Abstract: The process of technological innovation is widely considered to be crucial to enable human development and to guarantee environmental sustainability. However, the process of development in the so-called Global South has delivered controversial outcomes in terms of social and environmental sustainability. Does this setting present new forms of sustainable futures or is it rather absorbing the consumerist attitude of the North through the elaboration of new forms of dependency and domination? By illustrating two case studies of eco-friendly innovations in Bangladesh and India, this paper attempts to shed light on the dilemmas that surround the introduction of the values of modernity in the Global South.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session "Technology and degrowth part 2: Practical cases" at the 4th International Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014.