ONE thing which marks Green politics out from other parties is the rejection of the idea that growth is all that matters in the economy.

Long term, it's absurd to imagine that growth can last forever when we only have one planet to live on, and its resources are finite.

But even in the short term growth doesn't tell you much about what's happening in the economy.

When economists talk about growth it's usually measured in Gross Domestic Product - roughly speaking it's a measure of how much money is swilling around in the economy.

But GDP isn't the same as wellbeing - it can go up while society gets more unequal, more unhealthy, or more polluted.

And sometimes improving people's quality of life doesn't show up at all in GDP.

It tells us how much money is changing hands, but says nothing about who's getting the raw end of the deal.

It doesn't care whether the economy is benefitting the wealthiest alone, or the whole of society.

GDP also ignores other things which keep the economy alive, like unpaid work in homes and communities.

Yet it has become so dominant that when politicians talk about it, it's almost always about how to create more of it at any cost.

So it was welcome to see the Scottish Government launch its latest economic initiative, the 'Scottish Business Pledge' with an emphasis not on tax breaks or deregulation, but on how business needs to behave ethically if we're going to have an economy which does more than keep the wealthiest happy.

The idea here is that businesses need to achieve more than "the bottom line"; more than just making money.

If they want to play a part in a decent society, they need to pay their workforce decently instead of exploiting them, contribute to their local community, and have a creative culture.

Nine key pledges are proposed, and businesses which sign up will be expected to work toward them all.

There were two big omissions from the list.

Environmental standards got very little mention, and should be higher up the agenda.

Some businesses are getting better on this, but too many see it as "greenwash" - minor improvements made only for public relations reasons.

And I saw nothing at all about tax ethics.

The culture of legal tax avoidance is a national scandal, and there should be no excuse for businesses which use tax havens or other loopholes.

But the basic idea is a good one.

If we want a fairer, better economy we need to ensure that it benefits everyone, not just those at the top of the pile.

The Scottish Business Pledge isn't perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.