A significant contribution also comes from Serge Latouche, the French economist and philosopher who coined the term “happy degrowth” (“décroissance soutenable”). Latouche criticises the obsession with economic growth and instead proposes a model based on eight “Rs”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Relocalise, Redistribute, Revalue, Resize and Rethink. The term, now widely accepted, is often used in political and institutional contexts too.
The concept of “Beyond Growth” is now entering the debate in many European parliaments, including the European Parliament itself. In May 2023, an event was held in Brussels involving parliamentarians from different political currents and over 7,000 participants. This event will have a follow-up this year with meetings in the national parliaments of several European countries. In Italy, the debate has already taken place on 19 April 2024 at the Chamber of Deputies.
Implementing a degrowth economy requires innovative and courageous policies, such as the redistribution of wealth at global level, the reduction of working hours in favour of a redistribution of work, the increase of local production and consumption, and investment in clean technologies and sustainable infrastructure.
It also requires a change in individual habits and in the collective mindset, valuing concepts such as sobriety, solidarity and generosity, which are necessary to face profound changes for the benefit of future generations.
However, troubling questions arise. How can economic stability be guaranteed in a system that is not based on growth? What mechanisms can ensure that reduced consumption does not translate into greater inequality or an economic recession? And again, how can developing nations pursue degrowth without compromising improvements in their populations’ living conditions?
It is undeniable that a growth-based economy has brought tangible improvements to the lives of many people around the world. Economic development over recent decades has improved the living conditions of a significant part of humanity. Unfortunately, this development has had considerable environmental and social costs worldwide as its counterpart.
Globalisation has brought cultures and populations closer together, but it has also facilitated the depletion of natural resources in areas that have not benefited from their own wealth. Take the Amazon, for example: its deforestation has both direct and indirect consequences worldwide, affecting the climate, biodiversity and local populations, without ensuring a fair distribution of the profits generated for the benefit of indigenous communities.
It is clear, therefore, that the concept of “Beyond Growth” arises and develops, given its complexity, from a variety of theoretical contributions across different disciplines, such as economics, sociology, ecology and political philosophy. Its application, which now seems inevitable in order to cope with climate change, cannot be left to chance. It is up to us to decide whether we want it to happen in a random and chaotic way, suffering the consequences, or in a controlled manner, for a desirable “happy degrowth”.
