The Growth-Sustainability Dilemma in BRIC

Abstract

Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are important countries that in the last two decades have become strong, both economic and politically. Due to the importance of these countries as emerging economies, and taking into account the current need for countries adhering to environmental standards, a relevant issue to investigate is if increasing levels of Gross Domestic Production (GDP) are tied with decreasing levels of environmental performance. This paper aims to analyze this growth-sustainability dilemma, focusing on BRIC’s economic and socio-environmental performance from 1990 to 2011. Theories on production-cum-environment and the sustainable development concept are presented to support the analysis and guide the empirical study. Statistical correlation analysis was the method used to measure the strength of the relationship between the trajectories of GDP and the behavior of the economic, social and environmental indicators selected. Results showed that GDP growth has occurred with advances in sustainable development, mainly in the economic and social pillars, but the dilemma showed up: GDP growth has been stronger in less sustainable countries, with China scoring as the worse in environmental performance and the leader in GDP growth. We conclude the paper with a concern on how feasible sustainability is for the BRIC countries.

Keywords:BRIC, GDP Performance, Growth, Sustainability, Sustainable Development.