Green Economy in the Sustainable Development Concept: Historical and Legal Aspects

Since 2008, the economic crisis has propelled the global community towards a philosophical reconsideration of the principles governing the production and distribution of goods. The adverse effects of the uneven distribution of goods have incited further military conflicts, protests, religious upheavals, and other social disruptions, affecting all strata of society. Since the mid-18th century, the philosophical understanding of the economy has been based on recognizing resource limitations and rationalizing their utilization. However, the intensity of natural resource exploitation and the fear of ecological destruction in the mid-20th century compelled a reevaluation of the fundamental principles regarding economic growth. The notion of social progress, foundational to most sociological theories and justifying the necessity of perpetual growth in needs, has yielded to degradation concepts. Examining scientific articles, current implementation programs of new economic thinking, and reports from international forums indicate insufficient coverage of issues in developing the methodological foundations of the green economy concept. The objectives set by the authors of this research required resolving a series of sociological, legal, and economic contradictions, thus necessitating recourse to the dialectical method of investigation. A comprehensive examination of the problem necessitated the use of analysis and synthesis methods, which makes it possible to identify deficiencies in sustainable development indicators in the contemporary world and the impossibility of establishing a unified legal framework for their implementation. The historical approach allowed the authors to delineate the stages of development of the green economy concept, while the comparative method revealed common trends in implementing principles of new thinking in production.