Faced with the limits imposed by global climate change and the
de-carbonization of the world’s economy required to address it,
continued economic growth in the already affluent world does not
offer the solution; it represents the problem. That's the
premise of a book published this week by Tim Jackson called
Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet.
"Governments are locked into defending growth in a system where
stability depends on growth. Chasing growth makes it incredibly
difficult to chase climate goals too," said Jackson, who is
Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of
Surrey. "So what we urgently need is an economic system that
doesn't rely on growth. Right now the one we have is undermining
the ability of governments to function properly. It is
undermining wellbeing in the richest nations and failing those
in the poorest. It has already led us to the brink of economic
collapse and it is driving us rapidly towards catastrophic
climate change," he adds. The book calls for