Could Degrowth be the way forward to solve the environmental crisis?

A guest blog by Darcy White

At the Festival of Debate last week, Jason Hickel, political economist, addressed the topic: Degrowth: A 21^st Century Revolution. Hickel is a leading international scholar and writer in this field – and the 450-seat venue was almost full.

For those new to this concept, Degrowth can be summed up as follows; the downscaling of production and consumption to reduce ecological footprints, planned democratically in a way that is equitable, while securing well-being for all.

Hickel presented concrete data, beginning with an alarming forecast. Based on current trends, the planet is destined to reach 3.2°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century. He calls this “an unforgivable failure of the ruling classes”. The legally binding Paris Agreement (2015), set a target of keeping within 1.5°C to sustain life on this planet. To achieve this, greenhouse gas emissions needed to peak before 2025, and thereafter decline approximately 43% by 2030. This is not happening.

But it’s not just global warming that is at issue; the environmental crisis has many other aspects, including biodiversity loss, soil depletion and ocean acidification. The situation has become so perilous that we must look for new approaches. Degrowth has great potential to achieve what is needed and is fast gaining support.

Getting to the root of the problem

As Hickel made clear, the problem lies with our economic system, capitalism, which is driven by the need to continuously make profit. This leads to a situation of overproduction and overconsumption of things that make money. But this uses vast amounts of energy and other resources, whilst not necessarily meeting people’s needs. Capitalism as a specific form of market economy only works while it is growing. This is because the interest required to pay back loans that are invested in production can only be made by perpetually increasing the amount of ‘stuff’ to be sold. 

Degrowth scholars, such as Hickel, point out that some solutions that appear ‘green’ on the surface are deeply flawed. Such as the popular Green New Deal which has sought to solve the environmental predicament by transitioning to renewables. However, the GND still depends on growth. It requires material and energy resources and produces waste. The paradox is that as renewables have become attractively cost-effective, rather than replace fossil fuels, they have added to the energy we use.

Currently, we produce too many highly profitable but unnecessary consumer goods – SUVs, fast fashion etc. Yet there is chronic underinvestment in services that are less profitable to Capital. “We produce too much of the wrong stuff but not enough of the right stuff”.

High-income countries have extremely high energy use. Consequently, human well-being, particularly in the global south, and life on earth in general, is “squandered to enable continual growth in the north”.

Why is progress so slow?

“Capitalism cannot solve the climate crisis”. We must reduce the energy demand by 50% and this can only happen if we “scale down unnecessary production and consumption”.

However, “most ordinary people can’t comprehend a post-capitalist economy”, so we need to change the narrative. There is something wrong with the logic of capitalism with its pursuit of infinite growth and profit, no matter what the cost to the planet. This “needs to be put front and centre of our communications … If we don’t then we’re doomed”.

Hickel argues that real progress could be made if we urgently adopt a Degrowth approach. To this end, new social policies are “existentially necessary”. Hickel proposes a “credit guidance framework” to regulate the supply of bank loans towards socially useful production rather than unnecessary and harmful production.  

Our politicians talk endlessly about growth, but “Growth of what and for whom?”  GDP is our standard metric for measuring growth, but this doesn’t discriminate between the different goods or services being measured, such as weapons or health care. Understanding this “liberates us to take a more rational approach to the economy”.

What is to be done?

Hickel believes that “people already know what to do”. “This is a time for bold transformative action – this is a time for courage”.

So how did this Sheffield audience respond? During a probing Q&A the issue of individual consumption was raised by an audience member concerned that there is too much focus on the elites – sometimes referred to as the 1% – and not enough emphasis on what the middle classes consume. This seemed to resonate with many in the audience.

Another questioner raised concerns about ongoing investment in Sheffield’s weapons industry; instead, the skills used in such production could be moved into socially useful endeavours as has been done in other cities. Again, this received significant support.

Hickel, and others, are doing everything they can to find a way through the predicaments we face. Ideally, we need political leadership and good decision-making at a national and international level. Meanwhile, my feeling is that we also need to do our bit. What can people do: to consume less and yet live better; to help change the narrative and influence policy; to make a difference now? There is work to be done locally to identify ways forward. If you would like to help co-create a local group contact: degrowthslowdown@gmail.com

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There are plenty more events at the Festival of Debate. See the programme here.

You can buy Jason Hickel’s books on Hive.

Less is More. How Degrowth will Save the World

The Divide: A brief guide to Global Inequality and its solutions.

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