Degrowth: A Viable Path Towards Sustainability and Well-being?
#Degrowth is gaining traction as a potential solution to our planet’s environmental and social crises. Two recent articles examined this concept in detail.
Science at the Heart of Degrowth
Hickel et al. (2022) in Nature emphasized the crucial role of science in achieving successful degrowth. They identified four key areas:
-
Beyond GDP: Develop more comprehensive indicators of well-being that go beyond mere economic growth.
-
Overcoming Barriers: Understand and address the social and political challenges of implementing degrowth.
-
New Economic Models: Explore alternatives that prioritize sufficiency and redistribution over relentless growth.
-
The Role of Technology: Evaluate the potential of technologies to support a degrowth strategy.
Concrete Degrowth Policies According to Hickel et al. (2022):
** 1. Reshape Production: Reduce resource-intensive sectors like fossil fuels, fast fashion, and planned obsolescence.
** 2. Invest in Public Services: Prioritize universal access to healthcare, education, and renewable energy for a better social impact with lower resource consumption.
** 3. Green Job Guarantee: Create jobs focused on environmental and social needs, such as renewable energy or ecosystem restoration.
** 4. Reduce Working Hours: Lower the retirement age, encourage part-time work, or adopt a four-day workweek to decrease emissions and free up time for well-being.
** 5. Sustainable Development: Cancel unfair and unpayable debts of low- and middle-income countries, promote fair trade, and enable low-income countries to reorient their economies towards social goals.
Marquis (2024) in the Harvard Business Review further highlighted the need to rethink our economic model and debunks three myths surrounding “sustainable growth”:
Myth 1: The Energy Transition: Switching entirely to renewable energy sources is an illusion. They often augment existing energy sources, leading to a net increase in energy consumption (see also Fressoz, 2024).
Myth 2: Energy Efficiency: Increased efficiency often leads to higher total emissions due to the rebound effect. Companies report their carbon emission “intensity” rather than overall emissions, obscuring progress towards reduced emissions.
Myth 3: Innovation: Technological innovations like green hydrogen, carbon capture, and geoengineering overpromise and underdeliver. The environmental impacts of mining raw materials for electric vehicles (EVs) and producing and disposing of EV batteries are severe and often overlooked.
#Degrowth #Sustainability #SocialJustice
– Fitzpatrick, N., Parrique, T., & Cosme, I. (2022). Exploring degrowth policy proposals: A systematic mapping with thematic synthesis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 365, 132764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132764
– Fressoz, J.-B. (2024). Sans transition. Une nouvelle histoire de l’énergie: Une nouvelle histoire de l’énergie. Seuil.
– Froese, T., Richter, M., Hofmann, F., & Lüdeke-Freund, F. (2023). Degrowth-oriented organisational value creation: A systematic literature review of case studies. Ecological Economics, 207, 107765. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107765
– Heikkurinen, P. (2024). Degrowth: An Experience of Being Finite. Mayflybooks.
– Hickel, J., Kallis, G., Jackson, T., O’Neill, D. W., Schor, J. B., Steinberger, J. K., Victor, P. A., & Ürge-Vorsatz, D. (2022). Degrowth can work—Here’s how science can help. Nature, 612(7940), 400–403. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04412-x
– Marquis, C. (2024, June 11). In Defense of Degrowth. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2024/06/in-defense-of-degrowth