Since the first industrial revolution, economic growth has enabled unprecedented increases in living standards for ever larger global populations. Yet, the current pattern of growth is environmentally unsustainable. Some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems are about to collapse irreversibly with catastrophic effects on biodiversity, global warming is accelerating, soil fertility and freshwater reserves are shrinking. Fundamentally new economic models are thus needed that maintain incentives for innovation and wealth-creation within our planet’s environmental carry capacity – but so far, the contours of such model are very unclear. So far, not one single national economy has been able to combine the virtues of technological progress with environmental sustainability.

What could be such an alternative paradigm? (How) Can we drive innovation and achieve wealth for the many while decoupling wealth creation from resource consumption and pollution? The German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) commissioned a major research project to explore the links between economic growth and sustainability. It discusses the pros and cons of “green growth” as well as “degrowth” and comes up with a hybrid version, which the authors call the “precautionary postgrowth position”.

The report was presented by three of its authors:

• Florian Kern, Head of the Research Team Environmental Economics and Environmental Policy at Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW)
• Nils aus dem Moore, Head of the Research Group Sustainability and Governance, RWI – Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI)
• Ulrich Petschow, Environmental Economics and Environmental Policy at Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW)

The report’s findings were then discussed by researchers from DIE.