On 14 March the last submission period closed for contributions to the conference. After a first quick review it was already clear that all expectations were far exceeded: more than 350 scientific papers were received from a broad range of disciplines such as economics, psychology, geography and urban planning. Further 260 proposals for practice-based activities were submitted by various civil-society organizations and initiatives. The majority of the contributions came from European countries, although there were also submissions from Japan, India,Mexico, Brazil and the United States.
Professor Tim Jackson, author of „Prosperity without Growth“, and member of the conference’s advisory board, sees the conference as an important step towards overcoming the growth paradigm: „I hope that this conference will help shape a positive vision of an equitable and sustainable post-growth society“. Nina Treu, programme coordinator of the conference, is pleased: “The high number of contributions shows the great interest in the topic. I am sure that now we can put together a conference programme with many superb presentations and activities.”
At the conference there will be seven keynote-speeches and more than 20 panel discussions. Around 250 activities will take place on the basis of the received submissions, in addition to an inspiring artistic programme. Confirmed speakers are among others Naomi Klein, Sunita Narain, Alberto Acosta, Esperanza Martinez, Harald Welzer, Joan Martinez-Alier and Angelika Zahrnt.
In a recent op-ed published in Le Monde, French economist – and Emmanuel Macron’s economic program inspirer – Jean Pisani-Ferry argued that economic growth was necessary to fight against climate change and called for eco-productivism. The following op-ed is a reply to Pr. Pisani-Ferry that was originally published in Le Monde (in French). Recently, there have been calls for eco-productivis...
Recently, an article on degrowth appeared in Harvard Business Review (hereafter HBR). Rather than offering a critique of capitalism, the article proposes that degrowth may not be a threat to business after all, and in fact, there are burgeoning degrowth markets waiting to be tapped into by the risk averse. Although we applaud the authors in getting the word “degrowth” into the illustrious pages...
By Niko Paech The legend of green growth depends on three basic principles: (1) Increase of resource-efficiency, (2) closed material flow cycles and (3) renewable energies. However, despite a host of innovations in the field of climate protection, the ecological damages in the area of energy have been and still are on the rise. The process of ecological modernization reveals itself as a histo...
