Degrowth policies would be effective in fighting against climate breakdown and biodiversity loss and would secure human needs and well-being. Recent reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) suggest that this approach should be considered, but a just transition to a post-growth economic model poses several challenges.

With the aim of facilitating this transition process, eight leading scientists in ecological economics have published today an article in Nature providing governments around the world with a strategic policy framework to enable wealthy countries to reduce materials and energy while improving social outcomes.

The scientific group, which includes Jason Hickel and Giorgos Kallis of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), makes a series of recommendations that will enable governments to stabilize the economy in a post-growth transition, including universal public services such as health, education, and housing, among others, as well as a job guarantee, working time reductions and a fairer distribution of income. The authors also identify five ways in which researchers can help develop science and policy to ensure a just transition.