What would a sustainable economy look like?
What would have to happen for this generation to live within its environmental means and to bequeath to the next generation a set of assets at least as good as it inherited?

What would the sustainable economy look like? How do we stop climate change and biodiversity loss?

Consumption would have to be on a sustainable growth path, having first ensured the proper capital maintenance of the infrastructures and the natural capitals. Polluters would have to pay, with prices reflecting the full costs of the pollution causes to make the stuff for us the ultimate polluters. Economic growth, driven by technological progress and ideas would continue, once the economy was put back to the sustainable level of consumption.

This would be very different from what happens now. The focus would not be on Keynesian boosts to aggregate demand, borrowing for current consumption, and quantitive easing. Living within our – and hence the environment’s means – would mean radical shifts in our life styles, changes to national accounting and to the frameworks of economic policy.

Getting to the sustainable economy would be politically very difficult, but not doing risks lots for climate change and further considerable destruction of biodiversity. Continuing on our current path is unsustainable: hence it will not be sustained.

To register to watch live online on Crowdcast: www.crowdcast.io/e/what-would-a-sustainable-economy-look-like
Date: 3 February 2022, 17:00
Venue: Online
Speaker: Professor Sir Dieter Helm (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Oxford Martin School
Organiser: Oxford Martin School (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: events@oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Oxford Martin School Series: Post COP26: successes, lessons learnt & what do we need to do now?
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/what-would-a-sustainable-economy-look-like
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Hannah Mitchell