by Antoine Buéno, Le Point, 4 September 2022
‘Sustainable degrowth’ or ‘sustainable growth’? In theory, both rest on a decoupling that has yet to be demonstrated. In practice, only the latter is achievable: a policy of degrowth has no support, no possible global coordination, and not enough wealth to redistribute.
In brief
- Degrowth has become unavoidable in the ecological debate, but its theorists, from Georgescu-Roegen to Latouche, do not say how it would be implemented or what its impact would be.
- From an ecological standpoint, it has an obvious advantage: when activity falls, damage to the environment falls too. From an economic standpoint, growth has proven its ability to raise living standards.
- Each camp assumes a decoupling: between GDP and environmental footprint for one, between economic activity and living standards for the other. The first is beginning to be observed in the most advanced countries; the second remains a pipe dream.
The article’s three arguments
Nobody wants it
No country is prepared to reduce its production and consumption voluntarily, yet to have any ecological effect, degrowth would have to start right now.
You cannot degrow alone
A country that degrew in isolation could no longer finance its imports or attract investment: it would be condemned to autarky and the disintegration of its economy.
A cake that is too small
In 2018, sharing out all the world’s private wealth would have given $42,266 to each of the 7.5 billion human beings, and under $32,000 to each of 10 billion. Producing less while redistributing more is impossible.
‘Degrowth is all the less socially conceivable given that sustainable growth is possible.’Antoine Buéno, Le Point, 4 September 2022
Why this debate interests us
Degrowth is one of the most discussed ideas in the public debate on ecology. APALA shares Antoine Buéno’s analysis: the transition depends on growth that reduces its footprint, not on a contraction of the economy that nobody wants and that would impoverish the most vulnerable first. This text has the merit of raising the concrete question that advocates of degrowth often leave aside: how would it be implemented?
Questions for debate
- Can the decoupling of growth from emissions become fast enough for the climate?
- Can a degrowth policy be anything other than an organised recession?
- Can the redistribution of wealth make up for a smaller economy?
To go further on apala.fr
Summary written by Claude (Opus 5.5 model), an artificial intelligence, for APALA, based on the article published in Le Point on 4 September 2022. The positions expressed are those of the author. Spotted a mistake? Write to us.
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