Le développement durable est-il compatible avec l’économie capitaliste ?

Sustainable development, fair trade, ecology and environment, ethics, ecological footprint : all these terms are nowadays taking up the medias. Over two hundred years, we went through four different approaches to the environment1 : exploitation, simply seeking for profit ; preservation, with the opening of natural parcs, like the Yellowstone national parc in 1872 ; purpose, using natural resources with caution ; and finally a sustainable approach, using ressources while making sure it does not have any damaging effect on the human and the bio-physical environment. We are thus witnessing the beginning of a profound transformation, the successor to the agricultural and industrial revolutions, the environmental revolution, or as Tony Blair refers to it, the « coming green industrial revolution2 ». We also hear constantly the following terms : market economy, stock-exchange, interest rates, profit, monopoly, economic growth... They describe the capitalist economy in which we live. These two opinion circles are oft in conflict and generate fiery discussions. Some argue that a development at the expense of the environment is not viable on the long term. In order to be perennial, the economic development should respect the regeneration rate of natural ressources, respecting at the same time the next generation. Others defend that sustainable development is a waste of time and money, and that is is not conceivable in our capitalist economy and its free market. This leads us to the following questions : do we have to choose between a prosperous economy and a clean environment ? Is it possible in a capitalist economy to set up a sustainable business ? Is sustainable business actually compatible with capitalism ?