Articles 2020

Olivier De Schutter says new economic agenda needed to tackle crises of rising inequality and ecological collapse

The new joint policy brief offers a deep dive into the ways in which the social and solidarity economy can advance the objectives of the Roadmap by supporting the eradication of poverty beyond growth.

Doyne Farmer says a super-simulator of the global economy would accelerate the transition to a green, clean world

States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

EU officials warn climate breakdown and wildlife loss ‘are ruining ecosystems that underpin the economy’ […] The European way of life is being jeopardised by environmental degradation, a report has found, with EU officials warning against weakening green rules. The continent has made “important progress” in cutting planet-heating pollution, according to the European Environment Agency, but the death of wildlife and breakdown of the climate are ruining ecosystems that underpin the economy.

The European Commission said Friday it intends to scrap new rules against greenwashing after they hit a roadblock in the final stretch from conservative lawmakers calling them too onerous for businesses.

For years, climate scientists have warned us of rising temperatures, extreme weather, and ecological breakdown. Now, the very people who calculate financial risk—actuaries—are sounding the alarm. Their latest report projects a 50% collapse in global GDP within decades. That’s not a recession. That’s economic devastation on a scale we’ve never seen.

A new report from U.K. actuaries and climate scientists "shows a 50% GDP contraction between 2070 and 2090 unless an alternative course is chartered," said the lead author.​

he global economy could face 50% loss in gross domestic product (GDP) between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change unless immediate action by political leaders is taken to decarbonise and restore nature, according to a new report The stark warning from risk management experts the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) hugely increases the estimate of risk to global economic wellbeing from climate change impacts such as fires, flooding, droughts, temperature rises and nature breakdown.

Added complexity allows an economy to grow, even as resource limits are reached. But at some point, the complexity itself becomes a problem.

Cet article a pour objectif de montrer que le développement technologique et l’évolution naturelle sont deux forces antagonistes qui s’affrontent depuis l’essor des premières cités-États, de la civilisation. Alors que la technologie s’apprête à porter le coup de grâce à la nature, il devient urgent de prendre position.

Economic growth allows the few to grow ever-wealthier. Ending poverty and environmental catastrophe demands fresh thinking

Outgoing special rapporteur David Boyd says ‘there’s something wrong with our brains that we can’t understand how grave this is’

04/17/2024 - Even if CO2 emissions were to be drastically cut down starting today, the world economy is already committed to an income reduction of 19 % until 2050 due to climate change, a new study published in “Nature” finds. These damages are six times larger than the mitigation costs needed to limit global warming to two degrees. Based on empirical data from more than 1,600 regions worldwide over the past 40 years, scientists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) assessed future impacts of changing climatic conditions on economic growth and their persistence.

You would think that we have more than sufficient troubles caused by global warming, pollution, resource depletion, biodiversity loss, ecosystem disruption and a few more. But there is a problem that’s not directly related to the natural world, but by a purely human construction: the financial market. Here is a discussion by Ian Schindler — maître de conference émérite (emeritus professor of mathematics) at the University of Toulouse 1, France, who proposes that we are close to a financial collapse.

A focus on economic stability in the near-term makes the climate crisis worse in the long-term.

J’ai reproduit un texte du livre collectif Greenwashing : manuel pour dépolluer le débat public paru en 2022 aux éditions du Seuil et supervisé par Aurélien Berlan, Guillaume Carbou et Laure Teulières. Dans ce texte, l’historien Jean-Baptiste Fressoz explique pourquoi le récit d’une « prise de conscience » écologique récente est en grande partie factice – « la plupart des sociétés se sont préoccupées à leur façon de leur environnement ». Sous l’Ancien régime, les policiers étaient par exemple les premiers écologistes de France. La police locale avait en effet le pouvoir de fermer des établissements qui importunaient le voisinage avec leurs rejets polluants. Le mythe du réveil écologique sert avant tout les industriels. Et les influenceurs pro-industrie qui font leur beurre sur le désastre en cours. Jean-Marc Jancovici ou encore Thomas Wagner (Bon Pote) sont régulièrement présentés comme des prophètes de la « prise de conscience », du « réveil écologique ».

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We’re sharing the open letter published to accompany the start of the “Beyond Growth” conference at the European Parliament, and signed by members of the Zagreb Degrowth Conference team.

This report examines the economic and business models needed to address the impacts of the plastics economy.