The modern economy functions on a set of assumptions so deeply ingrained they’re often mistaken for natural law: profit is to be maximised, harm can be externalised, and growth can be perpetual.
But parallel these assumptions against the conditions of the real world—a world of planetary boundaries, social interdependence, and finite resources—and the logic begins to unravel.
When we strip the global economy down to its own first principles, impending collapse starts looking less like an unintended crisis and more like an inevitable consequence.
Because a system designed to maximise output without regard for regeneration will eventually push past equilibrium. In this sense, the economy isn’t malfunctioning, it’s functioning exactly as designed. Collapse is a feature of business-as-usual, not a bug.
This was the underlying contradiction that Gaya Herrington, VP of Sustainability Research at Schneider Electric, and GIFT.ed founder and chairperson Chandran Nair laid bare during their dialogue in Resetting the Engine of Growth: How Business Can Thrive Within Limits, the second instalment in a collaborative webinar series between GIFT.ed and the Club of Rome.
As Gaya put it,
Business as usual will end. Our choice is whether it ends by disaster or by design.
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No doubt a sobering diagnosis but one supported by data.
Gaya is a world-renowned systems thinker, economist, and member of the Club of Rome, but is perhaps best known for her landmark 2020 study revisiting The Limits to Growth, the Club’s seminal 1972 report that modelled the future of civilisation under conditions of unchecked industrial and population growth.
Her analysis not only reinforced the report’s original forecasts, but found that humanity remains most closely aligned with a trajectory of long-term decline. It’s already unfolding, but just slowly enough to be ignored.
For a deep dive into her findings, Gaya has made her book Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse freely available for download. Download it here.
As Gaya and Chandran both made clear, collapse won’t manifest as a singular sudden catastrophe. Rather, it’s likely to be a slow erosion—rising pollution, ecological overshoot, and institutional breakdown—of a system optimising for all the wrong outcomes. Efficiency without resilience, scale without sufficiency, growth without redistribution.
But this growth-at-all-costs mentality wasn’t always the default. As Gaya noted, the modern corporation’s obsession with profit maximisation is a relatively recent phenomenon.
She pointed out that for much of history, corporations were explicitly chartered to serve the public good. Their existence was predicated on delivering essential services: build a bridge, run a railway, supply water. This was the origin of the term “licence to operate.”
In contrast, today’s model legitimises harm as long as it generates shareholder returns. It is this design flaw that must be corrected.
Crucially, this is not an argument against growth but a call to redefine its purpose and boundaries.
Businesses can and should remain profitable. But profit must serve a broader societal purpose, not supersede it.
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As Gaya and Chandran were careful to caution, what we are confronting is not the end of growth itself, but the end of a particular kind of growth—growth that delivers material abundance for some, but leaves widespread unmet needs, rising inequality, and a deepening sense of disconnection, even among those it purports to serve.
So what might a different model look like? Gaya pointed to a wellbeing economy—one that isn’t fixated on churning out more stuff, but focused on meeting real human needs within the limits of the planet. It’s an economy that sees value not just in profits, but in purpose.
In contrast to today’s model—where success is measured by quarterly earnings and GDP growth—a wellbeing economy tracks progress through different metrics: health, equity, ecological stability, and social cohesion.
But the path to this future will not be uniform. As Chandran noted, this conversation is too often framed through the lens of affluent societies. For much of the world—where basic infrastructure, services, and security remain out of reach—growth remains essential.
The goal, then, is not to halt economic progress, but to ensure it is equitable, selective, and aligned with long-term wellbeing. In high-income countries, the imperative is different: to reduce material throughput, radically redistribute resources, and decouple human wellbeing from patterns of overconsumption.
But redefining growth is only part of the equation. In her parting reflection, Gaya reminded us that systems change isn’t just an external project, it’s a deeply personal one.
Beneath all the economic models and policy levers lies a deeper narrative—one that casts us as isolated individuals, wired for competition and the pursuit of more. It’s this story of separation that sustains the very systems we’re trying to change.
Changing the system means changing that narrative—to one where purpose isn’t found in endless accumulation, but in contribution, sufficiency, and connection. And it won’t happen through majority consensus. As Gaya noted, meaningful transformation rarely begins with the crowd. It begins with a few—three, four, maybe five people—aligned not just in strategy, but in spirit. That’s how change takes root.
Watch the Full Conversation
This writeup only scratches the surface. To hear the full exchange between Gaya Herrington and Chandran Nair—including their reflections on systems thinking, corporate responsibility, and paths toward regenerative economies. Watch the full recording here.
New to the series?
You can also catch the first Touchstone Webinar with Carlos Álvarez Pereira, Vice-President of the Club of Rome. Watch the first session here.
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Tsubasa is a content specialist at GIFT.ed.
