Green Economy was recognized as an important tool for achieving sustainable development at the outcome documents of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 (Rio+20). In 2015, Tongji University and UNEP have cooperatively organized composition of the text book on Green Economy in Chinese, widely applied in education and training. Since 2016, UN Environment-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development（IESD） has been working with UN Environment  to develop a Green Economy Textbook for an international audience. The overall objective of this textbook is to catalyze international sustainable development through providing a comprehensive and systematic analytical framework of green economy to post-graduate and higher level students to assist their learning and research in this field.

Authors who participated in compiling of this textbook are from UN Environment, Tongji University, the Zayed International Foundation for the Environment,, International Institute for Environment and Development, University of Gothenburg, International Institute for Environmental and Development, The University of New South Wales, German Development Institute, University of British Columbia and so on. During the seminar, they discussed the chapters one by one and made arrangements for the improvement and revision as well as the work of publication and application.