GDP is destroying the planet. Here’s an alternative.

GDP is a poor measure of progress — it increases as we destroy the natural capital of the planet.

The value of the planet needs to be factored into our financial system.

We need economic growth, but we cannot continue to measure it using GDP. We need a ‘quality adjusted’ GDP linked to transactions which recognise how much social and natural capital they are building.

Although the International Energy Association reported that carbon emissions stabilised for 3 years in the 2014–2016, the best estimates for 2017, which are waiting formal confirmation, are that they increased 2%. This is in the context of Christina Figueres, former chair of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, together with leading scientists, saying that we have “three years for carbon emissions to peak and drop rapidly to avoid catastrophic climate change”. That was June 2017. We now have two years.

Read the World Economic Forum story - “GDP is destroying the planet. Here’s an alternative.”