“What use is growing the global economy when it is burning the planet and channelling the majority of its wealth to the super-rich?”, asks Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in the video embedded below. At first glance, this question does not seem to have much to do with the use of sails to propel cargo ships. Yet for all those political sailing projects which, with planetary boundaries in mind, are not merely replacing propulsion technology with a focus on ‘HOW is it transported?’, but are first asking the question ‘WHAT is being transported and WHY?’, the professor – who teaches at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), amongst other institutions – offers insights into the necessary transformation.
De Schutter’s report (Human Rights Council, 2024) focuses on poverty and human rights. In the summer of 2025, the International Court of Justice in The Hague unanimously ruled – partly on the initiative of Pacific island states such as Vanuatu – that a healthy, sustainable and clean environment is a human right. Thus, the demand for respect for human rights is always also a demand for respect for planetary boundaries: if the planet is overexploited, as is currently the case, this violates, among other things, the human rights of future generations. Yet De Schutter emphasises: “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.”
Away from the ‘obsession with growth’...
De Schutter emphasises that the focus on economic growth does not merely lead to the overshooting of planetary boundaries – currently seven out of nine. Rather, growth is fuelled “in a post-colonial pattern of domination maintained by the stranglehold of foreign debt.” Economic growth requires ever-increasing consumption of energy and raw materials to unsustainable levels. “Unsustainable forms of consumption by certain groups of the population, primarily in rich countries, have pushed the Earth well outside a safe operating space.” Raw material extraction has thus tripled since the mid-1970s. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) expects raw material extraction to rise by a further 60 per cent by 2060. As a result of human activities, 75 per cent of the Earth’s land area has been significantly altered, and 66 per cent of the ocean area is exposed to increasing multiple pressures.
The often-touted decoupling of growth from environmental impact has failed: “Green growth is not happening.” Where countries succeed in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this is often linked to the relocation of carbon-intensive production to countries with weaker environmental laws. This then leads – although this is not explicitly stated in De Schutter’s report – to an increase in sea freight volumes and a corresponding rise in pressure on the oceans.
… towards a human rights-oriented economy
The economy must be geared towards post-growth scenarios. This does not mean austerity measures. Nor should the conscious decision to renounce growth in the ‘overweight’ countries of the Global North be confused with a recession, even though recessions are characterised by negative growth rates. Rather, orienting the economy towards a future beyond growth means the democratic planning of a transition to a different economy in such a way that it simultaneously promotes well-being, social justice and environmental sustainability.
Overcoming inequality and consumerism
Inequalities in society fuel a constant race for status through consumption. The lifestyle of the wealthy drives the consumption-oriented model of today’s global economic system. This model relies on ever-increasing production and the purchase of consumer goods to sustain economic growth, which is pushing the planet beyond its limits. The longer these vast income inequalities persist, the more resources are used to satisfy the desires of the rich rather than meeting the needs of the poor.
The aim must be to break free from the vicious circle in which overproduction is forced onto the market by stimulating overconsumption. People are thus trapped in a cycle of work and consumption. This cycle constitutes an obstacle to flourishing lives. De Schutter proposes a ban on advertising and the right to repair in order to promote sustainable consumption.
Access to goods and services necessary for the enjoyment of human rights must, on the consumption side, become less dependent on purchasing power and thus on access to well-paid jobs. The production side should focus more on meeting basic needs and less on satisfying desires generated by marketing strategies and fuelled by status anxiety.
Promoting the social and solidarity economy
That is why enterprises in the social and solidarity economy should be supported. Their aim is not to reward investors, but to meet the needs of the community. Such enterprises must be run democratically: rather than voting rights being linked to the amount of capital invested, every stakeholder – investor-employee, investor-consumer or investor-supplier – should have one vote. Involving employees in strategic business decisions, including within global supply chains, would reduce the temptation to outsource the most environmentally damaging and labour-intensive parts of production to countries where environmental regulations are virtually non-existent and wages are low.
Reducing working hours
Reducing working hours can help to lessen the stress on ecosystems. Firstly, shorter working hours generally lead to lower incomes, which in turn forces households to consume less. In return, they gain time for less energy-intensive consumption habits: they can prepare meals themselves instead of buying ready meals. And they can grow their own vegetables, for example, to be self-sufficient, thereby becoming less dependent on the market. Reducing working hours could reduce the ecological footprint by up to 12.1 per cent, writes De Schutter.
Strengthening democracy
De Schutter notes that the super-rich exert excessive political influence. Strengthening democracy is therefore necessary for a post-growth development approach: “participatory forms of democracy in particular can allow the questioning of certain widespread assumptions about the correlation between growth and well-being, or happiness.”
Democratic processes should primarily ensure that existing resources are made available to provide an adequate level of public services in areas such as health, education, public transport, energy supply and housing. They should guarantee social protection rather than serving the demands of the groups with the highest purchasing power. In this sense, a future beyond growth is a future that focuses on the unrestricted realisation of human rights – the exact opposite of ‘sacrificing rights to the professed need to reduce public spending".
Guaranteed basic services
Universal basic services – for example, in relation to healthcare, water or housing – are intended to reduce inequalities. This would give workers access to the essentials of life in ways other than through paid work. A job guarantee and the provision of universal basic services would make it more difficult for companies to resort to ‘job blackmailing’. This would ensure that profit maximisation is not prioritised over the health of workers or communities.
Consistent taxation of the rich
De Schutter argues that the concentration of wealth within a small elite fuels greenhouse gas emissions. Given the existence of superyachts and private jets, this is immediately obvious. However, De Schutter points out that the majority of emissions from the wealthiest are the result of their investment decisions, rather than their consumption. The richest one per cent of the world’s population is responsible for 23 per cent of the total increase in emissions since 1990, whilst the poorest half has caused only 16 per cent of the increase.
Against this background, De Schutter proposes combating aggressive tax optimisation strategies that fuel tax competition between states. Cross-border tax abuse by companies and the shifting of wealth to tax havens would result in a total revenue shortfall of 480 billion dollars. A wealth tax of 1.5 to 3 per cent on the 65,000 individuals with assets exceeding 100 million dollars, by contrast, would generate annual revenue of 300 billion dollars. "That would not only raise public revenue, it would also reduce the need to encourage people to work more and to consume more in order to increase the amount of taxes accrued by the State; and it would address the absurdly high levels of inequalities that have been reached."
Overcoming neo-colonial structures
De Schutter also addresses the inequality between countries: “While the economies of rich countries have become obese, economies in low-income countries are still too lean: they should be supported in their efforts to expand further.”
To overcome the dependencies between North and South, we must aim to reduce North-South trade and instead expand South-South trade, as well as promote local and regional markets. This includes strengthening the production capacities of developing countries to meet their own needs, including through technology transfer and the protection of nascent industries. Added to this is debt relief to ensure that heavily indebted poor countries are not forced to produce for global markets, but can instead prioritise the needs of local communities.
Commentary from the perspective of sailing cargo ships
As a UN official, De Schutter reaches conclusions that largely align with those of, amongst others, the researchers at Earth for all, the proposals put forward by Kohei Saito, and the concept of a doughnut economy: overcoming inequality, strengthening and, above all, expanding democracy. He does not explicitly mention the empowerment of women, but points out that they perform the bulk of unpaid reproductive labour, without which the current economic and growth system could not function.
Crucial to staying within planetary boundaries is a focus on production aimed at meeting basic human needs. In short: away with waste, focus on what is truly essential for humanity!
With regard to shipping: ever faster and globally scaled transport systems based on fossil fuels – particularly container shipping – enable the relocation of production to distant places with the aim of reducing production costs and skimming off extra profits. Consumers have access to products at lower prices because environmental and labour standards are circumvented. Such transport systems are environmentally harmful, socially destructive and operate on the basis of capital-intensive structures. These are linked to political power.
It is therefore about more than simply decarbonising transport by changing the propulsion systems of individual ships, whilst remaining within the logic of consumer capitalism. Politically motivated sailing cargo projects therefore call for a systemic rethink, as outlined, for example, by Olivier de Schutter for the UN. The struggles against climate change, species extinction and planetary systemic crises cannot be separated from the struggles for human rights and against neo-colonial structures, inequality and exploitation.
References
Amalia Ordóñez Vahí (2024): Connecting the dots between inequality, poverty, and human rights beyond growth. https://www.universal-rights.org/connecting-the-dots-between-inequality-poverty-and-human-rights-beyond-growth/
Olivier De Schutter (2024): Obsession with growth is enriching elites and killing theplanet. We need an economy based on human rights. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jul/02/obsession-with-growth-is-enriching-elites-and-killing-the-planet-we-need-an-economy-based-on-human-rights-olivier-de-schutter?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Human Rights Council (2024): Eradicating poverty beyond growth. Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4049146?v=pdf
John Szabo, Thomas SJ Smith, Leon Leuser (2022): An overview of strategies for social-ecological transformation in the field of transportation, in: Nathan Barlow, Livia Regen, Noémie Cadiou, Ekaterina Chertkovskaya, Max Hollweg, Christina Plank, Merle Schulken and Verena Wolf (2022): Degrowth & Strategy how to bring about social-ecological transformation. https://www.degrowthstrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Degrowth-n-Strategy-2022.pdf
Here is the original English text.