Sustainable growth

Sustainable growth can be understood as the type of development that combines economic expansion and environmental responsibility (United Nations Economic and Social Council, 2008). However, this term raises a debate between the first approach, that gives greater relevance to economic growth, and a second notion that, instead, prioritizes ecological sustainability

The European Commission’s Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2020 indicates that ‘an economy must work for the people and the planet. Climate and environmental concerns, technological progress and demographic change are set to transform our societies profoundly. The European Union and its Member States must now respond to these structural shifts with a new growth model that will respect the limitations on our natural resources and ensure job creation and lasting prosperity for the future’. In this sense, the strategy intends to reconcile four dimensions: environment, productivity, stability, and equity.

Sustainable growth, within this framework, refers to a pattern of persistent growth in the economic indicators without having serious environmental effects. And, it considers the economy as an important factor in development, though it is dependent on planetary boundaries.

The main criticism of this term is that economic growth within the existing model necessarily implies an increase in extraction, production, and consumption, which contributes to the deterioration of the planet. In other words, greater growth implies greater ecological imbalance and, therefore, a serious risk to the natural limits on earth. As a result, from this point of view, economic growth cannot be sustainable.

Therefore, based on the sustainable development paradigm—which is associated to human development and the conservation of biodiversity—it is necessary to question the growth model. It must then be transformed into a redistribution model that is closer to the ideas of zero-growth or degrowth, and that places the ecological variable above the economic one.