SGS Occasional Paper - Green growth versus no growth
by Roger Gibbins, a Principal of SGS Economics and Planning.
The case for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is gaining political support. However, advice to governments on the means to achieve this end is somewhat confused. On the one hand there are those who advocate pricing carbon emissions in conjunction with investment in low carbon emission technologies. On the other hand there are those who argue that the throughput of the advanced economies must be halted - this is the ‘no-growth option'. And there are many positions in between.
The advocates of no growth argue that major changes to the way societies operate are required, including working fewer hours and distributing wealth more equitably. This paper questions the practicality and priority of this approach. It concludes that the priority should be reducing carbon emissions by pricing carbon; and the other very important issues of overpopulation and inequality should be divorced from this, albeit pursued with the utmost urgency in their own right.
During 2010 Roger Gibbins undertook the Graduate Diploma in Economics at Latrobe University. This occasional paper is a product of his research during the course.
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