Degrowth is both a diagnostic and prognostic framework for understanding our intersecting crises and building a just future – it is both an answer to the questions “Why are we doing so bad, how did we get here” and “What is to be done?”.

 As a diagnostic lens, it identifies the root cause of ecological collapse, inequality, and social injustice in the relentless pursuit of economic growth under capitalism—a system that prioritizes extraction, accumulation, and endless expansion over human and planetary well-being.

As a prognostic vision, degrowth offers a pathway toward a post-growth, post-capitalist society centered on care, equity, and ecological stability. It calls for a planned reduction of resource and energy use in wealthy nations, while ensuring a dignified life for all through universal public services, shorter working hours, and democratic control over production and distribution.

Importantly, degrowth is not about austerity or recession—it is about redefining prosperity beyond GDP. It connects the struggles for climate justice, decolonization, feminism, and workers’ rights under a common agenda: to move away from an economy that exploits people and the planet toward one that sustains them.

By uniting these movements under a shared analysis and vision, degrowth becomes a strategic narrative capable of challenging the dominance of green-growth and neoliberal ideologies. It helps us imagine—and fight for—a future where justice, democracy, and ecology come before profit, and where well-being is no longer tied to endless consumption.

Why the word “Degrowth”? From Degrowth.info

“The word “degrowth” is often questioned as being problematic or misleading. For some, it has a negative connotation and a false equivalence with recession. Yet, like other de-words (decolonisation, delinking, demilitarisation etc) which go beyond merely stopping destructive processes, degrowth means much more than an opposition to the growth impetus. It also involves the fundamental rethinking of the ways we live, inhabit the Earth, and make decisions collectively.  

The English word “degrowth” became prominent after the first international degrowth conference in Paris in 2008. It has since then been established in academic writing as well as in the media and is used by social movements and practitioners. An advantage of using a term that is clear and unambiguous in its opposition to the capitalist system of economic growth is that it is hard to co-opt, as terms like “sustainable”, “green“ and “eco” have been. Besides, a term which is intentionally provocative is more effective at creating disruption and catalysing debates in a world where the critique of economic growth is a radical statement.  We object to all right-wing, racist and sexist forms of growth critique.”

More resources on Degrowth

• The info online library (here): An online tool to quickly find any article written on the matter.
• “Explore degrowth”, the online media library of the International Degrowth Network. Here you will find all videos, documentaries, articles, blogs, campaigns on degrowth, well categorized and accessible. It includes Presentation Slides, Social Media Posts, Podcasts & Music, Comic Books, Magazines, Posters, Videos, Books.
• Global Inequality Project: an online platform to easily access data on ecological unequal exchange, global income inequality, unequal trade agreements, ecological climate debts … and other axis of inequality that make global north countries responsible for an unequal world, and that show the necessity for a quick yet equitable degrowth in majority world countries.