Weak versus Strong Sustainability

Exploring the Limits of Two Opposing Paradigms, Fourth Edition

4th edition

Eric Neumayer, Professor of Environment and Development, Department of Geography and Environment and Associate, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

This fourth edition of an enduring and popular book has been fully updated and revised, exploring the two opposing paradigms of sustainability in an insightful and accessible way. Eric Neumayer contends that central to the debate on sustainable development is the question of whether natural capital can be substituted by other forms of capital. Proponents of weak sustainability maintain that such substitutability is possible, whilst followers of strong sustainability regard natural capital as non-substitutable.