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How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery

Jules Pretty Orcid Logo, Dennis Garrity, Hemant Kumar Badola, Mike Barrett, Cornelia Butler Flora, Catherine Cameron, Natasha Grist, Leanne Hepburn Orcid Logo, Heather Hilburn, Amy Isham Orcid Logo, Erik Jacobi Orcid Logo, Rattan Lal Orcid Logo, Simon Lyster, Andri Snaer Magnason, Jacquie McGlade Orcid Logo, Jan Middendorf, E. J. Milner-Gulland Orcid Logo, David Orr, Lloyd Peck Orcid Logo, Chris Reij, Johan Rockström Orcid Logo, Yarema Ronesh Orcid Logo, Osamu Saito Orcid Logo, Jo Smith Orcid Logo, Pete Smith Orcid Logo, Peter Thorne, Atsushi Watabe Orcid Logo, Steve Waters, Geoff Wells

Sustainability, Volume: 17, Issue: 3, Start page: 849

Swansea University Author: Amy Isham Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/su17030849

Abstract

Just and fair transitions to low-carbon and nature-positive ways of living need to occur fast enough to limit and reverse the climate and nature crises, but not so fast that the public is left behind. We propose the concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” (RGG) to replace the language and practice of...

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Published in: Sustainability
ISSN: 2071-1050
Published: MDPI AG 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69203
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spelling 2025-04-30T12:21:33.0741638 v2 69203 2025-04-01 How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery 5fce1ddf9df54207881ee2541a8e0074 0000-0001-6089-709X Amy Isham Amy Isham true false 2025-04-01 PSYS Just and fair transitions to low-carbon and nature-positive ways of living need to occur fast enough to limit and reverse the climate and nature crises, but not so fast that the public is left behind. We propose the concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” (RGG) to replace the language and practice of extractive, bad GDP growth. RGG centres on the services provided by five renewable capitals: natural, social, human, cultural, and sustainable physical. The term “growth” tends to divide rather than unite, and so here we seek language and storylines that appeal to a newly emergent climate-concerned majority. Creative forms of public engagement that lead to response diversity will be essential to fostering action: when people feel coerced into adopting single options at pace, there is a danger of backlash or climate authoritarianism. Policy centred around storytelling can help create diverse public responses and institutional frameworks. The practises underpinning RGG have already created business opportunities, while delivering sharp falls in unit costs. Fast transitions and social tipping points are emerging in the agricultural, energy, and city sectors. Though further risks will emerge related to rebound effects and lack of decoupling of material consumption from GDP, RGG will help cut the externalities of economies. Journal Article Sustainability 17 3 849 MDPI AG 2071-1050 Regenerative Good Growth; bad GDP growth; climate crisis; nature crisis; renewable assets; public engagement; story and hope; social tipping points; backlash; green authoritarianism; net zero 22 1 2025 2025-01-22 10.3390/su17030849 COLLEGE NANME Psychology School COLLEGE CODE PSYS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee There was no direct financial support for the development and writing of this paper. 2025-04-30T12:21:33.0741638 2025-04-01T17:49:51.3291350 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Psychology Jules Pretty 0000-0002-3897-6581 1 Dennis Garrity 2 Hemant Kumar Badola 3 Mike Barrett 4 Cornelia Butler Flora 5 Catherine Cameron 6 Natasha Grist 7 Leanne Hepburn 0000-0002-5109-7127 8 Heather Hilburn 9 Amy Isham 0000-0001-6089-709X 10 Erik Jacobi 0000-0001-7310-5784 11 Rattan Lal 0000-0002-9016-2972 12 Simon Lyster 13 Andri Snaer Magnason 14 Jacquie McGlade 0000-0002-8657-6734 15 Jan Middendorf 16 E. J. Milner-Gulland 0000-0003-0324-2710 17 David Orr 18 Lloyd Peck 0000-0003-3479-6791 19 Chris Reij 20 Johan Rockström 0000-0001-8988-2983 21 Yarema Ronesh 0000-0003-2231-9891 22 Osamu Saito 0000-0002-0697-9593 23 Jo Smith 0000-0001-6984-6766 24 Pete Smith 0000-0002-3784-1124 25 Peter Thorne 26 Atsushi Watabe 0000-0002-4310-2061 27 Steve Waters 28 Geoff Wells 29 69203__34139__cd5060eb75b448ad807097130254c34e.pdf 69203.VoR.pdf 2025-04-30T12:19:34.1913510 Output 1405850 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
spellingShingle How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
Amy Isham
title_short How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
title_full How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
title_fullStr How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
title_full_unstemmed How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
title_sort How the Concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” Could Help Increase Public and Policy Engagement and Speed Transitions to Net Zero and Nature Recovery
author_id_str_mv 5fce1ddf9df54207881ee2541a8e0074
author_id_fullname_str_mv 5fce1ddf9df54207881ee2541a8e0074_***_Amy Isham
author Amy Isham
author2 Jules Pretty
Dennis Garrity
Hemant Kumar Badola
Mike Barrett
Cornelia Butler Flora
Catherine Cameron
Natasha Grist
Leanne Hepburn
Heather Hilburn
Amy Isham
Erik Jacobi
Rattan Lal
Simon Lyster
Andri Snaer Magnason
Jacquie McGlade
Jan Middendorf
E. J. Milner-Gulland
David Orr
Lloyd Peck
Chris Reij
Johan Rockström
Yarema Ronesh
Osamu Saito
Jo Smith
Pete Smith
Peter Thorne
Atsushi Watabe
Steve Waters
Geoff Wells
format Journal article
container_title Sustainability
container_volume 17
container_issue 3
container_start_page 849
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2071-1050
doi_str_mv 10.3390/su17030849
publisher MDPI AG
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Psychology{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Psychology
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description Just and fair transitions to low-carbon and nature-positive ways of living need to occur fast enough to limit and reverse the climate and nature crises, but not so fast that the public is left behind. We propose the concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” (RGG) to replace the language and practice of extractive, bad GDP growth. RGG centres on the services provided by five renewable capitals: natural, social, human, cultural, and sustainable physical. The term “growth” tends to divide rather than unite, and so here we seek language and storylines that appeal to a newly emergent climate-concerned majority. Creative forms of public engagement that lead to response diversity will be essential to fostering action: when people feel coerced into adopting single options at pace, there is a danger of backlash or climate authoritarianism. Policy centred around storytelling can help create diverse public responses and institutional frameworks. The practises underpinning RGG have already created business opportunities, while delivering sharp falls in unit costs. Fast transitions and social tipping points are emerging in the agricultural, energy, and city sectors. Though further risks will emerge related to rebound effects and lack of decoupling of material consumption from GDP, RGG will help cut the externalities of economies.
published_date 2025-01-22T05:38:52Z
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