Prosperity and Sustainability in the Green Economy (PASSAGE)

This Fellowship explores the relationship between sustainability and prosperity in the context of the 'green economy'. It aims to support Prof Jackson in two main tasks. One of these is to synthesise the research findings from almost a decade of work exploring the concept of sustainable lifestyles. This body of work (developed most recently through an ESRC funded Research group on Lifestyles Values and Environment (RESOLVE) has set out to examine the complex relationships between people's lifestyles, societal values and the environment. Collating and synthesising that evidence in an accessible way for a broad audience is the first main aim of the fellowship.

One of the core themes that emerges from this body of work involves the tension that sometimes arises between concerns for sustainability and the pursuit of prosperity. This tension is particularly acute when concepts of prosperity are based on ideas of material accumulation. But even when prosperity is framed differently, for example in terms of wellbeing or our capabilities to flourish, the structures of economic growth and the values of consumerism tend to drive society towards unsustainable outcomes. Prof Jackson has written extensively about this dilemma, most recently in his book Prosperity without Growth - economics for a finite planet, which has attracted worldwide attention. The book sets out the dynamics of the problem. But it also points towards structural solutions. The second main aim of this fellowship is to develop these solutions further. In particular, the Fellowship will allow Prof Jackson to build on an existing collaboration with Canadian economist Prof Peter Victor to develop a macroeconomic model of the green economy.

The model sets out the key economic relationships, for instance between consumption, savings and investment, between the private and the public sector, between enterprise and households, in an ecologically constrained economy. It explores key questions about the structure of financial markets, the role of community-scale investment, the nature of economic activity and the role of different ownership structures in a green economy. In doing so, it allows for an enhanced understanding of the transition to a green economy. Once the model is developed it will be applied to five case study countries, with different stages and structures of development.

Beneficiaries from this research will include business, financial investors, social enterprise, civil society, the media, policymakers and the academic community. Support letters (see attached) have been offered from some of these users. Longer term benefits to the UK include:

1) improved insights into the environmental implications of lifestyle change;
2) better policy design for carbon emission reduction (and other mitigation policies);
3) a stronger research base in sustainable finance, particularly in the sphere of community based finance;
4) improvements to the national accounting framework and its relevance to environmental policy;
5) enhanced understanding of the financial conditions of the transition to a green economy;
6) enhanced understanding of the labour implications of the transition to a green economy;
7) improved integration of ecological, economic and social policy goals.

Many benefits will be almost immediate, arising within the timescale of the Fellowship, since early engagement is proposed. Both the synthesis task and the modelling task will begin to yield user relevant insights within the first six months to a year of the Fellowship. Specific benefits to individual sectors are discussed below.

Business: The findings on sustainable living will help businesses engage strategically with consumers, and deepen their understanding of the relationship between sustainability and people's lifestyles. The learning from GEMMA will be vital to this task.

Investors: The role and structure of investment in the macro-economy is one of the elements explored in GEMMA. Financial institutions can expect to understand better the investment needs of a green economy, the structure of financial markets best suited to deliver those needs, and the conditions required to stimulate both saving and investment at community level.

Social Enterprise: community based social enterprise represents a key opportunity to improve employment, reduce environmental impacts and provide vital services in the green economy.

Civil Society: The advantages to such organisations from the work range from the ability to engage more effectively with people over issues like climate change to the development of strategic priorities around investment and economic viability.

Media: The expertise developed through the Fellowship will be increasingly important to inform mainstream financial and economic media about the green economy as well as to help environmental journalists understand the demands of sustainable living.

Government: The findings from the macroeconomic modelling will be of direct relevance to economists in Defra, Treasury and elsewhere in government in understanding the transition to a green economy. Since the model itself is based firmly on the widely used national accounts structure, the results can immediately be assimilated into more conventional understandings of economic structure, while at the same time offering new insights into an ecological bounded economy.

Academia: Benefits to the broader economic activity include the development of new theoretical frameworks for the green economy and a multidisciplinary synthesis of findings on sustainable lifestyles. Younger researchers and post-graduate students will benefit from the development of new research projects and training programmes in this area. This will be particularly important as both private and public sector organisations increasingly value an ecologically literate graduate work-force.