argue that the claim underlying the green economy thesis, whereby the goals of (classical) economic growth and sustainable development can be achieved concurrently, is highly problematic. First, the claim disregards the extent to which the web of ideas and institutional structures that under- pin the global capitalist system constrains the capacity of agents to commit themselves to sustainable policies. Second, it under- states the difficult tradeoffs involved in implementing green growth policies. This critique ties in with the debate over the capacity of CSR instruments to promote sustainable develop- ment. I examine this general critique in the context the two lead- ing global sustainability indexes: the FTSE4Good Index Series (FTSE4Good) and the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). Sustainability indexes epitomize the green economy thesis be- cause they claim to positively affect the sustainability profile of firms despite the fact that (or precisely because) they are situat- ed at the heart of modern capitalism: the stock exchange. I demonstrate how the paradox at the heart of the green economy thesis manifests in sustainable indexes. In particular, I high- © 2016 Oren Perez * Professor, Bar-Ilan University, Faculty of Law, Oren.Perez@biu.ac.il. I would like to thank Tsilly Dagan for her comments on an earlier draft of this paper and Ofir Stegmann for excellent research assistance. Thanks also to the editorial team of MJLST for their excellent comments.

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