How the concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” could help increase public and policy engagement and speed transitions to net zero and nature recovery

Pretty, Jules, Garrity, Dennis, Badola, Hemant Kumar, Barrett, Mike, Butler Flora, Cornelia, Cameron, Catherine, Grist, Natasha, Hepburn, Leanne, Hilburn, Heather, Isham, Amy, Jacobi, Erik, Lal, Rattan, Lyster, Simon, Magnason, Andri Snaer, McGlade, Jacquie, Middendorf, Jan, Milner-Gulland, E. J., Orr, David, Peck, Lloyd, Reij, Chris, Rockström, Johan, Ronesh, Yarema, Saito, Osamu, Smith, Jo, Smith, Pete, Thorne, Peter, Watabe, Atsushi, Waters, Steve and Wells, Geoff (2025) How the concept of “Regenerative Good Growth” could help increase public and policy engagement and speed transitions to net zero and nature recovery. Sustainability, 17 (3). ISSN 2071-1050

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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 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.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Data Availability Statement: Data are contained within the article. Funding Information: There was no direct financial support for the development and writing of this paper.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	regenerative good growth,backlash,bad gdp growth,climate crisis,green authoritarianism,nature crisis,net zero,public engagement,renewable assets,social tipping points,story and hope,computer science (miscellaneous),environmental science (miscellaneous),geography, planning and development,energy engineering and power technology,hardware and architecture,management, monitoring, policy and law,computer networks and communications,renewable energy, sustainability and the environment,sdg 7 - affordable and clean energy,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1700/1701
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Creative Writing Research Group
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Apr 2025 16:30
Last Modified:	30 Apr 2025 15:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99089
DOI:	10.3390/su17030849

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