Economic growth is still heating the planet. Is there any way out?

"During Cop30 negotiations in Brazil last year, delegates heard a familiar argument: rising emissions are unavoidable for countries pursuing growth. Since the first Cop in the 1990s, developing nations have had looser reduction targets to reflect the economic gap between them and richer countries, which emitted millions of tonnes of CO2 as they pulled ahead. The concession comes from the idea that an inevitable cost of prosperity is environmental harm."

"Post-growth economists often reject GDP in favour of new frameworks that account for environmental damage such as the doughnut economics adopted recently by Amsterdam, or New Zealand's attempt at a wellbeing budget. The field has its disagreements, particularly over the extent to which countries should actively pursue de-growth measures to scale down their economies. But proponents agree that with the planet pushed to the limit, a radical rethink is needed."

Developing nations historically received looser emissions-reduction targets to reflect economic gaps and prior industrialization by richer countries. Global GDP per capita and annual carbon emissions both reached new highs in 2024, reinforcing a link between growth and environmental harm. Rising concerns about missed climate targets and possible crossed tipping points are undermining faith in perpetual growth. The UN secretary general urged moving beyond GDP as a measure of progress, warning that current accounting drives planetary risk. Post-growth economics promotes alternatives like doughnut economics and wellbeing budgets, debates de-growth versus managed downscaling, and calls for a radical economic rethink.

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