Promoting the Promises of ›Sufficiency‹ Without Stumbling Into Its Pitfalls – an Ethically Reflected Economic Perspective

At first sight, the views of sufficiency/degrowth and green growth appear in unresolvable conflict. After sketching the two approaches, we argue that the conflict may vanish if the discussion turns from fuzzy concepts that are susceptible to ideology to concrete, evidence-based policy proposals. Combining a pluralist taxonomy of economic theories with a coherentist approach to ethically reflected selection of theory, we develop eight imperatives for economically and ethically reflected transition towards a more sustainable economy that both meet the promises of green growth and sufficiency/de-growth.