King's College London

Market Economies and Green Ideals, led by Professor Mark Pennington and Dr Roberto Fumagalli, has received a grant of more than £2.3million from the John Templeton Foundation.

The project will investigate how different economic models interact with environmental and sustainability objectives, fostering dialogue between proponents of free-market economies and those advocating for more directive governance approaches, such as 'missionary government' and 'stakeholder governance’.

Running over a period of three years, the project will support disciplinary and interdisciplinary research in economics, law, philosophy, politics and their relationship to natural scientific analysis.

Among a broad range of questions to be address, scholars will be examining:

• The relationship between economic growth and environmental protection.
• The adequacy of neo-classical economic concepts like 'externalities' and 'public goods' in addressing environmental challenges.
• The applicability of ecological economics concepts such as 'systemic ecological risk' and 'ecological tipping points' in sustainable governance.
• The ethical considerations of environmental boycotts.
• The effectiveness of Environmental, Social, and Governance procedures in balancing individual and enterprise freedom with environmental and social justice

The project will sponsor research at King’s and other higher education institutions in the UK and worldwide. It will host a visiting scholars programme and will recruit several post-doctoral researchers engaged in conversations over the requirements of sustainability.

Public events such as lectures, seminars and workshops are planned with representatives from different perspectives on the political economy of market governance and sustainability. The project will commission more than 40 new academic papers engaging the project themes and it will also support the creation of a new text on Market Economies and Green Ideals for the higher education market.

You can find out more about the John Templeton Foundation here.