BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//132.216.98.100//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.20.4// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20260627T235113EDT-84539duTwg@132.216.98.100 DTSTAMP:20260628T035113Z DESCRIPTION:Speaker\nProfessor Oren Perez (Faculty of Law\, Bar-Ilan Univer sity)\, an O’Brien Fellow in Residence here at 91 during the month of April.\nAbstract\n'The idea of “green economy\,” which was placed on the g lobal agenda by the Rio+20 conference\, claims to serve as a bridge betwee n the demands of global capitalism and the vision of sustainability. In th e corporate social responsibility literature\, writers such as Michael Por ter and Mark Kramer have made a similar claim\, arguing that there is a po sitive correlation between corporate social performance and corporate fina ncial performance. I argue that the claim underlying the green economy the sis\, whereby the goals of (classical) economic growth and sustainable dev elopment can be achieved concurrently\, is highly problematic. First\, the claim disregards the extent to which the web of ideas and institutional s tructures that underpin the global capitalist system constrains the capaci ty of agents to commit themselves to sustainable policies. Second\, it und erstates the difficult tradeoffs involved in implementing green growth pol icies.  This critique ties in with the debate over the capacity of corpora te social responsibility instruments to promote sustainable development. I examine this general critique in the context the two leading global susta inability indexes: the FTSE4Good Index Series and the Dow Jones Sustainabi lity Indexes (DJSI). Sustainability indexes epitomize the green economy th esis because they claim to positively affect the sustainability profile of firms despite the fact that (or precisely because) they are situated at t he heart of modern capitalism: the stock exchange. I demonstrate how the p aradox at the heart of the green economy thesis manifests in sustainable i ndexes. In particular\, I highlight the tension between the indexes’ dual role as financial products (tracking the firms’ share values) and as CSR i nstruments. I also show that both indexes suffer from a deep democratic de ficit\, which is inconsistent with their public function. I conclude with policy recommendations that could bring the indexes closer to a more meani ngful understanding of the concept of green economy.'\nDr. Oren Perez is a faculty member at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and specializes in enviro nmental law and policy\, international trade and globalization\, torts\, l egal theory and e-democracy.  He has received several research stipends\, including grants from Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment\, the Israeli Science Foundation and the Environmental Health Fund. Among his recent pub lications are “How Law Changes the Environmental Mind: An Experimental Stu dy of the Effect of Legal Norms on Moral Perceptions and Civic Enforcement ” in the Journal of Law & Society and “Precautionary Governance and the Li mits of Scientific Knowledge: A Democratic Framework for Regulating Nano-T echnology” in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy. Perez earned his LL.B. magna cum laude from Tel Aviv University and his LL.M. and Ph.D . from the London School of Economics and Political Science.\n DTSTART:20150422T163000Z DTEND:20150422T180000Z LOCATION:NCDH 609\, Chancellor Day Hall\, CA\, QC\, Montreal\, H3A 1W9\, 36 44 rue Peel SUMMARY:The Green Economy Paradox: A Critical Inquiry into Sustainability I ndexes URL:/law/channels/event/green-economy-paradox-critical -inquiry-sustainability-indexes-244371 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR