To solve the Climate Crisis increasing economic productivity and energy efficiency is not sufficient. Absolute decoupling of economic growth and environmental degradition, including global warming is not feasible (Hickel and Kallis (2019) Is Green Growth Possible?). We will have to stop economic growth itself or even degrow on a global scale.
Growth economists have always had models that in the long run end in a steady state. That’s just mathematics. Many economists have been thinking about ‘steady state economics’ for a long time. Wikipedia has an overview.
Most recent a new label has been introduced: ‘Doughnut Economy’. The focus is on defining the limits within which the economy can operate without harming the environment on the one side and providing for a good life for everybody on the other side. Also focused is the new practises people and businesses can apply in developing sustainablity principles - moving from ’exstractive’ to ‘generative’ enterprises.
This is the optimistic bottom-up movement of buidling new practises - and is certainly important.
The other side of the coin is more pessimistic:
The world today consists also of the dark side: environmentally harmfull ‘practises’ on a large scale that have to be removed, and removed quickly. These harmful practises contain the ’normal’, ‘business as usual’ ways of operating for businesses and working people all over the world. The really hard task ahead is to knock down these practises.
So, implementing a steady state (or degrowth) economy now - due to the climate urgency ’ is quite another issue than small-scale development of ‘doughnut economics’.
Herman Daly’s famous book “A Steady-State Economy,” includes a 10-point Transition to a Steady State Economy (SSE)-program.
Point 5 on the list is:
Re-regulate international commerce—move away from free trade, free capital mobility and globalization, adopt compensating tariffs to protect efficient national policies of cost internalization from standards-lowering competition from other countries.
Just this one point is a very tall order. Actually, the task ahead is to undo all achievements of the liberal economic order that has steered the world in recent decades
How can it be done?