15-17 May 2023 - Beyond Growth 2023 Conference

15-17 May 2023 European Parliament

Beyond Growth

Pathways towards Sustainable Prosperity in the EU

Beyond Growth 2023 Conference Programme

DAY
01

15 May 2023
09:00 - 18:30
DAY
02

16 May 2023
09:00 - 18:30
DAY
03

17 May 2023
09:00 - 18:30

Plenary
Focus panel

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15 May 2023
16 May 2023
17 May 2023

Plenary
Focus panel

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Opening plenary – Limits to Growth: where do we stand and where do we go from here?

The purpose of this plenary session is to identify the main issues raised by the growth and planetary limits’ nexus that we need to address to shift our economic model.

Speakers

Philippe Lamberts
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) and Co-President of the Greens EFA/Group, Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Roberta Metsola
President of the European Parliament

Ursula Von der Leyen
President of the European Commision

Sandrine Dixson-Declève
Co-president of the Club of Rome

Jason Hickel
Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Adelaïde Charlier
Climate Justice and Human Rights activist

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Focus panel 1 - Which prosperous future? Confronting narratives of growth

This panel aims to foster debate between and provide a reality-check of some of the major narratives of growth currently experienced and envisaged.

Speakers

Pascal Arimont
Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Ekaterina Chertkovskaya
Researcher, Lund University

Elina Erikson
Associate professor at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, co-leader of the Sustainable Futures Lab

Amitav Gosh
Author, multiple awards winner

Maja Göpel
Professor, Leuphana University

Mariana Mazzucato
Professor, University of Sussex & University College London

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Focus Panel 2 – How to target and future-proof industrial policy towards climate neutrality?

The panel aims at looking at what is still needed in EU policy to ensure that EU industry and industrial policy is aligned with our climate ambition and respects our planetary boundaries.

Speakers

Ville Niinistö
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Jakob Hafele
Co-founder and Managing Director, Zoe Insitute

Paavo Järvensivu
Co-founder and researcher at the independent multidisciplinary research unit BIOS

Dani Rodrik
Professor, John F. Kennedy School of government, Harvard University

Monika Sitárová
Head of the International Department of the Metalworkers’ Trade Union OZ KOVO, Chair of the Workers’ Group of the CCMI, European Economic and Social Comittee

Anais Voy-Gillis
Adjunct Researcher at IAE Poitiers and Associate Director at June Partners

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Focus panel 3 – Beyond growth beyond Europe: What policies and partnerships to make it happen?

The aim of this panel is to challenge the notion that Beyond Growth approaches cannot be beneficial for Africa, Latin America and Asia, while emphasising the role the EU needs to play.

Speakers

Marisa Matias
Member of the European Parliament (The Left), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Jason Hickel
Professor, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Raj Patel
Research Professor, University of Texas, Austin

Lebohang Liepollo Pheko
Senior Research Fellow, Trade Collective

Ritu Verma
Professor, Carleton University

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Focus panel 4 – Unlocking a just and sustainable economy through Universal Basic Services

What is needed to design Universal Basic Services in ways that are growth-independent, broaden economic participation and strengthen democracy? Which experiences can be built on and what could the EU do to promote UBS internally and through its international cooperation?

Speakers

Petros S. Kokkalis
Member of the European Parliament (The Left), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Anna Coote
Principal Fellow, New Economics Foundation

Corinna Dengler
Assistant Professor, University of Vienna

Giacomo D’Alisa
Research Fellow, University of Coimbra

Kahina Rabahi
Policy and advocacy coordinator, European Anti-Poverty Network

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Focus panel 5 – From the welfare state to the social-ecological state: how to organise and finance welfare without growth?

This panel aims to address the issue of how to build and finance welfare systems that are compatible with sustainable economics, that improve citizens’ wellbeing and respect planetary boundaries.

Speakers

Philippe Lamberts
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) and Co-President of the Greens EFA/Group, Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Milena Buchs
Professor, University of Leeds

Anna Diamantopoulou
Chair of the high-level group on the future of the welfare state, former European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

Simone d’Alessandro
Professor, University of Pisa

Anne Van Lancker
President of Solidar

Timothée Parrique
Researcher in ecological economics at Lund University (Sweden)

Sebastiano Sabato
Senior researcher, European Social Observatory (OSE)

Juliana Wahlgren
Director, European Anti-Poverty Network

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Focus panel 6 – Inequalities in a beyond growth perspective: taxation as an instrument of ecological and social justice

The panel aims at looking at social and environmental inequalities and what policies would be necessary to achieve social and environmental justice in a beyond growth economy, with a focus on taxation.

Speakers

Manon Aubry
Member of the European Parliament (The Left), Beyond Growth Conference Organiser

Lucas Chancel
Professor in Economics, co-director of the World Inequality Lab, Paris School of Economics

Giorgos Kallis
Professor in Ecological Economics and Political Ecology, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Barcelona

Njoki Njoroge Njehû
Coordinator of the Fight Inequality Alliance Pan-Africa

Chiara Pataturo
Inequalities and tax policy advisor, Oxfam EU

Rafael Wildauer
Associate Professor in Economics, Greenwich Business School, London

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Focus panel 7 – Care economy: doing away with gender blind policies for a beyond growth future

This panel will discuss blind-spots in climate, care policy and pay equality and how to better take gender into account when dealing with these policies.

Speakers

Maria Walsh
Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Beyond Growth Conference Organiser

Mary Collins
Senior Advocacy and Policy Coordinator, European Women's Lobby

Hans Dubois
Research Manager at Eurofound

Diane Elson
Emeritus Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Essex

Ipek Ilkkaracan
Professor of at Istanbul Technical University, President of the International Association for Feminist Economics

Tim Jackson
Professor and Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey

Laeticia Thissen
Policy analyst for gender equality, Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS)

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Focus panel 8 – Cutting the addiction of labour to growth: the 4 days week

The purpose of this panel is to discuss a key proposal to massively create jobs and fund social security in a no-growth world, facilitating recruitments, improving gender and work/life balance.

Speakers

Pierre Larrouturou
Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Hazel Gavigan
Global campaign and activation officer at 4 Day Week Global

Dominique Meda
Director of IRISSO and Professor, Paris Dauphine

Véronique Sauret
Founder and President of L’Agence verte

Stan De Spiegelaere
Director Policy and Research at UNI Europa & Professor at Ghent University

Katharina Wiese
Senior Policy Officer, European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

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Plenary 2 – Changing the goal: from GDP growth to social prosperity

The purpose of this plenary session is to propose a redefinition of prosperity beyond the mere criticism of GDP growth. This panel aims to propose an integrated social-ecological approach to the design of a European future-fit economy, one that couples environmental transition with social well-being.

Speakers

Aurore Lalucq
Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Maroš Šefčovič
Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations

Romina Boarini
Director of the OECD WISE Centre

Florence Jany-Catrice
Professor, University of Lille

Giorgos Kallis
Professor in Ecological Economics and Political Ecology, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Barcelona

Kate Raworth
Senior Associate, Oxford University

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Plenary 3 – Addressing the limits of resource consumption: towards a resilient economy

The purpose of this plenary session is to address the issue of unsustainable interdependencies between resource consumption, GHG emissions and GDP growth, and to discuss the resilient mix necessary to simultaneously integrate limits of natural resources, energy provision and geopolitical stability.

Speakers

Martin Hojsik
Member of the European Parliament (renew europe), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Virginijus Sinkevicius
European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries

Olivia Lazard
Fellow, Carnegie Europe

Timothée Parrique
Researcher in ecological economics at Lund University (Sweden)

Yamina Saheb
Lead author, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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Focus panel 9 – Building an energy sector compatible with ecological limits

In this panel we look at possible systemic changes the EU’s energy architecture would require to provide stable, secure, affordable and clean energy to all.

Speakers

Bas Eickhout
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Antonella Battaglini
Chief executive officer, Renewables Grid Initiative, World Economic Forum

Stéphane Bourgeois
European relations and policies manager, négaWatt

Lisa Fischer
Programme leader, E3G

Dirk Holemans
Coordinator, Oikos

Julia Steinberger
Professor, University of Lausanne

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Focus panel 10 – Building a fair, social, green, autonomous digital future for a postgrowth economy

What should the digital sphere look like in a postgrowth economy? Special attention will be given to what the EU can do in this regard.

Speakers

Kim van Sparrentak
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Sophie Bloemen
Director, Commons Network

Joy Buolamwini
Founder, Algorithmic Justice League

Kate Crawford
Research Professor at USC Annenberg, Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research Lab, and Honorary Professor, University of Sydney.

Rodrigo Fernandez
Senior researcher and author of SOMO report “Financialisation of Big Tech”

Timnit Gebru
Founder and Executive Director, The Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR)

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Focus panel 11 – The role of small and medium enterprises in a beyond growth economy

This panel will focus on the integration of sustainability concerns into business conduct.

Speakers

Pascal Durand
Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Isabelle Ferreras
Research Professor, Belgian National Science Foundation/University of Louvain & Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School

Judith Kirton-Darling
Deputy General Secretary of IndustriAll European Trade Union

Eva Sadoun
co-chair of Impact France, CEO of Lita.co and Rift

Erinch Sahan
Business & Enterprise Lead, Doughnut Economics Action Lab

Véronique Willems
Secretary General of SMEunited

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Focus panel 12 – The “Blue Doughnut”: A framework for a wellbeing ocean economy beyond growth

The panel will discuss the Blue Doughnut concept as an alternative framing for the blue economy, and test its application on fisheries, shipping and in relation to the European Unions “sustainable blue economy” policy.

Speakers

Dino Giarrusso
Member of the European Parliament (NI), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Christiaan De Beukelaer
University of Melbourne

Hans Bruynickx
Executive director, European Environment Agency

Ingrid Kelling
Founder and Director of the Global Centre for Social Sustainability in Seafood Supply Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh

Delilah Al Khudhairy
Director Maritime Policy and Blue Economy DG MARE, European Commission

Kate Raworth
Senior Associate, Oxford University

Monica Verbeek
Executive director, Seas At Risk

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Focus panel 13 – Repairing and restoring Nature in a beyond growth perspective: is putting a price on biodiversity the right way to go?

The purpose of this panel is to discuss this growing role of monetary valuations and market based solutions and biocredits in national, European and international biodiversity frameworks.

Speakers

Marie Toussaint
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Frédérique Chlous
Professor at the National Museum of Natural History (Paris) and President of the Scientific Council of the French Biodiversity Office

Marco Lambertini
Special Envoy, WWF International

Vandana Shiva
Physicist, social and environmental activist, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author

Clive Spash
Professor, Vienna University of Economics and Business

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Focus panel 14 – From Anthropocene to Cyclocene – Will circular economy keep us within planetary boundaries?

This panel aims at looking for solutions to societal challenges that do not depend on their correlation to GDP growth.

Speakers

Manuela Ripa
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Kerstin Jorna
Director General of DG GROW, European Commission

Nick Meynen
Senior Policy Officer for systemic change, European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

Mathias Miedreich
CEO of Umicore

Kate Raworth
Senior Associate, Oxford University

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Focus panel 15 – Trade for sustainable development: how to benchmark success?

The panel will be divided in two separate rounds with the speakers’ presentations and reactions by discussants.

Speakers

Helmut Scholz
Member of the European Parliament (The Left), INTA Committee, Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Maria-Martin-Pratt
Deputy Director General DG TRADE, EU Commission

Souad Aden-Osman
Executive Director Coalition for Dialogue in Africa

Nathalie Bernasconi-Odenwalder
Vice-President, Global Strategies and Managing Director Europe, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Anaïs Berthier
Senior Lawier and Head of ClientEarth’s Brussels office

Pamela Coke-Hamilton
Executive Director International Trade Centre (ITC)

Judith Kirton-Darling
Deputy General Secretary of IndustriAll European Trade Union

Melinda St. Louis
Director, Public Citizens Global Trade Watch

Jean-Marie Paugam
WTO Deputy Director General

Olivier de Schutter
United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

James Shaw
Minister for Climate Change of New Zealand

Pedro Migue da Costa e Silva
Ambassador of Brazil to the European Union

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Focus panel 16 – Transforming food for the wellbeing of people and planet

How should a long-term, comprehensive food policy for the wellbeing of people and planet look like?

Speakers

Bas Eickhout
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Jeroen Candel
Associate Professor on Food and Agricultural Policy, Wageningen University

Fairouz Gazdallah
Policy Advisor Governance of Food Systems, Oxfam Belgium

Timothy Lang
Emeritus Professor of Food Policy at City University London's Centre for Food Policy

Marta Messa
Director, Slow Food Brussels office

Peter Schmidt
President of the NAT Section, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

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Plenary 4 – Understanding the biophysical limits to growth to build an economy that respects planetary boundaries

The purpose of this plenary session is to provide an overview of the concept of "planetary limits", used to define the planetary playing field within which humanity can live safely, and the current state of the global crossing of planetary boundaries. It will also establish the relation between biophysical limits and economic growth, as well as the link between human activities and predation on biodiversity.

Speakers

Vladis Dombrovskis
Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People

Aurélien Barrau
Professor, University of Grenoble

Johan Rockström
Professor, Potsdam Institute

Julia Steinberger
Professor, University of Lausanne

Farhana Sultana
Professor, Syracuse University

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Plenary 5 – Building post-growth macroeconomic governance framework: aligning tools, rules and policies with EU political goals

The purpose of this plenary session is to outline macroeconomic policies that would fit the EU political goals and the Green deal in a post growth perspective. Macroeconomic policies should be debunked and reshaped to foster green and social investments for the future, fight inequalities, allow redistribution through a renewed social contract.

Speakers

Manon Aubry
Member of the European Parliament (The Left), Beyond Growth Conference Organiser

Louison Cahen-Fourot
Assistant Professor, Roskilde University

Maja Göpel
Professor, Leuphana University

Frank van Lerven
New Economics Foundation

Philippa Sigl-Glöckner
Director, Dezernat Zukunft

Joseph Stiglitz
Professor, University of Columbia, Nobel Prize of economics

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Focus panel 17 – Challenges to feminist fiscal policies beyond growth: a focus on gender budgeting tools

This panel aims to explore the role of gender budgeting in implementing feminist fiscal policies that promote gender equality and care economy, with a particular focus on the challenges specific to the European Union (EU).

Speakers

Katalin Cseh
Member of the European Parliament (Renew Europe), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Mary Collins
Senior Advocacy and Policy Coordinator, European Women's Lobby

Edina Heal
Head of Equalizer Foundation

Keveházi Katalin
Director General of the Klebelsberg Library of the University of Szeged

Margit Spindelegger
Principal Manager of Directorate for the European Court of Auditors

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Focus panel 18 – Beyond GDP indicators

This session studies and explores how this change in the accounting models could be done while incorporating societal and environmental indicators.

Speakers

Sirpa Pietikäinen
Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Romina Boarini
Director of the OECD WISE Centre

Hans Bruynickx
Executive director, European Environment Agency

Pedro Conceição
Director of the Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Peter Dröll
Director for Prosperity, Directorate-General Research and Innovation, European Commission

Frank Elderson
Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board, Co-Chair of the Task Force on Climate related risks in financial stability, European Central Bank

Rutger Hoekstra
Professor, University of Leiden

Florence Jany-Catrice
Professor, University of Lille

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Focus panel 19 – A financial system fit for a postgrowth economy

For several decades, advanced economies have been witnessing a continuous slowdown of productivity growth, declining real interest rates and a lower or close to zero GDP growth. This trend has become increasingly global in more recent years, and yet growth remained a major policy objective. Policies to attain it relied mostly on a mixture of ever increasing liquidity, financial deregulation and financial innovation, with the overall result of increasing both the financial instability and inequalities of income and wealth.

Speakers

Aurore Lalucq
Member of the European Parliament (S&D), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Stephanie Brobbey
Founder and CEO, the Good Ancestor Movement

Jezabel Couppey-Soubeyran
Lecturer at University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Scientific advisor at Institut Veblen

Daniela Gabor
Associate Professor at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)

Thierry Philipponnat
Chief economist, Finance Watch

Philippe Zaouati
Founder and CEO, Mirova

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Focus panel 20 – What does a credible EU-wide, social and economic framework to achieve a just transition look like?

During this panel debate we will explore what will the ecological transition require in terms of policies and regulations at EU level to cover key topics as: moving beyond GDP growth; the coordination of fiscal and economic policy; tax reforms to reduce inequalities; gender intersection of a just transition; delivering on new green and decent jobs; among others.

Speakers

Ernest Urtasun
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Leonor Canadas
Just Transition and Global Climate Jobs Campaign

Patrizia Heidegger
Deputy Secretary General and Director for EU Governance, Sustainability and Global Policies · EU Policy Team, European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

Éloi Laurent
Senior Economist at OFCE, Sciences Po Centre for Economic Research, Paris

Brototi Roy
Postdoctoral researcher, jointly based at the Central European University, Vienna and Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Ludovic Voet
Confederal Secretary of European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)

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Plenary 6 – The power of economic models on decision-making and society at large

The purpose of this plenary session is to discuss the role of economic models in economic policy decisions – which ultimately shape society as a whole – and present alternative economic models integrating the physical limits of economic growth.

Speakers

Sirpa Pietikäinen
Member of the European Parliament (EPP), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Paolo Gentiloni
European Commissioner for Economy

Robert Costanza
Professor, University College London

Gaël Giraud
Professor, Director of Research, CNRS

Ann Pettifor
Professor, Director of PRIME- Policy Research in Macroeconomics

Adam Tooze
Professor, University of Yale

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Closing plenary – Pathways from here: roadmap for a Green and Social Deal

The purpose of this plenary session is to provide concrete recommendations in order to shift the European economy towards a new post-growth model aiming to flourish rather than to grow.

Speakers

Philippe Lamberts
Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA) and Co-President of the Greens EFA/Group, Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Jonathan Barth
Policy Director, Zoe Institute

Camille Etienne
Climate and Social Justice activist

Tim Jackson
Professor and Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), University of Surrey

Esther Lynch
General Secretary, European Trade Union Confederation

Dominique Meda
Director of IRISSO and Professor, Paris Dauphine

Agata Meysner
Director, Generation Climate Europe

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About Beyond Growth Conference

The Beyond Growth 2023 Conference is a multi-stakeholder event aiming to discuss and co-create policies for sustainable prosperity in Europe, based on a systemic and transformative approach to economic, social and environmental sustainability and its encompassing governance framework.

Organisers

The Beyond Growth 2023 conference is an initiative of 20 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from five different political groups and non-attached, with the support of the President of the European Parliament, Roberta METSOLA. They are supported by about 50 partner organisations.

15-17 May 2023 European Parliament

Beyond Growth

Beyond Growth 2023 Conference Programme

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