A new report by the Sustainable Development Commission, "Redefining Prosperity" challenges the coupling of prosperity with growth. It agrues that the economy is geared, above all, to economic growth; that economic policy in the current recession is all about returning to growth. However it suggests that the current recession can be an opportunity for some basic rethinking and restructuring.
The report argues that two objectives other than growth – sustainability and wellbeing – have moved up the political and policy-making agenda in recent years, challenging the overriding priority traditionally given to economic growth. "Redefining Prosperity" considers the connections and conflicts between sustainability, growth, and wellbeing.
The report analyses the relationship between growth and the growing environmental crisis and 'social recession'. In the last quarter of a century, while the global economy has doubled, the increased in resource consumption has degraded an estimated 60% of the world’s ecosystems. The benefits of growth have been distributed very unequally, with a fifth of the world’s population sharing just 2% of global income. Even in developed countries, huge gaps remain in wealth and well-being between rich and poor.
The report argues that while modernising production and reducing the impact of certain goods and services have led to greater resource efficiency in recent decades, current aspirations for 'decoupling' environmental impacts from economic growth are unrealistic. The report finds no evidence as yet of decoupling taking place on anything like the scale or speed which would be required to avoid increasing environmental devastation.
The report is available from www.sd-commission.org.uk
