Warning/ Guterres: Global economy must surpass GDP to avoid planetary catastrophe

2026-02-09 09:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Warning/ Guterres: Global economy must surpass GDP to avoid planetary

The global economy must be fundamentally transformed to stop rewarding pollution and waste, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned.

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper after the UN hosted a meeting of leading global economists, Guterres said the future of humanity requires an urgent review of the world's "existing accounting systems", which he said were taking the planet to the brink of disaster.

“We need to give real value to the environment and go beyond gross domestic product as a measure of progress and human well-being. Let's not forget that when we destroy a forest, we are creating GDP. When we overfish, we are creating GDP.”

For decades, politicians and policymakers have prioritized growth, measured by GDP, as the primary economic goal. But critics argue that endless, indiscriminate growth on a planet with limited resources is fueling not only the climate and environmental crises, but also rising inequality.

Guterres said: “Going beyond gross domestic product is about measuring the things that really matter to people and their communities. GDP tells us the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Our world is not one giant corporation. Financial decisions should be based on more than a general picture of profit and loss.”

In January, the UN held a conference in Geneva titled “Beyond GDP,” attended by top economists from around the world, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, leading Indian economist Kaushik Basu, and equity expert Nora Lustig.

The trio is part of a group set up by Guterres, which has been tasked with designing a new panel of measures of economic success that takes into account "human well-being, sustainability and equity."

A report published by the group late last year argued that, as the world faced repeated global shocks over the past two decades, the need for an economic transformation had become increasingly urgent, from the 2008 financial crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said these events were exacerbated by the “triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution” and, in addition, warned that rapid technological change was upending labor markets and exacerbating growing inequality.

Professor Basu, who co-chairs the UN group along with Lustig, said: “Nations are so locked into the game of beating other nations in terms of GDP metrics that the well-being of ordinary citizens and sustainability are being ignored.”

"If all the new income accumulates for a few individuals and GDP increases, all citizens are expected to cheer. This is fueling hyper-nationalism, inequality and polarization," said Professor Basu.

Professor Lustig said GDP was “never designed to measure human progress, yet it remains the benchmark for success”.

“Economic growth can coexist with poverty, exclusion, violence and serious human rights violations, outcomes that remain largely invisible in conventional economic accounts… The group’s aim is not to replace GDP but to complement it, helping governments and the public assess whether development is truly improving human well-being, advancing equality and protecting sustainability now and for future generations,” Lustig said.

The UN initiative follows a report published last week, which said current economic models are fundamentally flawed because they fail to take into account the impact of climate shocks, such as extreme weather disasters and tipping points, and could bring down the global economy./ CNA, translated by The Guardian