Forces driving sustainability
Chapter 2 - Society
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Welcome to the Forces driving sustainability page
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The early economic theory of value, presented in varying forms in the works of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, David Ricardo, and John Locke, asserts that the economic value of a good or service is determined by the amount of labour exerted in production.
Modern economists reject this explanation and claim that supply and demand determine economic value.
George Tsakraklides explains: "The real economy of this planet is its forests and oceans. Its currency is water, food, oxygen, and sunlight. Its stock market is the ecosystems and climate systems that balance these resources' allocation." The choice is simple: regeneration or extinction. Finally, there is no regeneration without the regeneration of the Common Good.
We believe that the energy surplus extracted from natural resources - above and beyond what we need - forms the basis of our cultural economy. The balance between what we need and what we want and can do urgently needs to be restored.
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Core ideas
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Thinking
Coherence
The coherence theory of truth defines coherence as a relationship between propositions or beliefs within a system. Coherence generally encompasses two key aspects:
- Consistency: A coherent set of beliefs or propositions must be logically consistent, meaning they do not contradict each other
- Connectedness: The beliefs or propositions in a coherent system must be interconnected, with each element having logical relationships to others in the set
It's important to note that perfect coherence is not expected, especially in scientific theories where new observational facts must be integrated with existing knowledge. The degree of coherence can vary, with some coherence theorists arguing that truth comes in degrees depending on how well a belief coheres with other beliefs in the system.
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Development
In short, it means improving everyone's lives. For now, Maslow's basic needs are still applicable in many places: sufficient food to maintain good health, a healthy place to live, and dignity. If we transcend this, we enter a cultural zone where development becomes the subject of democratic discussion and decision-making. This leads to egalitarian ethics, a better life for all, although this can be a continuous discussion depending on the values and norms present.
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Paradigma shift
It is about correctly understanding Darwin's meme, "the survival of the fittest". It is not about the behaviour of an organism/organisation that is most successful. It is about the organism/organisation with the best set of genes/ways of working adapted to (new) circumstances that can be passed on to the next generation. This last part is especially often missing in the reasoning. Growth (producing more goods and services) has no long-term perspective. Development as a species/humanity has because development is not interested in the economy's growth but supports the conditions under which production occurs and the results that flow from these processes.
The paradigm shift goes
- from what good is for the individual is good for us all (society)
- to what good is for us all (society) is good for the individual
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Economy
(Economic) growth
In short, it means achieving a more massive economy (a bigger pie) that produces more goods and services. Economic growth occurs when more productive resources (capital, people, land, equipment) are employed to produce more goods and services. The core belief is that revenue comes from meritocracy, and wealth will trickle down throughout society, without any ethical basis.
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The limits of this growth lie in the tangible and intangible resources available. In the industrial age in which we now live, we relied mainly on tangible raw materials that provide us with energy in a simple way. This led to a (Jevons) paradox: innovation aimed at using energy sources more and more efficiently has led to us consuming those sources increasingly rapidly, unaware of the devastating consequences of using this energy for climate and human equality.
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What science can tell you
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| Marie Claire Brisbois - Coping with decarbonisation: An inventory of strategies from resistance to transformation - Global Environmental Change - 2025 |
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| Decarbonisation is progressing rapidly and different actors respond to its impacts in different ways. Whether these responses seek to resist decarbonisation, adapt to new realities, or fundamentally transform the social and economic conditions that define decarbonisation contexts depends on the actor groups in question and the resources they are able to draw upon. |
| https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378025000056?dgcid=raven |
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| Nina L. Frings - National context shapes climate impact perceptions and their effects on climate policy support and behavior - 2025 |
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| In China, Germany, and the United States. Using a novel experimental paradigm, we investigate the extent to which participants’ perceptions of the climate impact of behaviors and their accuracy in estimating carbon footprints is associated with their own climate-related behavior and their support for behavior-targeted climate policies. Across the three countries, participants largely misperceived overall carbon footprints, and underestimated the climate impact of highly carbon-intensive actions.
Participants’ impact perceptions and carbon footprint accuracy were associated with their own corresponding behavior across all countries. |
| Most people also misperceive the climate impact of different lifestyles, with a tendency to underestimate the carbon footprints of high-income and high-emitting individuals. |
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| Strategic foresight framework for addressing agency in sustainability transitions: a co-creation approach - Front. in Sustain. - 2025 |
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| The starting point was the creation of a set of four foresight scenarios describing various versions of how the EU could be sustainable by 2050. Climate-neutrality was set as the central normative condition for all scenarios. |
| https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainability/articles/10.3389/frsus.2025.1507708/full |
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Do you want to know more?
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Reporting
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| Sustainability Reporting Navigator |
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| The platform is part of the Collaborative Research Center TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency and jointly hosted and developed by Goethe University, University of Cologne and LMU Munich and supported by TRR 266 (Accounting for Transparency; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Project-ID 403041268). |
| https://sustainabilityreportingnavigator.com/ |
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| The 89 procent project |
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| Between 80 and 89% of the world’s people want their governments to be doing more to address climate change. Let’s tell their stories. |
| https://89percent.org/ |
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EU Politics
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| The European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament |
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| As Greens/EFA we stand for a society where everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, age, race, or religion, can live a dignified and fulfilling life. As a political force, we put the human rights of all human beings, present and future, at the front and center of all policies we advocate and implement. |
| https://www.greens-efa.eu/en/ |
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| European Peoples Party |
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| Our mission is to safeguard the European way of life by promoting a united Europe rooted in fundamental values such as human dignity, freedom, solidarity, respect for human rights, and the rule of law. We strive to build a more confident and forward-looking Europe that ensures equal opportunities for all its citizens. |
| https://www.eppgroup.eu/ |
| https://www.epp.eu/ |
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World Politics
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| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
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| The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is a forum and knowledge hub for data, analysis and best practices in public policy. We work with over 100 countries across the world to build stronger, fairer and cleaner societies - helping to shape better policies for better lives. |
| https://www.oecd.org/en.html |
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| Energy Policy Inventory |
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| A snapshot of global energy policies tracking over 5 000 policies in 50 G20 and IEA Family countries |
| https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/energy-policy-inventory |
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