Neither GDP growth nor green growth takes into account natural constraints

By: Ipacs Tamás Date: 2025. 05. 16. 08:41

On May 13, a roundtable discussion organized by the Hungarian Association of Nature Conservationists took place in the MagNet House, discussing important topics, but in a relaxed atmosphere and with lively interest. The discourse, based on the theme of green economic growth, discussed whether economic growth and GDP growth can be separated from the increasing burdens and pressure on the environment and the overuse of resources, and what alternatives there may be to the growth-based economic model.

The stakes today are not simply advancing the sustainable transition, but avoiding or mitigating disaster

The stakes are avoiding disaster
Participants of the roundtable – Ákos Éger, Executive President of the Hungarian Association of Nature Conservators; András Gelencsér, air chemist, academician, university professor (Pannon University); Iván Gyulai, director of the Ecological Institute and the Foundation for Sustainable Development; and Alexandra Köves, ecological economist, associate professor at Corvinus University – examined the issue from different perspectives. Although they had completely different visions and approaches, the speakers agreed that both GDP growth and green growth are disconnected from reality and do not take into account natural limits. The myth of unlimited growth must be dispelled: the stakes today are no longer simply to advance the sustainable transition, but to avoid or mitigate catastrophe.

There will be no happy ending
Iván Gyulai presented his views in a video message: he highlighted that the emergence of green technologies only changed the proportions of available resources, but did not replace fossil fuels, and even increased their use. In his view, the unsustainable economic system based on debt accumulation can only be put on a more livable course by radically reducing consumption. András Gelencsér held the most pessimistic views among the participants: you need a 7th-8th grade elementary school level to see that growth – whatever its color – is unsustainable on a planet with finite resources, yet everyone allows themselves to be fooled. As he put it, there is no real content behind the concepts of green growth, zero emissions and sustainable development, yet everyone from citizens to decision-makers believes this tale, and we live in it until reality confronts us. “There will be no happy ending!” he concluded.