Beyond Growth
Is the Degrowth movement the best chance we have to stop fossil-fuel capitalism and climate catastrophe?
Earlier this month, over 1,000 people attended “Beyond Growth 2023”, a landmark conference on “Degrowth” at the EU Parliament in Brussels.
Opening the conference, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “There can be no doubt: a growth model centred on fossil fuels is simply obsolete”.
Many people attending would have wanted her to go further, but that was a remarkable statement by a politician with considerable influence in Europe and beyond.
The Degrowth Movement argues that “Net Zero” targets driven by “green growth” can never succeed, and in order to have any chance of stopping catastrophic climate change, rich western economies must radically reduce virtually all areas of economic production.
As Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity without Growth and a leading figure for the movement put it: “People thought we could grow and save the planet with technology, innovation and just by being very clever”.
Degrowth advocates also say we should stop obsessing over GDP or Gross Domestic Product, the main measure of economic growth, and instead focus on improving wellbeing, regenerating eco-systems and reducing inequality both within countries and worldwide.
But it wasn’t just what von der Leyen said that was notable, but her presence at the event at all, as well as that of many high-ranking EU officials, who appeared on panels throughout the conference. That suggested a tacit — albeit reluctant — recognition that the market-based models that have monopolised global politics for over 30 years are no longer working, and the cracks in the economic system are beginning to show.
With backing from the Greens, the Left, the more centrist “Renew Europe”, and even a limited presence from the right-wing People’s bloc, this conference was in effect sponsored by a broad coalition the European Parliament. To be sure, the EU Parliament has limited power, but this is an unmistakable sign that the tectonic plates of global economics are shifting away from the mantra of growth at all costs.
Everyone who is anyone in the degrowth movement — and they’re mostly academics — was at the conference. But the movement has a gravitational field that is also pulling in just about everyone else from progressive and radical economics, such as Kate Raworth, creator of the Doughnut Model, advocates for the “Steady State Economy” and those for circular economics. And of course the Degrowth narrative has been a huge influence on the recent wave of climate activists such as Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion. In 2019 Greta Thunberg told the billionaires and politicians in Davos: “We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”
Beyond Growth showed that “Degrowth”, viewed by many as a radical green fringe, is now edging towards the political mainstream. By extension, Degrowth is also fast emerging as the pre-eminent challenge to the “Net Zero” agenda, loved by politicians and businesses, but which many environmentalists argue is really about keeping fossil fuel and other polluting industries in business for as long as possible.
But is Degrowth ready for primetime?
That remains an open question.
Many of the EU officials at conference seemed not to have read the memo. They listened politely, but were in no mood to ditch GDP just yet, such as Ramon Arjona, chief economist at the EU directorate for business, also called “DG GROW”, as if to underline the point. These officials plainly felt another surge of growth was just around the corner, and all these annoying questions about growth could be addressed with some kind of “GDP Plus” — the same basic stats with a few sustainability indicators thrown in.
But where did they think that growth was coming from?
Apart from those officials, the discussion at the conference was more or less entirely focused on moving away from growth, which is surprising, as most western economies have barely grown in the last fifteen years anyway.
In reality, since the crash in 2008, most western economies have either stagnated or have seen growth that’s been anaemic at best, while living standards and incomes in real terms are declining already. And with capital suddenly expensive after years of artificially low interest rates, there is really no prospect of growth any time soon.
And how will a movement that is based on people downsizing going to go down with the majority of people who have seen their incomes sharing and are struggling to get by already? The message that people on lower incomes could actually benefit from better provision of housing and services could easily be lost on most people if it is packaged as “Degrowth”.
Also, whether we like it or not, all our economic systems and models are based on growth, so in a degrowth world what happens to salaries for teachers and nurses, and to people’s pensions and savings? The degrowth movement needs to answer these questions fast to gain wider support.
The talk in the conference, was decidedly more intellectual than actionable, with plenty on policy but not so much on the nuts and bolts of actually building a serious movement . Activist were there — but they were few and far between.
As progressive economist Ann Pettifor told the conference: “We have been very pleased with ourselves cheering each other on, but we have heard no strategy for challenging power.
All that said, the momentum gathering around “degrowth” is impossible to mis. With global temperatures now likely to reach 1.5 within the next 5 years, and with emissions rising — this discussion can only go in one direction, with calls for degrowth set to grow and grow.
