Pascal Couchepin. © swiss-image.ch
Do We Need Economic Growth to Achieve More Sustainability?
Saturday, 26 January 2008, 12.45 - 14.15
View the session videocast with Media Player or Real
There are opposing views on whether economic growth can lead to increased levels of ecological and social sustainability. Its promoters argue that economic growth is needed to apply new technologies and sophisticated products which, in turn, lead to a more economic use of natural resources, more environmental protection and social progress. Yet, opponents claim that economic growth is based on global production and consumption patterns that are destroying our natural livelihoods and increasing social inequalities.
- Do we need economic growth to solve existing social and ecological problems? Or, does economic growth create more costs than what it actually yields?
- Can we expect a new economic boom triggered by innovations in environmentally-friendly technologies?
- Which strategies of sustainability are the high-growth countries of Brazil, Russia, India or China following?
Sharan Burrow, President, International Trade Union Confederation, Brussels
Ricardo Hausmann, Director, Center for International Development, and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA
John Itty, Professor, School of People’s Economics, India
Pascal Couchepin, President of the Swiss Confederation, Federal Department of Home Affairs, Switzerland
Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, The Nigerian Stock Exchange, Nigeria
Moderation:
Dirk Schütz, Editor-in-chief Bilanz