I'm excited to announce this new paper we have out in Nature Sustainability. We track countries' performance on social and ecological indicators (the doughnut!) from 1992 to 2015. With the brilliant @AndrewLFanning, @DrDanONeill and @Nicolas43513211. nature.com/articles/s4189…
Here are some of the key findings:
1. No country has managed to achieve minimum social thresholds while remaining within planetary boundaries over the period analyzed. But a few do come close, with Costa Rica leading the way.
1. No country has managed to achieve minimum social thresholds while remaining within planetary boundaries over the period analyzed. But a few do come close, with Costa Rica leading the way.
2. Social gains have been slow and insufficient even while resource use has exploded.
This is what happens when you have an economic system that is organized around capital accumulation and elite consumption rather than around meeting human needs.
This is what happens when you have an economic system that is organized around capital accumulation and elite consumption rather than around meeting human needs.
3. Rich countries are using far more than their fair share of the planet's resources, and are the primary drivers of ecological breakdown. Even countries like Norway and Germany that are often held up as models have massive levels of ecological overshoot. Here is the UK:
4. We projected ‘business-as-usual’ trends to 2050, and found that, on our current trajectory, we are on track to deepen the ecological crisis while failing to eliminate social shortfalls.
This is not an acceptable future. We urgently need to change course. Rich countries will need to shift to post-growth and degrowth policies, and poorer countries need the freedom to use social and industrial policy to meet human needs.
You can use this interactive website to check out your own country and see how its performance changes over time: goodlife.leeds.ac.uk
Finally, here is a write-up in the Guardian... theguardian.com/environment/20…
...And a press release by Leeds: leeds.ac.uk/main-index/new…
Check out Andrew's thread for more information and graphics:
https://twitter.com/AndrewLFanning/status/1461370133658537986
Here is the full text of the paper: nature.com/articles/s4189…
And thanks to @KateRaworth, who came up with the model that inspired this work! Check out the Doughnut Economics Action Lab if you haven't already: doughnuteconomics.org
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