BLOG | Stephen Agyeman Duah, Antonios Katris & Anas Karkoutli | September 2024
Rethinking economic growth – reflections from the International Degrowth Conference
Since the industrial revolution, economic growth has been driven by material resource utilisation, often leading to significant damage to the environment. Ecological economists have thus emphasised the need to rethink this traditional approach to economic growth.
The quest for a more sustainable future
To explore this concept further, University of Vigo in Pontevedra, Spain, hosted the 10th International Degrowth Conference and the 15th Conference for the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE). CEP researchers Antonios Katris, Stephen Agyeman Duah and Anas Karkoutli, were delighted to attend the event which featured over 220 sessions, and drew more than 1100 attendees from 48 countries to discuss various themes of degrowth in the picturesque town of Pontevedra in Galicia.
Pontevedra served as a fitting backdrop to discussions around sustainability, with its track record for prioritising the local environment and residents; the city banned cars from most of the city in 1999 (a move that was ahead of its time). The culture and heritage of Galicia were also evident, and the CEP team were lucky enough to try local food like pulpo a la gallega and Galician risotto.
A rich and varied conference programme
The opening session took place in the Pazo de la Cultura de Pontevedra, where Mario Pansera, the main organiser of the event, together with the president of the ESEE, Dan O'Neill, welcomed the participants in a full auditorium. The conference began with a dialogue plenary session featuring some notable keynote speakers.
The first of these featured Samer Abdelnour (University of Edinburgh) and Annapurna Mamidipudi (Technical University of Berlin) and was moderated by Tess Doezema (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona). This insightful session discussed science and technology in the context of degrowth and the ‘era of colonialist capitalist expansion’.
The second, entitled ‘Introduction to Ecological Economics and Degrowth’ - which has been released as an episode of the podcast Economics for Rebels – featured Joshua Farley (University of Vermont), Giorgos Kallis (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona), and Brototi Roy (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona), who discussed the concepts of degrowth, ecological economics, and post-development.
The Opening Session ended with a concert by the Galician pianist Abe Rábade, who filled the Pazo de la Cultura with magic, accompanied by the musicians and dancers who participated in this work.
Presenting CEP's research on economy-wide impacts of industrial decarbonisation in the UK
CEP Research Fellow, Antonios Katris
At the conference I presented my paper on the potential economy-wide implications of a nascent Scottish CO2 Transport and Storage sector exporting its services to industries within the rest of the UK or abroad. The presentation was based on our 2023 Local Economy paper, The potential importance of exploiting export markets for CO2 transport and storage services in realising the economic value of Scottish CCS. The scope of the presentation was to bring attention to a wider audience of the methodological approaches that CEP is using to consider nascent sectors linked to energy and net zero transition efforts.
Two points of particular interest arose from the presentation. First, it became clear that CEP’s approach to simulate the gradual development of the necessary infrastructure, and then the operation of a sector, is a useful one when focussing on completely new industries/significant expansion of existing ones. Second, there was an interesting discussion after the session on the validity/limitations of current net zero transition plans.
The takeaway message is that although the current plans are valuable in determining the end goal and important milestones along the way, they may still be missing important considerations on whether the proposed path can indeed be achieved without further action. For example, the availability of the necessary resources to deliver the proposed transition plan. Resources include the workforce that will be required, a point emerging across various CEP research outputs, but also the availability of raw materials and energy needed to develop the necessary infrastructure.
CEP Research Associate, Stephen Agyeman Duah
I used the opportunity of the ESEE conference to present my paper Cost and Energy Input Requirement Assessment of Carbon Capture and Storage Technology Application in the Scottish Chemical Industry. The broader aim of my research was to highlight the varying capital costs and energy consumption associated with different CCS technologies, and how their implementation as a decarbonisation strategy could impact the operations of the Scottish chemical industry.
After my presentation, a couple of questions emerged, which led to some discussion. Notably, why I focussed on the carbon capture and storage aspect of CCUS, but not on the utilisation of CO2. We agreed this would be an excellent area to explore in future, once the UK government policy landscape eventually starts to focus on the utilisation of captured CO2 from CCS applications.
Additionally, an informal discussion with participants after the presentation revealed a call for more in-depth studies on the material requirements, and supply chain dynamics of CCS systems, highlighting the need for cogent research in this area and perhaps a future research collaboration.
CEP PhD Student and Research Assistant, Anas Karkoutli
I presented CEP’s ongoing research on industrial decarbonisation, with a particular focus on the decline of the UK’s upstream oil and gas industry. My presentation aimed at delivering a broad picture of the economy-wide impacts of the declining oil and gas sector, specifically in terms of employment and capital stock changes.
After displaying and explaining results from the CGE model utilised for this research, there were a few constructive remarks and comments on the methodology and its limitations, which led to intensive discussions with academics in attendance after the presentation, perhaps opening the doors for future research collaborations.
Key takeaways from the conference
One of the key insights from the economic modelling section emphasised the need to complement general computable general equilibrium modelling with partial equilibrium modelling. The latter allows for the inclusion of time-varying or stochastic aspects of policy simulation, which general equilibrium models might miss, including other externalities that can influence policies over time.
The conference provided an enlightening platform to discuss various paradigms of degrowth. Several empirical insights into the different dimensions of the doughnut theory were highlighted, including poverty alleviation, inequality, access to adequate food and water, social equity, and political voice.
Engaging with presenters revealed an intriguing link between these social issues and ecological sustainability, offering the CEP research team new perspectives on their work. In particular, in relation to integrating degrowth concepts into economy-wide modelling and the Centre’s research agendas more broadly.