Summary – Economics & Sustainability
Lecture 1: introduction
Population as a complex issue
- Rising population puts pressure on natural resources, ecosystems,
and energy demand. We as society are exceeding multiple planetary
boundaries, wealth is not distributed equally and climate change is
become more extreme.
- Sustainable development requires rethinking consumption rather
than just limiting population growth
o Sustainable development = development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland’s
World Commission on Environment and Development)
Club of Rome (1972): “a condition of ecological and
economic stability that is sustainable far into the future
and capable of satisfying the basis material needs of
people”
Goldsmith (1972): “a stable society that could be
sustained indefinitely while giving optimum satisfaction
to its members
Different countries face different development challenges and therefore
need different sustainability strategies. Cultural, political and economic
systems shape how natural resources are valued and extracted.
- No country has perfected this yet, so Kate Raworth stated that “we
all are developing countries now”
- Sine all countries have different starting levels and thereby not the
same directions to go. The solution isn’t homogeneous, there are
different trade-offs, countries have different capacities and
capabilities.
o The Global North has to try to sustain their current welfare
while trying to get more sustainable and stop transgressing
the planetary boundaries
o The Global South has to try to develop their welfare while
trying to stay within the planetary boundaries
Material footprint: the attribution of global material extraction to
domestic demand in a country; a way of showing the raw materials we
, Summary – Economics & Sustainability
need to produce what we want to produce and consume what we need to
consume
, Summary – Economics & Sustainability
The economic system is about exchanges between producers and
consumers within markets (products, labour force etc.). Markets are used
to ensure we have a continuity of exchanges. The idea that the economy
should produce the things people want, expressed by their ability to pay
for those things inside of different markets.
Elements of a capitalistic economic system:
- Most of the means of production are privately owned = influence
market powers. The more money you have, to more influence you
have on what is being produced
- Production for markets, including ‘fictitious commodities’ as labour,
land and money (Polanyi)
- Profit motive
- Price mechanism (under free-regulated markets) to allocate
resources
A lot of policies (energy or ecological transition) are mostly focussing on
carbon pollution. The carbon tunnel vision means that we sadly are
ignoring most of the other elements connected to the planetary
boundaries (connected to the ‘why’ are we overshooting those
boundaries). Its about the multiplicity about the drivers of climate change,
which is often overlooked.
, Summary – Economics & Sustainability
Lecture 2: weak vs. strong sustainability
Weak sustainability = relative scarcity, mainstream economics
(environmental economics, i.e. neoclassical economics)
- ‘Orthodox economics’, mostly mainstream economics focused on
scarcity
Strong sustainability = absolute scarcity, non-mainstream economics
and pluralism (ecological economics)
- ‘Heterogeneous economics’, an alternative focused on scarcity,
uncertainty and change
Economics is about managing scarcity of different resources: we evolve in
a world with limited resources, so we have to handle different trade-offs
- The aim is to understand the issues involved in human-economy-
environment relationship in order to redirect the economies towards
sustainability
- Economic theories are characterized by four topics: scarcity (trade-
offs), uncertainty (different scenarios), dominance (power dynamics)
and change (non-static)
Factors/means of
production: the needs to
be able to produce, also
defined as the total capital
stock
- Human capital is the
quantification of
labour. While labour
is ‘used’ on man-
made capital
Lecture 1: introduction
Population as a complex issue
- Rising population puts pressure on natural resources, ecosystems,
and energy demand. We as society are exceeding multiple planetary
boundaries, wealth is not distributed equally and climate change is
become more extreme.
- Sustainable development requires rethinking consumption rather
than just limiting population growth
o Sustainable development = development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland’s
World Commission on Environment and Development)
Club of Rome (1972): “a condition of ecological and
economic stability that is sustainable far into the future
and capable of satisfying the basis material needs of
people”
Goldsmith (1972): “a stable society that could be
sustained indefinitely while giving optimum satisfaction
to its members
Different countries face different development challenges and therefore
need different sustainability strategies. Cultural, political and economic
systems shape how natural resources are valued and extracted.
- No country has perfected this yet, so Kate Raworth stated that “we
all are developing countries now”
- Sine all countries have different starting levels and thereby not the
same directions to go. The solution isn’t homogeneous, there are
different trade-offs, countries have different capacities and
capabilities.
o The Global North has to try to sustain their current welfare
while trying to get more sustainable and stop transgressing
the planetary boundaries
o The Global South has to try to develop their welfare while
trying to stay within the planetary boundaries
Material footprint: the attribution of global material extraction to
domestic demand in a country; a way of showing the raw materials we
, Summary – Economics & Sustainability
need to produce what we want to produce and consume what we need to
consume
, Summary – Economics & Sustainability
The economic system is about exchanges between producers and
consumers within markets (products, labour force etc.). Markets are used
to ensure we have a continuity of exchanges. The idea that the economy
should produce the things people want, expressed by their ability to pay
for those things inside of different markets.
Elements of a capitalistic economic system:
- Most of the means of production are privately owned = influence
market powers. The more money you have, to more influence you
have on what is being produced
- Production for markets, including ‘fictitious commodities’ as labour,
land and money (Polanyi)
- Profit motive
- Price mechanism (under free-regulated markets) to allocate
resources
A lot of policies (energy or ecological transition) are mostly focussing on
carbon pollution. The carbon tunnel vision means that we sadly are
ignoring most of the other elements connected to the planetary
boundaries (connected to the ‘why’ are we overshooting those
boundaries). Its about the multiplicity about the drivers of climate change,
which is often overlooked.
, Summary – Economics & Sustainability
Lecture 2: weak vs. strong sustainability
Weak sustainability = relative scarcity, mainstream economics
(environmental economics, i.e. neoclassical economics)
- ‘Orthodox economics’, mostly mainstream economics focused on
scarcity
Strong sustainability = absolute scarcity, non-mainstream economics
and pluralism (ecological economics)
- ‘Heterogeneous economics’, an alternative focused on scarcity,
uncertainty and change
Economics is about managing scarcity of different resources: we evolve in
a world with limited resources, so we have to handle different trade-offs
- The aim is to understand the issues involved in human-economy-
environment relationship in order to redirect the economies towards
sustainability
- Economic theories are characterized by four topics: scarcity (trade-
offs), uncertainty (different scenarios), dominance (power dynamics)
and change (non-static)
Factors/means of
production: the needs to
be able to produce, also
defined as the total capital
stock
- Human capital is the
quantification of
labour. While labour
is ‘used’ on man-
made capital
