This important new study traces the emergence of the concept of ecological modernisation , the attempt to reconceptualise the relationship between the environment and economic development. In the late 1980’s it was first argued that it would be possible to modernise industry along ecological lines, creating a springboard to a different kind of economic growth and moving away from the perceived dichotomy between jobs and growth on the one hand, and environmental protection on the other. In this book, a range of international contributors examine the evolution and the implications of this idea. The Emergence of Ecological Modernisation offers a wealth of empirical research material from an international perspective, bringing together previously scattered sources for the first time. It addresses a series of theoretical issues that are of key contemporary relevance, such as the relationship between ecological modernisation and sustainable development; strategies for promoting ecological modernisation, and the extent to which it is possible to ‘green’ contemporary capitalism.