Summary

The dominant approach to the fight against poverty relies on increasing the aggregate output of the economy (measured as the gross domestic product), combined with post-market redistribution through taxes and transfers. The Special Rapporteur argues, however, that the current focus on increasing the gross domestic product is misguided. An increase in gross domestic product is not a precondition for the realization of human rights or for combating poverty and inequalities. The ideology of “growthism” should not become a distraction from the urgent need both to provide more of the goods and services that enhance well-being and to reduce the production of what is unnecessary or even toxic. As long as the economy is driven mainly by profit maximization, it will respond to the demand expressed by the richest groups of society, leading to extractive forms of production that worsen social exclusion in the name of creating more wealth, and it will fail to fulfil the rights of those in poverty. Moving from an economy driven by the search for maximizing profits to a human rights economy is possible and, to remain within planetary boundaries, necessary.

The transition to a post-growth development trajectory, focused on the realization of human rights rather than on an increase in the aggregate levels of production and consumption, should be explicitly mentioned in A Pact for the Future, which will be adopted at the Summit of the Future, in September 2024. Escaping growth dependencies will require multi-year strategies and an effort at different levels of governance. The overall objective should be to reshape the economy in order to produce more socially useful and ecologically sustainable goods and services, and to significantly reduce unnecessary and wasteful production. Appropriate sequencing and coordination of the transition at multiple levels of governance is key. Taking the present report as an initial assessment of why a post-growth approach to poverty eradication is required and what it could look like, the Special Rapporteur will launch a round of consultations in preparation of a road map, to propose how this transformation could be achieved. Growthism needs to be abandoned. It is urgent to move away from economic arrangements that are inefficient and wasteful, while failing to respond to the essential needs of people in poverty.