Over 400 economic experts sign an open letter calling for Post-Growth economy #3

Many journalists were present at the recent Beyond Growth 2023 Conference but their coverage was not published because their “editors refuse to print any story critical of economic growth,” according to Julia Steinberger, Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Lausanne and a speaker at the conference. 

On the opening day of the conference an open letter, authored by Timothée Parrique, Kate Raworth and Vincent Liegey, was published and co-signed by 400+ experts and civil society groups urging that a post-growth Europe is critical for humanity to not only survive but also thrive. 

I joined a viewing party of the conference in Helsinki organized by Rethinking Economics Finland, Climate Move and Eurooppanuoret. And since I don’t have any editors breathing down my neck, I figured I could write something! The plenary and panel sessions were quite different in format to startup conferences I’m used to attending… there were no lasers.

Key takeaways

1. There is a rather large movement of scientists, economists, policymakers, activists and experts focused on the topic of post-growth and urging people to take the topic seriously – quite similarly to earlier days around climate change.

2. GDP should never be used as a measure of human well-being. This is something Simon Kuznets, the creator of GDP, himself warned against, "The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income".

3. The critique of an economic system based on economic growth is not new. 2022 marked the 50 year anniversary of the Club of Rome’s landmark report The Limits to Growth. Published in 1972, a team of scientists led by Donella Meadows modeled the interactions between the earth and human systems and based on their findings warned to stop population and economic growth or else our planet will not cope. In the decades since, various alternatives to a growth-based economy have been put forward including a steady-state economy, post-growth, doughnut economics, and degrowth.

4. Green growth is not a radical transformation towards a more sustainable future and has not proven to be feasible after over 50 years of trying. Absolute decoupling, the ultimate goal of green growth, accounts only for carbon emissions and the effects of it on climate change, but not for the other 8 planetary boundaries. Even if we manage to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050, which we are nowhere near doing, we still can set off other ecological tipping points in our earth systems. 

5. Our current economic system is undemocratic. Degrowth on the other hand is a planned and democratic reduction of production and consumption in rich countries to reduce environmental pressures and inequalities, while improving well-being. It has four main characteristics: sustainability, justice, well-being and democracy. This means that low-income countries in the global south could still grow in order to meet high-income countries in social well-being. In a post-growth economy we would produce and create less of the things that don’t improve everyone’s life quality, like SUVs, cruises and mansions – and more of the things that do, like public transport, infrastructure and affordable housing. 

6. Our economy can be designed in a different way through not only policymaking but also through designing businesses in ways that align with human values. It is key to look at the deep design of the business as related to its Purpose, Networks, Governance, Ownership and Finance.

Bullet points

• What: Beyond Growth 2023 Conference, the second conference at the European Parliament on how to move beyond growth following the success of the Post-Growth 2018 Conference

• Organizers: The Greens/European Free Alliance (European Parliament, The Left (European Parliament, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (European Parliament), Renew Europe (European Parliament), The European People’s Party Group (European Parliament)

• When: 15-17 May

• Where: Brussels and online 

• Program: Full Programme PDF (Full livestream of all Plenaries and Panels still available. Many interesting ones so check it out!)

• Speakers: Full List of Speakers. 

• Recommended speakers: (You can click on the hyperlink and at the bottom of the profile page find their sessions under Workshops)

  • Dr. Jason Hickel – Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona / Author of The Divide and Less is More

  • Kate Raworth – Senior Associate, Oxford University / Author of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist

  • Giorgios Kallis – Professor in Ecological Economics and Political Ecology, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Barcelona

  • Timothee Parrique, Researcher in Ecological Economics at Lund University

  • Yamina Saheb – Lead Author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

  • Joseph Stiglitz – Professor, University of Columbia, Nobel Prize of economics

  • Dr. Johan Rockström – Professor, Potsdam Institute

  • Aurelien Barrau – Professor, University of Grenoble

  • Anuna De Wever - Climate and Social Justice activist

• Sessions directly related to Entrepreneurship, Business, Industry:

  • Focus Panel 2 – How to target and future-proof industrial policy towards climate neutrality?

  • Focus Panel 8 – Cutting the addiction of labour to growth: the 4 days week

  • Focus Panel 11 – Designing businesses in a future-fit economy

  • Focus Panel 19 – A financial system fit for a post growth economy

Summary

The Beyond Growth 2023 Conference is a multi-stakeholder event aiming to discuss and co-create policies for sustainable prosperity in Europe, based on a systemic and transformative approach to economic, social and environmental sustainability and its encompassing governance framework.

With this conference, the organisers aim to challenge conventional policy-making in the European Union and to redefine societal goals across the board, in order to move away from the harmful focus on the sole economic growth – that is, the growth of GDP – as the basis of our development model. The conference will put into practice the idea of a post-growth future-fit EU that combines social well-being and viable economic development with the respect of planetary boundaries.

This three days major event is a cross-party initiative of 20 Members of the European Parliament, supported by a wide-range of partner organisations, which follows the success of the Post-Growth 2018 conference. The conference offers an opportunity for discussion across institutional boundaries and with European citizens. It will involve stakeholders from EU and national policymaking, academia, social partners, businesses and civil society organisations. As it aims to discuss the future of European citizens, it will take place in their house, in the European Parliament (Brussels’ site) on 15-16-17 May 2023.

Signing off

I, along with the Wicked Helsinki community, would love to explore these topics together with you. Check out Wicked Helsinki Linktree to get connected on Telegram, Discord and other channels.

And find me on Twitter @vernerivalimaa, LinkedIn @vernerivalimaa or Instagram @vernerivv .