Eco-Social Contracts for the Polycrisis

The document argues that existing governance structures are insufficient to manage the disruptive trade-offs of the green transition. It proposes 'eco-social contracts'—frameworks for action that integrate social and ecological guarantees—to rebuild trust between citizens and states. The report examines policy tools such as Green Deals, degrowth, and circular economy models, while advocating for deliberative democratic mechanisms like citizens' assemblies and participatory budgeting to create a legitimate mandate for systemic change.

• The world is experiencing a 'polycrisis,' where emergencies such as great power conflict, sovereign debt, and rising food and energy prices interact with and amplify long-term risks from climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality.
• Traditional social contracts often encoded domination based on race, gender, class, or indigeneity, and were frequently founded on ecologically unsustainable economic arrangements.
• The report proposes 'ecological guarantees' to complement social guarantees, which would set accountable limits on the erosion of local ecosystems and biodiversity, potentially drawing from the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Green Deal frameworks, such as the EU Green Deal and the US Inflation Reduction Act, aim to integrate social and environmental measures, though the report notes the US IRA shifted away from the 'job guarantee' and social spending of earlier radical visions.
• Achieving the 1.5°C pathway may require 'degrowth' or 'egalitarian sufficiency' in rich industrialised countries, involving negotiated limits (maxima) on wealth and consumption to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• For Least Developed Countries (LDCs), eco-social contracts must facilitate 'green structural transformation' to allow these nations to increase prosperity without locking in fossil-fuel-dependent growth models.
• The Bridgetown Agenda, led by Barbados, proposes a 'shared green deal' at the global level, including a $500bn Global Climate Mitigation Trust and the use of 'polluter pays' principles for loss and damage finance.
• Transformative policy requires a mandate built through deliberative mechanisms; the report identifies citizens' assemblies, participatory budgeting, just transition processes, and citizen dialogues as key tools.

APA

Norton, A., & Greenfield, O. (2023). Eco-Social Contracts for the Polycrisis. Green Economy Coalition. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC_Eco-Social-Contracts-Polycrisis-FINAL-Nov23.pdf

Chicago

Norton, Andrew, and Oliver Greenfield. Eco-Social Contracts for the Polycrisis. Green Economy Coalition, 2023. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC_Eco-Social-Contracts-Polycrisis-FINAL-Nov23.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Norton |first1=Andrew |last2=Greenfield |first2=Oliver |title=Eco-Social Contracts for the Polycrisis |publisher=Green Economy Coalition |date=September 2023 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC_Eco-Social-Contracts-Polycrisis-FINAL-Nov23.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{norton2023ecosocial, author = {Norton, Andrew and Greenfield, Oliver}, title = {{Eco-Social Contracts for the Polycrisis}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2023}, month = sep, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC_Eco-Social-Contracts-Polycrisis-FINAL-Nov23.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }