KOSMOS CONFERENCE

3. Economies beyond unlimited growth

After a plateau in in the mid-2010s, yearly greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise again. Despite rapid technological progress, emissions have failed to decouple from economic growth. Hence, we are as close as never before to miss the ambitious climate targets set out in Paris in 2015. Does that mean that we have to deliberately slow down economic growth or even reduce economic activity? Proponents of such a degrowth strategy argue that the goal of achieving SDG 13 on climate action is incompatible with economic growth. Opponents, however, emphasize the benefits of economic growth for other Sustainable Development Goals, such as SDG 1 on lifting people out of poverty. Recent contributions aim to reconcile these opposing paradigms by adopting a broader welfare diagnostics rather than a narrow focus on economic growth. In this topic stream we welcome contributions that help us to further the debate and develop a better understanding of the solutions space for well-being within planetary boundaries.

 

 

Program

Session 3   Economies beyond unlimited growth (part 1): Connecting climate and sustainability ("multi-solving")

Thursday

11.00 - 12.30

room 1.401

 

Convenors: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change

  Session Chairs: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change
   
  Revisiting the paradigm of manufacturing-led development: Sustainability, digitalisation and the future of manufacturing in low and middle income countries
  Stefanie Kunkel, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies Potsdam (IASS Potsdam)
   
  Climate Denial: Populism, Post-Truth and Environmental Politics
  Maria Proestou, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Frank Fischer, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
   
  How a decision support tool helps to make sustainability tangible – A case study on dual-purpose chicken farming
  Felix Zoll, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)
   
   
Session 3   Economies beyond unlimited growth (part 2): Patterns of ecologically sound solutions (Provisioning systems, Diffusion Theory, Circular Anthropocene, Digital, ...)

Thursday

15.30 - 17.00

room 1.401

 

Convenors: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change

  Session Chairs: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change
   
  Organizing in a Sustainable Degrowth Society
  Iana Nesterova, University of Derby
   
  The diffusion of environmental product and service innovations: Driving and inhibiting factors
  Klaus Fichter, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg
   
  Mining the Anthroposphere in the context of Circular Economy Aiming for Sustainable Development
 

Vivek Jaisree Mohandas, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie gGmbH & Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung

 

Session 3   Economies beyond unlimited growth (part 3) - De-growth versus Green Growth (de-growth/green growth/a-growth/…) (block a)

Friday

13.30 - 15.00

room 1.401

 

Convenors: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change

  Session Chairs: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change
   
  Decoupling resource use and emissions from economic growth: green growth, a-growth or de-growth for zero-carbon society?
  Helmut Haberl, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna
   
  Should we put the brake on economic growth to save the climate? An overview of the scientific debate
  Michael Jakob, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Technische Universität Berlin
   
  Examining the case for a Green New Deal to address economic and sustainability challenges
  Tim Foxon, University of Sussex

 

 

Session 3   Economies beyond unlimited growth (part 4): De-growth versus Green Growth (de-growth/green growth/a-growth/…) (block b)

Friday

15.30 - 16.30

room 1.401

 

Convenors: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change

  Session Chairs: Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) & Maja Göpel, German Advisory Council on Global Change
   
  Fossil capital is a monster, and it needs to go
  William Lamb, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC)
   
  Critical business environment factors of innovative rural business cases
  Muluken Elias Adamseged, Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik und Bioökonomie e.V. (ATB))