East Asia has enjoyed rapid industrialization during these two decades. However, some of them have suffered from environmental degradation locally, and others done from regional and global environmental degradation. Green growth and related concepts have been invented to overcome the trade-off between economic growth and environmental conservation. But is it enough for realizing sustainable development in East Asia? This article makes critical review of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis to show its role in the development of environmental economics. Then it examines economic mechanism that promote environmental degradation locally and globally to indicate what hinders environmental governance for sustainable development in East Asia.