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As China, India, and other industrializing giants grow, they are confronted with an inconvenient truth: They cannot rely on the conventions of capitalism as we know them today. Western industrialism has achieved miracles, promoting unprecedented levels of prosperity and raising hundreds of millions out of poverty. Yet, if allowed to proceed unencumbered, this paradigm will do irreversible harm to the planet. By necessity, a new approach to environmentally conscious development is already emerging in the East, with China leading the way. Positioning its argument against zero-growth advocates and free-market environmentalists, Greening of Capitalism charts this transformation and sketches out a framework for more sustainable capitalism. State-mandated changes in energy use (as opposed to carbon taxes), a circular flow of resources (as opposed to emissions standards), and the introduction of new financial instruments that support green growth are cornerstones of China's framework. John A. Mathews argues that these tenets will be emulated around the world-first in India and Brazil. In light of this emerging shift, Mathews considers core debates over national security, international relations, and economic policy, ultimately addressing the question of whether these measures will be far-reaching or timely enough to prevent further damage

Mathews examines a handful of multinationals from the "Periphery" that have globalized their operations extremely rapidly. These firms have utilized strategies of international linkage and leverage to speed their global coverage. Mathews contends that the new global business world will offer unprecedented opportunities for firms that know how to enmesh themselves in global networks.

Industrial development, as it diffuses globally to encompass the great emerging 21st century powers China, India and Brazil, increasingly has to place energy issues at the core – to move off the fossil fuels that worked in the past but are creating impossible tensions now and to move towards a new green growth model that promises to reduce or eliminate those tensions as it expands. In this paper I review the issues involved in the new 'green industrial strategy' and discuss the institutional state strategies being deployed in China, India, Brazil and South Africa – the BICS countries – to drive the transition that is under way. The argument goes that in the 21st century the developmental state has perforce to be a practitioner of green industrial strategies. The Brazilian model with its threefold involvement of state institutions in developing rolling ten-year plans for renewable energy deployment, targeted investment with local content requirements through the national development bank and promotion of cost eductions through state-mediated reverse auctions, is discussed as a viable strategy.Keywords: industrialization, strategic planning, sustainable development, public policy, renewable energy, international cooperation, case study