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- Convenor:
-
Philippa Shepherd
(University Grenoble Alps)
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- Format:
- Thematic Panel
- Theme:
- Environment and sustainable development
Short Abstract:
Human-caused environmental crises are destabilising the ecological systems upon which our economies and societies depend, jeopardizing people's livelihoods. Thus, there is a call for economic thinking based on such ideas as ecological transition, sufficiency, and liveability. Such post-growth philosophies aim to ensure the flourishing of human capabilities while respecting planetary boundaries.
Long Abstract:
Human-caused environmental crises, such as climate change, are disrupting and destabilising the ecological systems upon which our economies and societies depend, jeopardizing people's livelihoods and capabilities. While techno-centric solutions, exemplified by greening economy initiatives, can go only so far to buffer and postpone ecological crisis, and thus socio-economic breakdown, they fall short in addressing the core causes. Consequently, there is a call for a paradigm shift in economic thinking toward such ideas as ecological transition, sufficiency, and liveability. Such post-growth philosophies aim to ensure the flourishing of human capabilities while respecting planetary boundaries. Furthermore, while the responsibility for instigating this transformative shift lies with all actors, economic actors such as businesses, have incredible leverage due to their position and power. Transforming instrumental freedoms for sustainable human development is critical to safeguarding capabilities in the face of global environmental change, but such transformations are not without challenges themselves nor necessarily win-win solutions.
The panel comprises three researchers, each exploring the challenge of environmental crises in relation to aspects of economic systems.
Philippa Shepherd, PhD student, will present her research on climate change impacts on people’s work capability in the French Alps. Climate change is transforming the natural capitals upon which local economies in the Alpine region depend, in turn threatening people’s livelihoods. Using a set of pre-defined indicators representing decent work, labour market resilience, climate change sensitivity, and environmental pressures, she aims to assess quantitatively who and where people are most vulnerable-resilient across the Alps in terms of work capability in the face of climate change impacts. Ultimately, this paper contributes to understanding how people in the Alps can cope and adapt to the changing economic landscape that climate change will bring. While this paper focuses on vulnerability-resilience aspects, it speaks to the question of what adaptation response is best suited to address this multidimensional crisis, safeguard people’s work opportunities, and realise a sustainable development.
Dr. Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan will present his research on efficiency versus sufficiency framings using the power and transportation sectors as examples. He argues that while great strides have been achieved in technical efficiency, this is insufficient to address environmental crises that have emerged due to population and economic growth. He proposes that a sufficiency approach, demanding a total reduction in resource consumption, is necessary to achieve a sustainable development.
Dr. Lindsay J Thompson will present her work related to urban liveability. With 56% of the world’s population living in cities, urban sustainable development is critical to achieving a sustainable future for humanity and the planet. She asserts that the time is ripe for businesses to take the lead on sustainability efforts in the context of urban liveability. Multilateral and multisector, private and public initiatives, such as the New Urban Agenda and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, provide the platforms, collaboration, and the impetus for businesses to be pivotal in the sustainability transition. As businesses are already embracing alternative ways of creating wealth, they can leverage this position to synergize wealth creation, human development, and sustainability.
Together, these perspectives form a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and opportunities in reshaping economic systems to effectively address environmental crises in order to sustainably safeguard people’s capabilities and life quality.
Key words: Environmental crises, transforming economies, sustainability
Accepted papers:
Paper short abstract:
People’s work capability in the French Alps will be disrupted by climate change impacts. Through a quantitative approach, generic worker vulnerability-resilience is analysed in terms of availability and accessibility of decent work, alongside specific job sensitivity to climate change impacts.
Paper long abstract:
People’s work opportunities in the French Alps will be disrupted by climate change impacts through three pathways - impacts on job-creation resources, changes to work conditions, and increased natural hazard disruptions (Schulte et al., 2023). I propose that a capability framing of work vulnerability-resilience to climate change is a valuable approach. It emphasises the intrinsic and instrumental value of work to a person’s life, wellbeing, and dignity (Nussbaum, 2011; Stephens, 2023), and that only through the right work conditions can work truly be a liberator (Sen, 2001).
Deficiencies in decent work, such as job precariousness, are linked to chronic forms of (un)employment vulnerability (McCann and Fudge, 2017). In contrast, those who work in secure and decent work conditions are more likely to be resilient when stressed. Expanding Dubois and Rousseau’s (2008) supposition that a person’s broad capability set influences their potential to adapt when under stress, I assume that a person’s work capability influences a person’s potential and ability to find and access work in the face of a crisis, such as climate change.
However, worker vulnerability-resilience is also a matter of the ability of the labour market to generate work opportunity. To encompass both worker vulnerability-resilience and job creation vulnerability-resilience, I use the notion of option freedom (Petit, 2003; Robeyns, 2017). This enables a framing of the “opportunity to work” capability in terms of availability of decent work generated by the labour market and accessibility of decent work determined by multiple conversion factors. In this way, a worker’s vulnerability-resilience is both determined by their individual work conditions/experiences as well as the ability of a system to generate decent work.
To map the vulnerability-resilience of work opportunity to climate change across the French Alps, I identified indicators representing decent work, labour market resilience, sector-based climate sensitivity, and environmental pressures. Through a PCA and cluster analysis, the research will highlight communities where people will require the most support in transitioning in light of disrupted work opportunities. Our hypothesis is that people who are generically vulnerable in terms of job deficiency and insecurity will also be vulnerable to climate change impacts, and that, mid-mountain, rural, and remote communities will be most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Policymakers are addressing this threat to work capability mainly through techno-centric, business-as-usual, solutions that focus on local economic growth rather than a sustainable human development pathway.
Key words: Work capability, climate change, vulnerability, resilience
Paper short abstract:
The growth acceleration of the Anthropocene epoch has lead to over-consumption and environmental crises. This calls for a paradigm shift from efficiency to sufficiency that goes beyond efficiency, with the objective of reduced total resource consumption at all levels.
Paper long abstract:
With every passing day, with technological improvements, all the systems of the world, at every
stage, are becoming more and more resource-efficient. An increase in efficiency means that for
the same output, one would consume less input. However, data shows that increases in resource
efficiency have not led to decreases in total resource consumption. The Anthropocene epoch, in
which there has been a great acceleration since 1950 in terms of population growth, urbanization,
primary energy use, fertilizer consumption, large dams, water use, transportation, global tourism,
etc., has led us to an environmental crisis beyond proportion. This calls for a paradigm shift from
efficiency to sufficiency that goes beyond efficiency, with the objective of reduced total resource
consumption at all levels. Against this backdrop, in this paper, we discuss the pieces of evidence
of operationalization of sufficiency by considering two sectors: power or electricity and
transportation. Taking resort to the theory of spaceship economy, we demonstrate how
minimization is at work in the two sectors and justify how sufficiency subsumes efficiency.
Key words: Efficiency, Sufficiency, Environmental Crises, Resource consumption
Paper short abstract:
The time is ripe for businesses to take the lead on sustainability efforts to ensure urban livability. As businesses are embracing alternative ways of creating wealth, they can leverage their position to synergize wealth creation, human development, and sustainability.
Paper long abstract:
The time is right for US business to pivot and focus its global leadership role on urban livability as the key to a sustainable future for humanity and the planet. This assertion is based on four factors (not necessarily in this order):
1) The New Urban Agenda (which basically lays the things that we are arguing for in the current paper) is a culmination of decades of multilateral, multisector effort to focus development on urban sustainability for the future of humanity and the planet;
2) The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a platform for generating the kind of knowledge, technology, and products that synergize wealth creation, human development, and sustainability. There is wide will and hope to “save the world” through a new era of business.
3) The “shareholder growth machine” is widely perceived as no longer viable and is actually part of the non-sustainability problem. The Business Roundtable Statement and growth of ESG investing – despite recent challenges -- has changed the business climate away from glorifying greed and towards creating wealth for the flourishing of humanity and the planet.
•Business is already pivoting away from rapacious capitalism (four things to change)
•Business can leverage this pivot to continue economic growth on a livable cities/sustainability platform
•Sustainability needs to reprioritize humanity and the planet
4) Public trust in business is relatively high compared to government, the press, and other institutions. This has changed dramatically from a time when public trust in business was at an all-time low.
Keywords: livable cities; human capabilities; ESG; sustainability; CSR