Decoupling Debunked - Breakfast debate with MEPs and EU policymakers

Is it possible to enjoy both economic growth and environmental sustainability?

This question is a matter of fierce political debate between green growth and post-growth advocates. Considering what is at stake, a careful assessment to determine whether the scientific foundations behind this decoupling hypothesis are robust or not is needed.

This decoupling event reviews the empirical literature to assess the validity of the decoupling hypothesis. It further evaluates the probabilities of sufficient decoupling to occur in the future and presents seven arguments against this proposition. The conclusion is both overwhelmingly clear and sobering: decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation does not, will not and cannot happen anywhere near to what is needed to deal with the climate breakdown. Effective dealing with the climate breakdown will require a policy shift away from expanding the economy as goal, as well as a shift from efficiency to sufficiency policies. The authors conclude that this is not an ideological viewpoint, it is what all the best available data and studies on the matter tell us.

Discuss with a panel of experts, scientists and policy-makers and explore the implications of its finding for the EU.

Breakfast included.

Read the executive summary here and the full report here.

A detailed program will follow after the summer break.

More information about the organizer:

The European Environmental Bureau: www.eeb.org

Academic partner: ZOE Institut for future-fit economics: www.zoe-institut.de/en/startpage/