Every human being inherits a simple ambition: to leave life better than he found it. For several millennia, societies have pursued this ambition through economic growth. Bigger economies have created employment, improved healthcare, expanded education, built modern infrastructure, and brought overall well-being. By many measures, humanity has made remarkable progress, at least in the physical world.

Yet alongside these achievements, another reality has emerged. The environment that sustains us is under stress, water bodies are polluted, forests have shrunk immensely, biodiversity is disappearing (many species extinct mainly due to loss of habitats) and extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common. The challenge is no longer a distant concern.

This brings us to the question: Can humanity continue to pursue prosperity and higher living standards without compromising the ecological foundations upon which they depend? The answer may require us to rethink not only how economies grow, but also how we define progress itself.

The Limits of GDP as a Compass

Since the industrial revolution, the template of progress has largely been economic growth, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) becoming the most widely used indicator of national success. Rising GDP reflected expanding production, higher incomes, greater employment, and improved living standards. But it is fundamentally incomplete, unsustainable and environmentally damaging. By focusing solely on the market value of goods and services produced, GDP overlooks the condition of the natural systems upon which all economic activity ultimately depends. A nation may record strong economic growth while simultaneously, systematically and irreversibly harming the environment. In such cases, GDP captures immediate economic gains but fails to account for the erosion of natural capital that supports long-term sustainable prosperity.

The debate over growth and sustainability is often framed as a choice between two competing visions. Growth optimists argue that technological innovation can decouple economic prosperity from environmental degradation, pointing to advances in renewable energy, electric mobility, artificial intelligence, and resource-efficient manufacturing. On the other side, ecological economists contend that infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible. The objective, therefore, should not be choice between growth and sustainability, but to redefine growth so that both reinforce one another.

While economies MUST grow, the need is to transition from ‘growth at any cost’ to ‘growth with responsibility’. The need of the hour is to transition from a linear ‘exploit-produce-dispose’ model to a circular economy which extends to recovering, recycling, and reusing materials rather than disposing as the end goal.

Building partnerships

Over the last several centuries, humans have ravaged earth’s natural resources and wildlife, destroyed forests, polluted the air........

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