Can degrowth fix the economy?

As the climate crisis accelerates, one critical issue remains unaddressed: economic growth has long been tied to increasing carbon emissions and resource depletion. This raises an important question: can we truly decarbonize our economy while pursuing endless economic growth?

For some experts, the answer is a resounding no.

Instead, they advocate a concept known as degrowth. By reducing consumption and rethinking the way we define progress, proponents argue that we can continue to improve our quality of life – while also living within the planet’s ecological limits.

But what exactly is degrowth, and how would it reshape the global economy?

In this GLF Live, we will explore whether degrowth is a viable economic alternative and discover some success stories from around the world. Join us as we get the lowdown from Alex Baumann, Leisa Perch and Nooshin Akrami.

Dr. Alex Baumann is a degrowth academic at Western Sydney University, focusing on how land privatization sits at the economic foundation of our collective reliance on economic growth. Alex’’s research demonstrates that, since the advent of land privatization under capitalism, most people have had few options outside the market economy to secure housing and meet other basic needs. To break this cycle of unsustainable growth dependence and advance degrowth, Baumann advocates for revitalizing urban land commons for housing, food production, and other community-led initiatives. He proposes a policy pathway to achieve this by reframing public and social housing initiatives. Watch Baumann and his Sustainable Futures students deliver a short presentation on this analysis here.

Leisa Perch is the managing director, founder and practice manager of SAEDI Consulting (Barbados) Inc. With more than 25 years in international development, including working for more than 20 years on social and environmental management issues, she has provided technical expertise at national, regional and international levels including research to inform policy and decision-making processes from a social and gender perspective. Perch is a lead author of the IPCC FAR, the 1st Gender and Environment Outlook, the GEO-6 Report and the current GEO-7 Report. She is a member of the Caribbean Action Learning Group on the Green Economy, Advancing Women in Development (AWID) and the Caribbean Climate Justice Alliance, where she coordinates the Gender Working Group. Perch serves on the Advisory Council of the Society of Gender Professionals (SGP) and is an activist in the gender and climate spaces.

Nooshin Akrami is a sustainability and coaching professional and academic holding chartered qualifications as an environmentalist and architectural technologist. She became aware of the harmful impact that growth-based economics has on both the environment and social justice 15 years ago when studying for an MSc in Sustainable Planning and has kept this at the forefront of her work ever since. Akrami is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy.