Tim Jackson
Tim Jackson is the Director of CUSP. His vision for CUSP builds on thirty years of multi-disciplinary research on sustainability and decades of policy experience, in particular his work as Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission. Tim is the author of Prosperity Without Growth, recently published in a substantially revised and updated 2nd edition. He is also an award-winning playwright with numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC.
Biography
Tim Jackson is Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP), and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey in the UK. CUSP builds on Tim’s vision over three decades to explore the moral, economic and social dimensions of prosperity on a finite planet. He’s served as an advisor on sustainability to numerous commercial, government and intergovernmental organisations. During five years at the Stockholm Environment Institute in the early 1990s, he pioneered the concept of preventative environmental management—a core principle of the circular economy framework—outlined in his 1996 book 'Material Concerns: Pollution Profit and Quality of life'. Between 2004 and 2011, Tim was Economics Commissioner on the UK Sustainable Development Commission, where his work culminated in the publication of his controversial book 'Prosperity without Growth' (Routledge 2009/2017). In 2016, he was awarded the Hillary Laureate for exceptional international leadership. In addition to his academic work, Tim is an award-winning dramatist with numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC.Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Tim’s current role at Surrey is Director of the ESRC Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP). CUSP is a multi-disciplinary research centre which aims to understand the economic, social and political dimensions of sustainable prosperity. It’s guiding vision for prosperity is one in which people everywhere have the capability to flourish as human beings – within the ecological and resource constraints of a finite planet. The work addresses the implications of sustainable prosperity at the level of households and firms; and explores sector-level and macro-economic implications of different pathways to prosperity. It pays particular attention to the pragmatic steps that need to be taken by enterprise, government and civil society in order to achieve a sustainable prosperity.
From 2013 to January 2017, Tim held a Professorial Research Fellowship on Prosperity and Sustainability in the Green Economy (PASSAGE). From 2010 to 2014 he was Director of the Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group (SLRG), which aimed to develop evidence-based advice to policy makers about realistic strategies to encourage more sustainable lifestyles. From 2006 to 2011 he was Director of the ESRC Research group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE), a novel cross-disciplinary institution at the time, set out to unravel the complex links between lifestyles, values and the environment. Following his Professorial Research Fellowship on the social psychology of sustainable consumption (2003–2005), Tim published a widely cited report Motivating Sustainable Consumption. A retrospective Earthscan ‘Reader’ in Sustainable Consumption was issued in 2006. From 1995 to 2000 Tim held an EPSRC fellowship on the Thermodynamics of Clean Technologies. During five years at the Stockholm Environment Institute in the early 1990s, he pioneered the concept of preventative environmental management—a core principle of the circular economy—outlined in his 1996 book Material Concerns: Pollution Profit and Quality of life.
Websites
Books
Articles
A tale of two utopia's: Work in post-growth world
Published: Mar 24, 2020 by Ecological Economics, vol 173
Authors: Simon Mair, Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Literature, Classical Studies, Environment and Sustainability
In this paper, we aim to contribute to the literature on post-growth futures. Modern imaginings of the future are constrained by the assumptions of growth-based capitalism. To escape these assumptions we turn to utopian fiction. We explore depictions of work in Cokaygne, a utopian tradition dating back to the 12th century, and William Morris's 19th century News from Nowhere. Cokaygne is a land of excessive consumption without work, while in News from Nowhere work is the route to the good life.
Wellbeing Matters - Tackling growth dependency
Published: Feb 13, 2020 by All-Party Parliamentary Group on Limits to Growth
Authors: Tim Jackson
Economists have known for over eighty years that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a good measure of social progress. Attempts have been made to establish alternative indicators of progress. There have been several initiatives to articulate a different kind of economy whereby the pursuit of wellbeing takes precedence over the pursuit of growth in GDP. This policy breifing highlights some alternatives to the conventional approach, presenting a three-fold strategy for moving beyond GDP.
Energy and Productivity - A Review of the Lierature
Published: Feb 04, 2020 by CUSP Working Paper No. 23
Authors: Shimaa Elkomy, Simon Mair, Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
This report aims to expand conventional understandings of productivity by exploring the literatures which relate productivity to the availability, production and use of energy in the economy. The report is the result of a survey, a desk-based literature review and a participatory mapping process (Boehnert et al 2019).
Wellbeing and Productivity : A Review of the Literture
Published: Feb 04, 2020 by CUSP Working Paper No. 22
Authors: Amy Isham, Simon Mair, Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
This report reviews the relationship between the different aspects of wellbeing, productivity and productivity growth. It is the culmination of a desk-based evidence review, survey and a mapping workshop held with experts from backgrounds including psychology, sociology, economics and design. The focus is on wellbeing and labour productivity although resource productivity and multi-factor productivity are also touched upon at relevant points within the report.
Unravelling the claims for (and against) green growth
Published: Nov 26, 2019 by Science, 366 (6468): 950-951
Authors: Tim Jackson, Peter Victor
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
It is clear that the larger the economy becomes, the more difficult it is to decouple that growth from its material impacts… This isn’t to suggest that decoupling itself is either unnecessary or impossible. On the contrary, decoupling well-being from material throughput is vital if societies are to deliver a more sustainable prosperity—for people and for the planet.
The storied state of economics
Published: Oct 23, 2019 by Nature, 574:473-474
Authors: Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry
Robert Shiller's new book probes how social behaviour trumps statistics in determining the fate of economics - Tim Jackson reviews.
Measuring Prosperity - Navigating the Options
Published: Aug 28, 2019 by CUSP Working Paper No. 20
Authors: Tim Jackson & Christine Corlet Walker
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
Since its development in the 1930s, GDP has been the most widely used measure of the health and progress of an economy. Its many shortcomings as a measure of progress are well documented, and the alternative indicators of progress developed in response to these shortcomings have been diverse and numerous. This paper synthesises the literature, discusses the benefits and disadvantages of the different types of indicator, and elaborates on five prominent case studies in detail.
Zero Carbon Sooner - the case for an early zero carbon target for the UK
Published: Jul 19, 2019 by CUSP Working Paper No. 18
Authors: Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
This briefing paper addresses the question of when the UK should aim for zero (or net zero) carbon emissions. Starting from the global carbon budget which would allow the world an estimated 66% chance of limiting climate warming to 1.5o C, the paper derives a fair carbon budget for the UK of 2.5 GtCO2. The briefing then analyses a variety of emission pathways and target dates in terms of their adequacy for remaining within this budget.
"All Models are Wrong" - the challenge of modelling 'deep decarbonisation'
Published: Jun 30, 2019 by CUSP Working Paper No. 19
Authors: Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
This paper summarises the dilemma associated with using mainstream, macroeconomic models to guide disruptive, transformative change such as those that might occur under ‘deep decarbonisation’: a rapid transition to a net-zero carbon economy.
The Post-Growth Challenge: Secular Stagnation, Inequality and the Limits to Growth
Published: Feb 18, 2019 by Ecological Economics, vol 156, 236-246
Authors: Tim Jackson
Subjects:
Economics, Finance, Business & Industry, Environment and Sustainability
Sluggish recovery in the wake of the financial crisis has revived discussion of a ‘secular stagnation’. These conditions have been blamed for rising inequality and political instability. Tim Jackson contests this view, pointing instead to a steadfast refusal to address the ‘post-growth challenge’. (An earlier draft of the article was published as CUSP Working Paper No 12.)