Can economic growth bring about inclusive development to satisfy the basic needs of 9 billion people and provide them with equal rights to material prosperity, while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change? The World Economic Forum’s Climate Change Initiatives are seeking to address this, and related questions, through convening public, private and civil society leaders to devise innovative solutions through the likes of the Green Growth Action Alliance (G2A2).
This one-day conference will explore the validity of ‘green growth’ as one of these solutions, and whether it is consistent with the notion of a ‘steady state economy’, where population and use of energy, materials and land (throughput) remain constant and well within planetary boundaries. The speakers will address these topics within the context of the upcoming G20 meeting in Brisbane, and debate what G20 countries would have to do to become steady state economies.