“We must place true value on the environment and go beyond gross domestic product as a measure of human progress and well-being,” said United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres in June at Stockholm+50, a meeting convened by the UN to discuss the world’s environmental and ecological crises.
It was an astonishing statement. This once-fringe idea of going ‘beyond GDP’ is finally appearing at the highest level of international policy discussions and inside governments from New Zealand to Wales.
GDP is an economic indicator that measures economic growth – in particular, the value of all goods and services produced in an economy. But it doesn’t take into account many of the issues that actually affect our lives, such as health and well-being, income, gender equality or the state of the environment.
