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
Policy Labs
Side Event

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Also available as printable version here.

15 May 2023
16 May 2023
17 May 2023

Plenary
Focus panel
Policy Labs
Side Event

No event category selected in filter.

Plenaries

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 Commission

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

More information & replay

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

Stientje van Veldhoven
Vice President and Regional Director for Europe, World Resource Institute

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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

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

Aurélien Barrau
Professor, University of Grenoble

Fiona Harvey
Journalist at The Guardian

Dan O’Neill
Professor, University of Leeds and President of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE)

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 (La France Insoumise), Co-Chair of the Left group in the European Parliament, Beyond Growth Conference Organiser

Louison Cahen-Fourot
Assistant Professor, Roskilde University

Benoît Lallemand
Secretary General of Finance Watch

Philippa Sigl-Glöckner
Director, Dezernat Zukunft

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

Yolanda Diáz
Second Vice-President and Minister of Labour and Social Economy of Spain, representing the next Presidency of the EU

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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

Valentina Bosetti
Professor at Bocconi University and Senior scientist European Institute on Economics and the Environment

Robert Costanza
Professor, University College London

Gaël Giraud
Professor, Director of Research, CNRS

Ann Pettifor
Director of PRIME- Policy Research in Macroeconomics

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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

Jakob Hafele
Co-founder and Managing Director, Zoe Insitute

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
President, Generation Climate Europe

Anuna De Wever
Climate and Social Justice activist

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Closing drink

A cocktail and appetizers will be offered to participants on Wednesday evening after the closing plenary session at the room Yehudi Menuhin below the hemicycle. It will be a great opportunity to enjoy a last informal discussion all together.

Join us !

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Focus panels

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 in Human-Computer Interaction with a specialisation in Sustainability, KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Maja Göpel
Professor, Leuphana University

Michael Jacobs
Professor of Political Economy in the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield

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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

Jonathan Barth
Policy Director, Zoe Institute

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

Jørgen Skovmose Madsen
Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs for New Markets and EU in Danish renewable energy developer, Ørsted

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 Committee

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?

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
Maria Zambrano Fellow, Autonomous University of Barcelona

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

Simone d’Alessandro
Professor, University of Pisa

Anne Van Lancker
President of Solidar

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

Maria Joao Rodrigues
President of FEPS, former minister of the Portuguese Republic and Professor of Economics at ISCTE-IUL

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 (La France Insoumise), Co-Chair of the Left group in the European Parliament, Beyond Growth Conference Organiser

Lucas Chancel
Professor in Economics at Sciences Po, Co-director of the World Inequality Lab at the 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 Putaturo
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

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

Robert Sweeney
Senior Economic and Policy Analyst, Think-tank for Action on Social Change Ireland (TASC)

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

Hélène Garzino
Associate at Agence Verte

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

Florent Marcellesi
Co-chair of Verdes Equo and former MEP (Greens/EFA)

Dominique Meda
Director of IRISSO and Professor, Paris Dauphine

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

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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

Stephane 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

Asha Allen
Advocacy Director for Europe, Online Expression & Civic Space for the Centre of Democracy and Technology

Sophie Bloemen
Director, Commons Network

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

Corinna Schlombs
Associate Professor of History Rochester Institute of Technology

Nakeema Stefflbauer
CEO, FrauenLoop and Core Participant, Decolonising Digital Rights

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Focus panel 11 – Designing businesses in a future-fit 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

Christos Economou
Deputy Director for Sea-basin Strategies, Maritime Regional Cooperation and Maritime Security, DG MARE, European Commission

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

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

Frederic Hache
Director and Co-founder of the Green Finance Observatory

Marco Lambertini
Special Envoy, WWF International

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

Clive Spash
Social Ecological Economist

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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

Román Arjona
Chief Economist at the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs.

Michael Braungart
Professor, holder of the Cradle to cradle Chair, University of Lüneburg

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-Prat De Abreu
Deputy Director General DG TRADE, EU Commission

Souad Aden-Osman
Executive Director Coalition for Dialogue in Africa

Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder
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 Miguel da Costa e Silva
Ambassador of Brazil to the European Union

Pedro Manuel Moreno
Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

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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
Secretary General of Slow Food

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

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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

Katalin Keveházi
Director General of the Jol-Let Foundation

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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

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

Daniela Gabor
Professor of economics and macrofinance

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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Policy labs

Policy Lab on Redefining Prosperity

Mainstreaming wellbeing and sustainability metrics in EU governance: challenges and opportunities
The discourse on strengthening wellbeing and sustainability metrics in policymaking is gaining momentum. Given the goals set it out in the European Green Deal and the European Pillar of Social Rights, decision-makers require holistic policy tools to mitigate trade-offs and identify synergies. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war on Ukraine have highlighted the significance of resilience, indicating the importance of not relying on macroeconomic indicators alone. Successes in this agenda are already visible when it comes to monitoring wellbeing and sustainability, as the Social Scoreboard and Resilience Dashboards exemplify.

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Policy Lab on Just Transition

Living Well within Planetary Boundaries: Integrating Social and Economic policy

The Policy Lab will discuss how social policy e.g., the integration of the European Pillar of Social Rights into the European Semester, can be taken to a new level. What does it take to weave social policy deep into existing policy processes?

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Policy lab on public finances fit for the future

The challenge: Making public finances fit for the future

Fiscal policy instruments are essential for the achievement of environmental targets and to ensure that no one is left behind in the green transition. In the light of the objectives of the Green Deal, it is of fundamental importance to align the quantity and quality of public finances with social and environmental goals. Making public finances fit for the future will require changing the narratives and orientations underpinning fiscal policy that are still primarily focused on increasing economic activity, "competitiveness" and growth.

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Side events

Side event: Civil Society Gathering event

Friends of the Earth Europe, the European Youth Forum, the European Environmental Bureau and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance are delighted to be organising a full-day civil society gathering in Brussels ahead of the European Parliament’s Beyond Growth Conference.

Do you work on or have interest in economic, social and environmental justice issues? Are you a NGO, an union worker, an activist in your local community, a degrowth researcher, a rights activist? Do you want to connect with discussions on “the economy”, get ideas for what to do, how to bring it more into your work, and take meaningful action for systems change? This is the gathering for you!

WHEN: Sunday 14 May 2023 from 10:00-18:00 CEST

WHERE: Mundo-b Building, Rue d’Edimbourg 26, Ixelles, Brussels 1050. Mundo-b is accessible to people with reduced mobility.

Please contact meadhbh.bolger@foeeurope.org if you need more information or have questions.

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Side event: Throwaway – the history of a contemporary crisis

Embark on an unprecedented journey into the history of our waste. From the industrial revolution to wartime scarcity and the excesses of consumer society, this temporary exhibition at the House of European History charts the profound changes in the way we deal with rubbish and think about it.

Fragments of Bronze Age objects, samples of white rags used in paper mills in the 19th century, electronic devices – whether industrial or household, toxic or reusable, our rubbish is revealing.

While we tend not to dwell on what we have thrown away, the exhibition invites you to sift through the detritus of our societies, with startling results.

The exhibition itself uses a circularity model of construction, whereby materials employed to build the structures, walls and exhibition work, have been used before the exhibition and will continue their life afterwards, or are made from reused or recycled materials.

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Side event: Throwaway – the history of a contemporary crisis

Fragments of Bronze Age objects, samples of white rags used in paper mills in the 19th century, electronic devices – whether industrial or household, toxic or reusable, our rubbish is revealing.

While we tend not to dwell on what we have thrown away, the exhibition invites you to sift through the detritus of our societies, with startling results.

More information

Side event: Throwaway – the history of a contemporary crisis

Fragments of Bronze Age objects, samples of white rags used in paper mills in the 19th century, electronic devices – whether industrial or household, toxic or reusable, our rubbish is revealing.

While we tend not to dwell on what we have thrown away, the exhibition invites you to sift through the detritus of our societies, with startling results.

More information

Side event: Donut Conference in Brussels

We are very happy to welcome you at ICHEC Brussels Management School for this inspiring conference where you will discover the systemic approach of the BrusselsDonut project.

We have the privilege to welcome Kate Raworth and Erinch Sahan from the Doughnut Economics Action Lab (DEAL) to reflect with us on the challenges we face as well as the opportunities that Doughnut Economics brings for the transformation needed.

We also have the pleasure to welcome Barbara Trachte, Secretary of State for the Brussels-Capital Region, who initiated this project.

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Side event: An evening with Vandana Shiva

On May 15, Vandana Shiva will do us the honour of her presence in the magnificent hall "Studio 4" of the Flagey Cultural Center. From the new generation of GMOs to the marketing of seeds, Vandana Shiva will deliver her vision of a desirable future. Her speech will be followed by a conversation together with Marie Toussaint, MEP Group of the Greens/European, and Blanche Magarinos-Rey, lawyer specialised in environmental law.

As the European Union prepares two crucial legislative proposals for the future of our agriculture, and as genetic modification techniques have evolved considerably, what are the challenges for our health, rights and food? The conversations held that evening are of crucial importance for moving towards a desirable future for all.

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Side event: EU Quarter ‘lobby tour’

How corporate lobbying power obstructs the transition to a post-growth, future-fit EU

Join us for a guided ‘lobby tour’ to explore the world of corporate lobbying in the EU Quarter. There are an estimated 30,000 lobbyists working in Brussels, most of whom are representing the interests of large corporations and their lobby groups. The power of corporate lobbyists is one of the main obstacles for the transition to a post-growth, future-fit EU. Find out what goes on behind the shiny building facades from which these lobbyists work and how it affects people and the environment in Europe and around the world. Learn about the movement against corporate capture of EU decision-making and our strategies for reclaiming democratic space for the radical social and ecological transformation that Europe needs.

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Side event: A salon with Tim Jackson: Imagining a ‘post-growth’ economy

The good news is that the prevalent economic logic is starting to shift. We've heard it already: exponential economic growth is unsustainable, resources are finite and planetary boundaries should lead decision-making processes. However, politicians, corporations, and economists alike still lead us to believe that our prosperity is intrinsically connected to growing GDP and a buoyant stock market. To provide prosperity for all while respecting planetary boundaries, it is imperative we transcend both the conventional growth-centred worldview and our growth-dependent economic and social systems.

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Side event: A salon with Vandana Shiva: Decolonising the global economy

Environmentalist, activist and author Vandana Shiva delivers a critical talk on what the whole point of the economy is and how to decolonise its global dimension. She looks at the whole picture, connecting the dots from a just international trade to thriving local economies and how our democracies can truly serve us.

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