UN chief demands new economic metrics for sustainable future

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a sweeping overhaul of global economic metrics, warning that continued reliance on gross domestic product (GDP) risks accelerating environmental destruction and social inequality.

Speaking after a UN-hosted gathering of leading economists, Guterres argued that current accounting systems reward activities that harm the planet while failing to measure human wellbeing or sustainability, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

“We must place true value on the environment and go beyond GDP as a measure of human progress,” Guterres said. “When we destroy a forest or overfish, we are creating GDP. Our world is not a gigantic corporation, and financial decisions must reflect more than profit and loss.”

GDP has long served as the dominant benchmark for economic performance, shaping government policy and international comparisons. However, critics say its focus on output ignores environmental damage, wealth distribution and broader social outcomes, reinforcing unsustainable growth patterns on a planet with finite resources.

The UN is now working with prominent economists, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Indian economist Kaushik Basu and inequality expert Nora Lustig, to design a new framework for measuring economic success. The proposed dashboard would incorporate indicators linked to human wellbeing, sustainability and equity.

A report released by the group last year argued that mounting global shocks — from the 2008 financial crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic — have exposed weaknesses in traditional economic models. It also highlighted what researchers describe as a “triple planetary crisis” of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, alongside rapid technological disruption and widening inequality.

Basu warned that governments remain locked in competition over GDP rankings, often at the expense of citizens’ welfare and environmental protection. “If growth benefits only a small group, GDP may rise while inequality, polarisation and hyper-nationalism deepen,” he said.

Lustig added that GDP was never designed to measure human progress but continues to dominate policymaking and public debate.

The push to rethink economic measurement coincides with growing scrutiny of global financial models. A separate report released last week warned that failure to factor climate-related shocks, including extreme weather and ecological tipping points, could destabilise the global economy.

The debate has fuelled interest in alternative economic frameworks, ranging from green growth and wellbeing-focused policies to steady-state and “doughnut” economics. More radical proposals, such as degrowth, advocate reducing environmentally damaging production — particularly in wealthier nations — while prioritising sectors such as renewable energy, public transport and care services.

Political economist Jason Hickel, a leading advocate of degrowth, said support for post-growth approaches is rising, citing surveys showing strong backing among climate policy researchers. However, he argued that changing economic metrics alone would not be sufficient, calling for structural reforms to how production is organised and controlled.

While the UN initiative does not aim to replace GDP, Guterres said it is intended to complement it with measures that better reflect whether economic development improves living standards, promotes fairness and protects the environment for future generations.

By Aghakazim Guliyev