Rethinking growth: Post-Growth, De-Growth, Donuts and Well-Being

Unpack the growth paradigm and hear from thinkers reimagining economies built around well-being, climate justice, and living within planetary boundaries.

This panel will explore the limitations of green capitalism and alternative economic approaches that shift away from growth-driven economies. What would a degrowth or regenerative economy look like? We’ll discuss local and global initiatives challenging the growth paradigm and examine how capitalism and colonialism have contributed to today’s crises.

This event is in partnership with the Master of Sustainability program at the University of Sydney.

This event is part of SEI’s Climate Justice Series. This panel series brings together leading thinkers and practitioners to explore the urgent intersections of climate action, equity, and systemic change.

Speakers

Julia Steinberger, European degrowth expert

Julia Steinberger is a Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Lausanne, examining the relationship between between resource use (energy and materials, greenhouse gas emissions) and societal performance (economic activity and human wellbeing). She is the recipient of a Leverhulme Research Leadership Award for her research project 'Living Well Within Limits' investigating how universal human well-being might be achieved within planetary boundaries. She is Lead Author for the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report with Working Group 3. She serves as a Lead Author for the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report and, since 2023, has co-directed the EU-funded project “REAL – A Post-Growth Deal.”

Zoe Whitton (Chair), climate change investment specialist

Zoe is Managing Director, Head of Capital Markets at Pollination Group, a specialist climate change investment and advisory firm. She helps financial institutions navigate the impacts of climate change, and to build and invest in new businesses and products which take advantage of transition opportunities.

She previously led the APAC ESG Research team at Citi, advising institutional investors globally on climate change and sustainable development. Earlier in her career Zoe advised investors at Credit Suisse and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and served as a youth delegate to the UNFCCC.

Zoe is the Chair of the Centre for Policy Development and serves on the board of the Australian Net Zero Economy Authority and the Investor Group on Climate Change; she is also a member of the Expert Advisory Panel for the Federal Powering the Regions Fund and sits on the Advisory Council of the Climate Governance Initiative and the Gold Standard Enabling Impact Working Group.

She has won numerous awards for her research and work on climate finance and risk, and regularly contributes to the wider conversation on sustainable finance by commentating in the Australian and international press along with various publications.

Manfred Lenzen, sustainability expert

Manfred Lenzen is Professor of Sustainability Research in the Integrated Sustainability Analysis (ISA) team in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney. He is an international leader in economic Input-Output Analysis and Life-Cycle Assessment, is Associate Editor for the Journal of Industrial Ecology, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Economic Systems Research. He has contributed major methodological advances as well as numerous applications, in particular on embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions. He is currently leading a project that investigates degrowth pathways for Australia's climate and wellbeing goals.

Sharon Friel, planetary health expert

Sharon Friel is an ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor of Health Equity and Director of the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse and Menzies Centre for Health Governance at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University. Her research focuses on the political economy of health; governance and the planetary, social and commercial determinants of health inequities. Her 2019 book Climate Change and the People’s Health highlights the importance of addressing the global consumptogenic system.

Mengyu Li, sustainable futures researcher

Dr Mengyu Li is a Sydney Horizon Fellow (Senior Lecturer) at the University of Sydney’s School of Physics. Her research focuses on advancing sustainable and equitable futures through data-driven analysis of global energy, climate, and food systems. With a background in engineering and sustainability science, Mengyu integrates methods from economics, environmental science, and systems modelling to explore the environmental and social impacts of consumption and production.

Annette Cowie, climate change specialist

Annette Cowie has a background in soil science and plant nutrition, with particular interest in sustainable resource management. Annette contributes to the development of climate change policy and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in the agriculture sector, including GHG accounting for emissions trading at state, national, and international levels. Annette was a lead author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land, and is a lead author in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report. Since 2000, Annette has been a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy research network, and led the group “Climate Change Effects of Biomass and Bioenergy Systems” between 2013-2018. She is currently co-leader in the IEA Bioenergy group “Climate and Sustainability Effects of Bioenergy within the broader Bioeconomy”.

Image by Timothy Dykes via Unsplash

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