Constructing Meanings of a Green Economy: Investigation of an Argument for Africa’s Transition towards the Green Economy

Low Carbon Development 
The climate change debate has garnered globally institutionalized structures to address its 
perceived threats (Eastin et al. 2011), making it the priority ecological crisis for the Green Econ-
omy. It is typically assumed that a consensus on the fact that global temperatures are rising and 
that anthropogenic activity is a major contributor to these changes exists (Bray 2010, Doran and 
Zimmerman 2009, Oreskes 2004). This legitimation of climate chance science through the IPCC 
(Oreskes 2004) however, has increasingly been contested over the last five years; two other per-
spectives on the work of the IPCC seem to be emerging, with scientists external to the panel 

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claiming its findings are overestimated while the scepticism of past contributors points towards 
an overestimation (Bray 2010). 
Relying on the still strong scientific consensus, a Green Economy pays particular attention 
to the energy sector. Maintaining the belief that both economic and environmental goals are 
achievable in quasi-simultaneity through adaptation and technological advancement, it approach-
es the climate crisis as an opportunity rather than a threat – an approach advocated by the likes 
of (Sudhakara Reddy and Assenza 2009). Energy is a key component of the Green Economy 
plot. This sector, an inescapable economic pillar, is both a source of crisis and opportunity as 
mentioned earlier. Still largely fossil fuel based, current economies and their carbon (equivalent) 
emissions have made major contributions to the climate crisis and adjusting for it has proven to 
be very costly to economies across scales (Bradshaw 2013, Bray 2010, Sudhakara Reddy and As-
senza 2009). Compounding this crisis, the volatile rising prices of fossil fuels brew an atmos-
phere of instability that not only has economic but also social impacts; energy is a security issue 
of multiple dimensions (Bradshaw 2013). 
In a Green Economy, an investment driven switch to renewable energy provides an exit 
from the entanglement of crises brought on by fossil fuels. The switch would gradually reduce 
dependency on fossil fuels and their environmentally damaging extraction processes while ensur-
ing a buffer against short term energy shocks from both climate change and energy market vola-
tility (UNEP 2011). Coupled with green production practices and development of green tech-
nologies, a significant increase in efficiency would contribute to significantly lower production 
and consumption costs, and carbon emissions for all in the future – these are particularly im-
portant for the housing and transport sectors in light of high urbanization trends observed glob-
ally (UNEP 2011). The low cost trend would also increase accessibility to electricity by low in-
come communities, especially rural areas and high-density housing areas in urban centres.