The Economy for the Common Good (ECG) spokespeople team and Youth Hub united to support a Manifesto published by Generation Climate Europe (GCE). This document calls for an intergenerationally just post-growth European economy. It explores a message proved by science and its potential solutions: the younger generations are to inherit an uninhabitable planet. Capitalism is at the center of a raging eco-social crisis, that will continue to develop in the pursue of limitless economic growth in a finite planet, at the expense of all living creatures and the environment. However, there’s still time to introduce specific, real and effective changes in the economic system that alter this future towards a post-growth and postcolonial society.
Why do we need a new economic system?
1. Our world is facing an eco-social crisis threatening the lives of future generations.
2. This eco-social crisis is driven by the global capitalist system, centred around perpetual economic expansion (growth) and accumulation.
3. Our obsession with economic expansion clashes with finite planetary boundaries.
4. While the EU attempts to tackle some of these challenges through the European Green Deal, a much wider socioeconomic and ecological transformation is needed.
5. The impacts of this eco-social crisis are unequal.
Solutions: Policy proposals for a post-growth and post-colonial future
1. To incentivise a green and just transition, the EU must reform its fiscal framework.
2. We must halt overproduction and -consumption, and prioritise resource redistribution.
3. Policymaking priorities need to shift towards wellbeing and social services.
4. Intergenerational justice requires equal employment opportunities and career choices for young people.
5. Instead of artificially sustaining an already dying—and deadly—fossil fuel industry, the EU should seek to dismantle it.
6. We need to fundamentally rethink our financial-monetary system.
7. To further intergenerational justice, the EU should adopt the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis IBPA framework in policy-making.
7. The EU must end “youth-washing” and ensure meaningful youth participation in formal policy
processes.
8. Enable young people to design their own future through supporting youth-led initiatives.
Image credits: @jplenio / pexels
