New Insights into the Limits to Growth Model

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On May 18, 2023,, we spoke with Gaya Herrington of Schneider Electric to explore “Examining the ‘Limits to Growth’ Model: Systems Thinking, Sustainability & CPR”

Today’s debates over sustainability and prosperity hinge on foundational assumptions about the economy, growth and the drivers of human well-being. Since its publication in 1972, the “Limits to Growth” model commissioned by the Club of Rome has been at the center of such debates, raising fundamental questions about whether prosperity is inherently linked to material consumption, and whether “business as usual” models of economic growth will lead to greater prosperity or collapse.

In this module, we explore:

• What is the Limits to Growth Model?
• Why did the Limits to Growth model generate such controversy?
• What does this suggest for where companies can have the greatest impact – or block progress around sustainability?

The Corporate Political Responsibility Taskforce (CPRT)’s Expert Dialogues are in-depth, recorded conversations with academic experts, stakeholder advocates and business practitioners to provide our members and other CPR champions with the expertise and context they need to develop principled, proactive CPR strategies. We invite those interested in a constructive, non-partisan, principles-based discussion.

Gaya Herrington is the former Director of Sustainability Services for KPMG US, author of Five Insights to Avoid Global Collapse: What a 50-year Old Model of the World Taught Me About a Way Forward for Us Today, based on research that examined updated quantitative information and found that current empirical data is broadly consistent with the 1972 projections and that if major changes to the consumption of resources are not undertaken, economic growth will peak and then rapidly decline by around 2040.

Keywords: #CorporatePoliticalResponsibility, #CPR_Climate, #CPR_Environment, #CPR_Long-term Value, #CPR_ESG, #CPR_Systemic Risk, #CPR_Trends, #CPR_Responsibility, #CPR_Resiliency