This report by the Sustainable Development Commission argues that the pursuit of economic growth is one of the root causes of the current financial crisis, as well contributing to a growing environmental crisis and undermining well-being in developed countries.
Our reliance on debt to finance the cycle of growth has created a deeply unstable system which has made individuals, families and communities inherently vulnerable to cycles of boom and bust, while increasing consumption does not make us happier. Economic growth has delivered its benefits at best unequally, with a fifth of the world’s population earning just 2% of global income.
The pursuit of growth has also had disastrous environmental consequences. In the last quarter of a century, while the global economy has doubled, the increase in resource consumption has degraded an estimated 60% of the world's ecosystems and led to the threat of catastrophic climate change.
The global economy is already almost five times larger than it was 50 years ago. If it were to continue to grow at the same rate, it would be 80 times larger by the end of this century. While modernising production and redesigning goods and services have led to greater resource and energy efficiency in recent decades, the report finds that aspirations for 'decoupling' environmental impacts from economic growth are unrealistic.
Even based on a moderate level of growth of 2% per year, meeting 2050 carbon reduction targets would mean achieving a carbon content of no more than 6g CO2 for each dollar spent - 130 times lower than the average carbon intensity today.
The report, entitled Prosperity without Growth? says that the current global recession should be the occasion to forge a new economic system equipped to avoid the shocks and negative impacts associated with our reliance on growth. Ahead of the G20 Summit in London this week, the report calls on leaders to adopt a 12-step plan to make the transition to a fair, sustainable, low-carbon economy. Key elements of this plan include the following:
- Creating the conditions for people to flourish
- Building a sustainable macro-economy which is no longer structurally reliant on increasing consumption
- Putting an awareness of ecological limits at the heart of economic decision-making
For more thinking along these lines you might be interested in this website here, which has the proceedings from the first conference on Economic Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity.
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