FSSD Exclusive: Best Fix for Risky Growth Myths

Kalle reflects on a four-headed elephant in the economic room

Take away for leaders at all levels everywhere

Leaders everywhere are grappling with a sustainability debate muddied by four persistent misconceptions. Together, they create a perfect storm that stalls progress and distracts from what really matters: building future-ready strategies that deliver enduring value within the planet’s limits. The good news is that these misconceptions can be cleared up—and converted into strategic advantage—by applying the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD), a scientifically grounded, operative system for aligning analysis, planning, and action.

The four-headed elephant: four misconceptions that block progress

“Economic growth is a goal”

It isn’t. Growth is a means to achieve societal goals like well-being, resilience, prosperity, and justice—not the goal itself. Treating growth as the prize distorts decision-making, encourages short-termism, and obscures the deeper question: growth of what, for whom, and at what cost? When leaders reframe growth as a tool, they unlock smarter choices about where and how to invest.

“The economy is the most important tool”

The economy is one tool among many. Education, governance, innovation, social cohesion, and the rule of law are equally essential. Mistaking the economy for the master tool pushes us toward “economism,” where narrow monetary signals override broader value creation. A truly strategic perspective recognizes the full toolkit—and orchestrates it toward shared, long-term objectives.

“Infinite growth is impossible on a finite planet”

True for ever-rising material throughput. Not true for value creation. We can keep material flows within ecological limits while increasing value—through smarter design, knowledge, culture, health, digital services, and better quality of life. Value growth can decouple from material growth when we innovate toward sufficiency, circularity, and efficiency without rebound effects that undermine ecological boundaries.

“GNP is obsolete”

Gross National Product shouldn’t be trashed; it should be tuned. It captures useful information but misses key negatives and non-market values. Paul Hawken famously likened our current accounting to a calculator without a minus key: we count the costs of depletion and pollution as gains. Rather than discarding GNP, we should refine it—adding the “minus key” and companion indicators—to restore its relevance and clarity.

More in detail

How the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) turns confusion into strategy

The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) is an operative system designed for exactly this complexity. It provides a rigorous, science-based way to:
– Define sustainability with clear boundary conditions for social and ecological systems.
– Backcast from success, designing pathways from a future-fit vision rather than extrapolating past trends.
– Prioritize actions that are directionally correct, flexible, and return-on-investment positive.
– Coordinate tools and initiatives—such as the SDGs, Planetary Boundaries, circular economy, and science-based targets—so they reinforce rather than contradict one another.

Crucially, the FSSD avoids the trap of solving one problem by creating another elsewhere. It is profitable from the start when used to guide innovation and risk management, straightforward to implement, and engaging for cross-functional collaboration and co-creation.

For the science and methodology, see the open-access paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3357. For practical guidance and training, visit https://fssd.global → Kalle Reflects.

From material flows to value growth: a more sophisticated measure

Economic growth need not—and should not—mean more tons, more throughput, more waste. It should mean more value per unit of material and energy, within robust sustainability boundaries. That requires:
– Modeling attractive, scalable future scenarios where life-support systems—forests, fields, oceans, infrastructure, and human capabilities—remain within safe limits.
– Designing policies, business models, and technologies that make those scenarios achievable.
– Investing in innovation that improves quality, longevity, reuse, and service outcomes rather than pushing volume for volume’s sake.

Under these conditions, value growth can continue indefinitely. It may not be exponential, but it can be continuous and compounding, driven by knowledge, ingenuity, and better outcomes for people and nature.

Nature’s playbook: more value, not more mass

Nature offers a compelling analogy. Over eons, ecosystems have evolved toward greater complexity, specialization, and resilience without increasing planetary material flows. From cyanobacteria to today’s rich biodiversity, the “value” of functions—intelligence, cooperation, adaptation—has multiplied while the total mass remains bounded. Humanity, uniquely, can compose symphonies, cure diseases, exchange knowledge globally, and reflect on its future—tremendous value gains with prudent material use.

The economy should emulate this: economize on limited resources while maximizing benefits. This is what policymakers mean by decoupling—endorsed by the EU and many national strategies. In practice, that means phasing out harmful flows, scaling essential and circular ones, and continually improving the sophistication of materials, products, and services to serve value growth.

Don’t trash GNP—upgrade it and surround it with better metrics

There is no need to toss GNP out with the bathwater. The economic system has elegant features and useful signals that can be preserved and improved. What’s required is:
– An upgraded GNP that applies Hawken’s minus key—deducting environmental degradation, social harm, and perverse incentives.
– Complementary indicators that capture non-market values, knowledge development, equity, institutional quality, and long-term resilience.
– Accounting reforms that counter short-termism: for example, recognizing the negative externalities of bonus systems that reward near-term extraction or speculative gains at the expense of labor and shared prosperity.

In this way, the discourse shifts from false choices—growth or no growth, economy or environment—to a strategic synthesis: growth of real value within ecological and social boundaries.

Practical next steps for leaders

– Adopt the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to set science-based boundary conditions and backcast from a future-fit vision.
– Reframe growth objectives around value: well-being, capability, durability, circularity, and resilience.
– Redesign metrics: upgrade GNP accounting and add dashboard indicators for what markets miss.
– Align incentives: reward long-term value creation, penalize depletion, and phase out subsidies for wasteful throughput.
– Build coalitions: engage economists, scientists, educators, and policymakers to coherently coordinate tools like SDGs, Planetary Boundaries, circular economy, and science-based targets.

Conclusion: clarity over semantics, strategy over stalemate

Much of today’s argument is semantic rather than factual. When we distinguish means from ends, the path forward becomes clear. With the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development, leaders can cut through the noise, design strategies that grow real value forever, and keep material flows within the planet’s limits. Let’s invite economists and sustainability practitioners alike to refine our measures, upgrade our incentives, and get on with leading a future that is both prosperous and sustainable. The four-headed elephant shrinks when we measure what matters, innovate within boundaries, and use the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development to turn vision into action.

All hot topic Reflections are direct consequences of our Operative System.

For a deeper dive into the science behind the Operative System that informs all Reflections, see the peer-reviewed Open-Source paper with all its references: doi.org/10.1002/sd.3357. For the full title, see footnote below.

Or, for concluding reflections, practical insights and training, click on “Kalle Reflects” to see all reflections.

If you need any further advice, perhaps getting some further references, please send a question to us from the homepage.

Footnote: Broman, G. I., & Robèrt, K.-H. (2025). Operative System for Strategic Sustainable Development―Coordinating Analysis, Planning, Action, and Use of Supports Such as the Sustainable Development Goals, Planetary Boundaries, Circular Economy, and ScienceBased Targets. Sustainable Development, 1C16.