The British state and the environment: New Labour's ecological modernisation strategy

Abstract

The environment and the pursuit of sustainable development were held as central aspects of New Labour's ''joined up'' approach to public policy. The way in which environmental concerns have been included within the overarching New Labour ''project'' has been by adopting an ecological modernisation approach to environmental policy, a central aspect of which is that the pursuit of improvements in environmental quality and sustainable development are not achieved at the cost of disrupting the government's efforts to sustain continued economic growth and investment. That is, New Labour's ecological modernisation project is concerned more with sustaining the British economy (specifically international competitiveness) than achieving a sustainable metabolism between that economy and its environmental inputs, outputs and ecological context.