20.500.12592/337cfs
Beyond economic growth
2 February 2023
Summary
It is widely accepted that the pursuit of economic growth is becoming increasingly infeasible and undesirable, necessitating substantial changes to European economies.European economic activity in terms of emissions, resource use, pollution and impacts on biodiversity is ecologically unsustainable. In the face of tipping points soon to be reached and cascading, inter-related ecological crises, the impacts of economic activities need to fall rapidly and substantially to avert disaster. It is no longer possible to decouple growth from ecological impacts sufficiently within the required timespan. Furthermore, even disregarding the necessity to reduce ecological impacts, a multitude of reasons – from energy crises to demographic change – are leading many economists to question European growth prospects.
