1. Sustainable Degrowth
of production/consumption
capacities
Francois Schneider
Francois@degrowth.net
www.degrowth.net
Associate Researcher at the
Autonomous University of Barcelona
ICTA

2. Is there limits to growth?
• Green growth
• Green new deal
• Sustainable development
• Technical Progress
• Cleaner production
• Industrial Ecology
• Sustainable consumption
• Higher quality of life
• Improvement of well-being

3. Degrowth for sustainability
and equity
• Slogan to challenge the consensus for
growth: « missile concept »
• Reduction of the capacity to produce and
consume
– that is sustainable, balanced, democratic,
convivial, ecological, social, positive,
cultural, fair, innovative, diversified,
targeted, local, global and transitory.

4. Clarifications for Sustainable
Degrowth
• The first degrowth: degrowth of inequity
• Process of transformation
• Lower actual and potential consumption and production
• Diverse : generalisable but unique lifestyles
• Personal and collective at local and global levels
• Democratic: for growth critics and implementation
• NOT a universal concept
• Avoiding crisis or recession (failed growth)
• Transition to multi-dimentional mildly-
fluctuating sustainable state
• Taking account of global consequences
• Innovative (frugal innovation)

5. Different De-growth Streams
1- Degrowth as voluntary simplicity
Henri Thoreau/Mahatma Ghandi...
2- De-growth as important cultural change, away
from “economism”
Jacques Ellul/Ivan Illich/François Partant/André
Gorz...
3- Physical and economic de-growth, degrowth
of consumption and production capacity
Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen
4- Sustainable State
Herman Daly...

6. 2 SHIFT OF
PARADIGM : value given to qualitative
aspects
3 SOCIETAL
1
DEGROWTH
LOWER
PROCESS
GROWTH
Voluntary
simplicity
of a few
4
SUSTAINABLE
LEVEL

7. Developed countries and “global
North” have a high capacity to
consume and produce
• With the financial capacity
• With the time-efficient consumption and production
• With the capacity of extraction of natural resources
• With infrastructures (transport – industry – storage/
distribution and waste “elimination”)
• With unfulfilled needs with common use prevention
and planned obsolescence
• With advertising and externalisation
• With inequities
• Positive aspect: social and environmental standards

8. High capacities of
consumption of production
lead to:
• FAILURE OF SOLUTIONS:
we could solve many ecological, social,
inequity, health... problems!!
• CRISIS

9. Rebound effect
More fuel
Innovations Efficiency
efficient cars
Efficiency gain Reduced fuel
Reduced costs
costs
We can travel Savings can be
Rebound further reallocated

10. Rebound Effects: the case of
traffic congestion ex tended
una ttra c tive
una ttra c tive
tra ns po rt s ys tem
tra ns po rt s ys tem
the high reputation of
congestion is seen as a the transport system
result of not demand leads to more demand
adjusted capacities
ex tended, a ttra c tive
tra ns po rt s ys tem

11. On-going crisis: Misery
= little consumption and production
in world of high capacities
• Little savings in a large financial
economy
• No work where workers overwork
• Little natural resource access while high
extraction
• No car in a highway world
• No property where everything is owned
• ...

12. The recession becomes
general
- High capacity to produce
and consume
- Low production and
consumption

13. With the general crisis:
no way to wait
Problem because the society is geared to
growth
- Develop “debound strategies”
- Choose lower “purchasing willpower”
- Adjust productive capacity
- Solidarity, social measures, reduction of
inequities

14. But instead institutions
develop:
• Rebound strategies
• Growth policies
INCREASING CAPACITIES TO CONSUME
AND PRODUCE!!

15. Rebound strategies
Selection of solutions that suppress
limits

16. A few words of advertising

17. Rebound Strategy
€ € €
L im its to consumption and
production are reached € € €
R ebo und s tra teg y
developing innovations that € €
suppress limits to production
and consumption =
“productivist innovation”
€ € € € € €
€ € €
€ € € € € €
€ € €
€ € € € € €

18. Growth policies

19. Economic growth
• Here understood as “growth of the
economy”
• Economism: mixing of welfare and level of
production and consumption (makes us
forget other tracks)

20. Growth policies = increasing:
• Liquidity, capital flow, export policies
• Working hours, later retirement, overwork, sunday/night
work, suppress speed limits, longer opening hours...
• New mining areas, new resources, subsidies to extraction,
reduced prices of natural resources...
• More roads, airport, industry, internet, urbanisation...
• Barriers to mutualisation, less property free...
• Deregulation of input/throughput/output standards
• Advertising, rebound unawareness, externalising…
• Fiscal paradises, bank secrets
... Growth is not “magic”: we take
from someone

21. Growth policy
L im its to consumption and € € €
production are reached
€ € €
G ro w th polic y relax
collective limits to production
and consumption €
€
€
€ € €
€ €
€
€
€
€ € € € €
€ € € € €

22. Debound strategies: frugal
innovation (innovations that
include limits)
Lifestyle innovation
Societal innovation

23. Degrowth vision
• Urban Degrowth, more preserved spaces
• Less water use, more rain collection
• Waste and incineration degrowth, more recycling and reuse
• Degrowth of living spaces per person, less washing machines, less
computers and sharing them
• Transport degrowth: less cars, trucks, planes, roads and airports, more
bikes and public transport
• Speed and distance reduction, localisation and less hurry
• More face to face, less “screen to screen”
• From supermarkets to relocalised production and consumption
• Lower natality rates
• Tourism degrowth, local and slow travel
• Agro-industry degrowth, less GMOs, pesticides and herbicides
• Less animal products, more organic/ ploughing free agriculture
• De-growth of energy use with less fossil energy and nuclear, more
renewables
• Reducing bulldozers, explosives and other extractors
• Access to usage, eco-tax on “mis-usage”
• Less advertising

24. Degrowth policies:
Adjustment
Degrowth of « purchasing willpower » and
Degrowth of muldimensional capacity to
consume and produce
in accordance with personal and collective,
ecological and social actions

25. ACTION ON LIMITING FACTORS
Degrowth policies
= reducing collective capacity to
produce and consume
• Collective reduction of purchasing power on natural
resources (should include redistribution)
• Speed limits reduction, non economic / convivial
encounters, sharing work, self production
• Reducing extractive tools, lower input parameters...
• Less infrastructures to produce and consume, less roads,
reduced capacity, less airports, less industrial production,
local level
• Institutionalisation of common goods...
• Limits to advertising, participative information, reduced
externalisation...
• Reduction of inequalities
• Better quality, social, environmental standards

26. DEGROWTH OF THE
ECONOMY
FOR SUSTAINABILITY,
WELL-BEING
AND EQUITY

27. Degrowth movement

28. Short History of french
Degrowth Movement
Writings from Georgescu-Roegen, Partant,
Ellul, Illich, Latouche...
Books and press
Conferences: Unesco 2002, Lyon town-hall
2003, Montbrison 2005, international
conference Paris 2008
Marches
Debates in civil society and political parties
Networks

29. Some french books on Degrowth

32. A March for Degrowth

33. Proceedings
available
at
www.degrowth.net

34. Who supports de-growth?
• Groups, collectives, networks who clearly
support de-growth
• Convergence of themes and associations
• Minorities in political parties, political
mouvements and Unions
• General citizens

35. www.decroissance.org
www.decroissance.info
www.apres-developpement.org
www.ladecroissance.net/
www.simplicitevolontaire.org/
www.decreixement.net/
www.decrescita.it/
www.decroissance.ch
Francois@degrowth.net
transitionculture.org/
contact@degrowth.net
www.simpleliving.org/
www.downshiftingweek.com/
www.entropia-la-revue.org
www.r-m-o-c.net/
...
WWW.DEGROWTH.NET