Focus panel 18 – Beyond GDP indicators

Summary

If the question is wrong, the answer is not right. The way we measure GDP in financial terms only and the fact that many believe that the welfare of people and societies is mainly linked to GDP growth fails to include other aspects of human development as well as the quality and quantity of ecosystem services and the environmental disruption. As so, GDP fails to count in the environmental damage and societal harm caused by economic actions. To change this, we need a new model for accounting, which sets clear globally harmonised indicators for GDP, public budgets, financial markets and all other economic actors that incorporates societal and environmental factors. The EU should be at the forefront for developing and advocating global change as well as for setting the example in EU regulation and measurement. Therefore, different EU institutions budgets and funds, semesters and national budgets should be under the screen. In addition, taxonomy, CSRD, CSDDD and other relevant financial and economic regulations should be tailored to include these elements. This session studies and explores how this change in the accounting models could be done while incorporating societal and environmental indicators.

Chair

• Sirpa Pietikäinen - MEP (EPP), Beyond Growth Conference organiser

Speakers

• Hans Bruyninckx - Executive Director, European Environmental Agency
• Pedro Conceição - Director of the Human Development Report Office, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Frank Elderson - Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board, Co-Chair of the Task Force on Climate related risks in financial stability, European Central Bank
• Romina Boarini - Director of OECD WISE Centre
• Peter Dröll - Director for Prosperity, Directorate-General Research and Innovation, European Commission
• Rutger Hoekstra - Professor, University of Leiden
• Florence Jany-Catrice - Professor, University of Lille