Post-growth thinking in the Brussels Bubble

Hello and a big welcome to our new subscribers from Repsol, Newheat, AYA Energy and more. Euractiv’s Green Brief brings you a roundup of energy and environment news from across Europe. You can subscribe here.

A study released this month by the Hot or Cool Institute found that more consumption does not translate into higher levels of human well-being.

The findings are the latest in a long line showing that once people have their basic material needs catered for, more absolute levels of money or possessions don’t do much to improve their happiness. [The relationship is more complex when researchers consider people’s relative income – how wealthy they are compared to their peers.]

This truth is one of the conceptual cornerstones of the ‘post-growth’ movement, which holds that economic growth is pushing us past fixed planetary boundaries, like the twin climate and biodiversity crises, without fundamentally making us happier.

Post-growth proponents want society to orient away from rampant consumerism and towards activities that do actually boost people’s well-being and have limited ecological impacts. For example, spending more time with loved ones, having creative hobbies, or better supporting the sick and infirm.

Detractors point out that people seem to quite like consumption, if their behaviour is any guide.

They also say that environmental challenges can be solved by that one limitless resource – human ingenuity. Society has developed technical solutions to big problems like food shortages or the threat of nuclear war – we will always think up clever new fixes.

The concept is extremely popular in academic circles and amongst NGOs. European centrist parties accept that GDP cannot be society’s only goal, but they are not prepared to jettison it either.

Both proponents and detractors will often distil the concept down to its purest form. But in practice, there is a spectrum of societal outcomes that are closer or further away from an absolute post-growth state.

For example, Europe traditionally has slower growth relative to the US. Many economists attribute this to Europeans’ preference for more holidays and a better work-life balance.

Europe is de facto swapping some economic growth for greater well-being. It’s post-growth thinking, but it doesn’t feel particularly radical.

Like most grand theories of everything, we’ll never get a definitive answer on whether post-growth is the right way forward or an idealistic pipedream.

But with issues of economic competitiveness and security continuing to dominate the election campaign, it is no bad thing to remember the things that ultimately make life worth living.

Today’s edition is powered by CO2 Value Europe

2024 TAKE-OFF Open Doors Day

June 14, 2024
Odense (DK)

This year’s Open Doors Day will focus on the takeaways from the project on environmental assessments (e.g. LCA), as well as the future scenarios of Sustainable Aviation Fuels.

Find out more >>

• Brussels updates rules for fast-track renewable zones, restricted auctions – By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer
• Europe Ahead: ECR’s Hoogeveen on why EU needs ‘deregulation’ – By Thomas Moller-Nielsen
• Key EU lawmaker Peter Liese already eyeing next CO2 price revamp – By Nikolaus J. Kurmayer

PARIS. Renewables: slow progress means France remains on collision course with EU Commission. France achieved a 22.2% share of renewable energy in its gross final energy consumption in 2023, according to the French Ecological Ministry figures from 7 May, but the trend is not sufficient for the country to reach a target of at least 44% renewable energy by 2030, as set by EU law. Read more.

BERLIN. Climate activists want to change EU politics before it changes them. Several activists with roots in climate protest movements are likely to get elected to the next European Parliament, hoping to shake up an institution known for its technocratic ways. Read more.

Chinese solar firms probed in Romania pullout. LONGi Solar and Shanghai Electric have pulled out of the bidding process to build a 450 MW solar park in Romania after the European Commission launched a probe based on the newly activated Foreign Subsidies Regulation, to see whether the companies had benefitted from undue amounts of subsidies previously. French Single Market Commissioner Thierry Breton welcomed their withdrawal. A previous case similarly saw the withdrawal of a Chinese railway firm. The withdrawal means the investigation is closed. [Nikolaus J. Kurmayer]

A new WWF report reveals that EU countries are channelling between €34 billion and €48 billion of European subsidies annually into activities that harm nature. According to new research, up to 60% of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding, totalling €32.1 billion annually, is spent by EU countries on activities that encourage large-scale unsustainable farming. These practices devastate natural habitats while providing only minimal support to farmers for a just transition towards sustainable and climate-resilient practices. “As European citizens are grappling with a severe cost of living crisis, exacerbated by misguided fiscal policies, and are about to head to the polls, these findings should be a wake-up call. EU governments must urgently realign public expenditure with environmental and social imperatives,” said Tycho Vandermaesen, policy & strategy director at WWF European Policy Office. [Nathan Canas]

• The struggle to put a price on climate change – By Giada Santana
• The Czech fossil fuel magnate with a passion for media – By Giada Santana

• 30 MAY. Energy Council 
• SPRING 2024. First European Climate Risk Assessment
• 6-9 JUNE: European elections
• 17 JUNE. Environment Council (Luxembourg)
• 27-28 JUNE. European Council

*Interested in more energy and environment news delivered to your inbox? You can subscribe to our daily newsletter and to our comprehensive weekly update here.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Read more with Euractiv