Overall, I don’t think the word green is a particularly useful term. We looked at the CICERO shades of green framework which can be used to rank the projects that green bonds fund from dark green to brown. We looked at the analysis of Patrick Moore, who personally doesn’t use the term, because of its lack of specificity. This article looked into various definitions of the word green in sustainability. The fact that the shades of green framework exists at all shows that there is a spectrum of projects that can be described as ‘green’ with varying degrees of sustainability. This includes the fact that green is being used to describe innovations like wind turbines and solar panels, even though they are made from non-renewable materials and often require fossil fuels to create them. Whilst there is a lot to like about the CICERO shades of green framework, there are still things left unanswered. This would include new infrastructure for fossil fuels, especially coal. These do not deserve the banner of green at all, as they are in opposition to a long-term low carbon future. Those that they flag as brown are the last category. These are better than nothing, but do not decouple development from its ties to fossil fuels. This includes projects such as efficiency for fossil fuel infrastructure. These are more sustainable than regular busses, but not quite as sustainable as fully battery powered busses.īonds that they flag as light green are projects that are environmentally friendly, but not attached to a long-term vision. Those that they flag as medium green represent a half-way house towards a long-term low carbon future and includes projects such as hybrid busses. This includes projects such as wind energy. Their opinions are graded dark green, medium green and light green to offer investors better insight into the environmental quality of green bonds.īonds that they flag as dark green must go towards financing projects that are aligned with a long-term low carbon future. You can find the framework below.ĬICERO is Norway’s foremost institute for interdisciplinary climate research. It should make it easier to decipher between projects that are green and projects that are not. I came across the shades of green framework by CICERO recently and I thought it was really interesting. His analysis is that it must be used objectively, and that ‘green’ products or services must pass other tests to justify their environmental credentials. Patrick’s contribution is a welcome one, as the former co-founder of Greenpeace, he should certainly know something about the word green and its use in mass communication. If asked what green means to me, I would say it must pass the test of being sustainable and clean.” “ Green is more of a political or marketing term than a scientific one and therefore refrain from using it when renewable, sustainable, or clean will do. Yet it is a useful term, a way of distinguishing relatively damaging technologies from ones that have less impact, if it is used objectively.” “ At its worst, green is a shameless marketing slogan, used to promote various products and services as environmentally friendly. But when it comes to the word green, it is very hard to define what it actually means.Ī great resource in this regard comes on page 19 of Patrick Moore’s book Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout.
Ideally, we would have a fixed sustainability lexicon, where individuals would be free to use terms and those terms would be widely understood. They can inspire a nation to greatness or lead them towards darkness. This article looks into various definitions of the word green in sustainability.