Post-Growth 2018 Conference

The Post-Growth 2018 Conference is a multi-stakeholder gathering organized by ten Members of the European Parliament representing five political groups: Philippe Lamberts, Florent Marcellesi and Molly Scott-Cato (Greens/EFA), Alojz Peterle (EPP), Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (ALDE), Marisa Matias and Helmut Scholz (GUE) and Guillaume Balas, Elly Schlein and Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D). Our key aim is to re-think future policies and discuss alternatives respecting the environment, human rights and viable economic development.

“For the past seven decades, GDP growth has stood as the primary economic objective of European nations. But as our economies have grown, so has our negative impact on the environment. We are now exceeding the safe operating space for humanity on this planet, and there is no sign that economic activity is being decoupled from resource use or pollution at anything like the scale required. Today, solving social problems within European nations does not require more growth. It requires a fairer distribution of the income and wealth that we already have.” – Open letter signed by 200+ academics and published in newspapers in the run-up to the Conference. Read the whole text and the many translations, discover the signatories and their policy proposals by clicking here. Sign the related petition.

“We are now exceeding  the safe operating space for humanity on this planet, and there is no sign that economic activity is being decoupled from resource use or pollution at anything like the scale required. Today, solving social problems within European nations does not require more growth. It requires a fairer distribution of the income and wealth that we already have.” – 238 (as of mid-September 2018) academics signing an open letter   “Chasing GDP growth results in lower living standards. Better indicators are needed to capture well-being and sustainability” – Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in economics 2001

“It is possible to alter these growth trends and to establish a condition of ecological and economic stability. The state of global equilibrium could be designed so that the basic material needs of each person on earth are satisfied and each person has an equal opportunity to realize his individual human potential.” – The Limits of Growth report (1972), Club of Rome