Reevaluation of Economic Growth Through the Prism of Natural Capital Sustainability

This paper explores the messages of various economic growth policies through the lens of the imperative of natural capital sustainability.It highlights the key differences between the policy of green growth and the recommended policies of stagnation and deceleration of economic growth, as advocated by the Degrowth and Post-growth concepts.These differences are evident in the fact that the green growth concept and the associated greening policies are based on the assumption that future economic growth is feasible if measures related to increased use of renewable energy, extensive recycling, and the transition from linear to circular production are implemented.In other words, proponents of green growth do not consider fundamental changes in economic systems necessary to address global environmental issues such as climate change, the biodiversity crisis, and other problems associated with the unsustainable exploitation of natural capital.Conversely, the critique of green growth from the Degrowth and Post-growth perspectives argues that such policies cannot achieve a decoupling of production increases from the consumption of natural capital.Consequently, these concepts critique not only economic growth as a central macroeconomic category but also challenge the potential of green growth to ensure sustainable global production and consumption in the future.