Niko Paech

Niko Paech (born December 9, 1960[1]) is a German economist. Since 2018, he has worked as a supernumerary ("außerplanmäßiger") professor at the University of Siegen. From 2010 to 2018, he was substitute professor at the chair of production and environment (PUM) at the University of Oldenburg. His research focuses on the fields of environmental economics, ecological economics and sustainability.

Niko Paech
Paech in 2011
Born
Niko Paech

(1960-12-09) December 9, 1960
Schüttorf
OccupationEconomist
AwardsKapp-Forschungspreis für Ökologische Ökonomie

Biography

Paech was born in Schüttorf, Germany.[1] He gained a diploma in economics in 1987 from the University of Osnabrück, where he continued to work until 1997, obtaining his PhD in 1993.

After working for a short period as a consultant in the organic food sector and as the Agenda 21 representative of the city Oldenburg, Paech took a position at the University of Oldenburg.

He was co-funder of CENTOS (Oldenburg Center for Sustainability Economics and Management) and is co-chairman of the Vereinigung für Ökologische Ökonomie (VÖÖ), a German ecological economics association,[2] and a member of ZENARIO (Center for sustainable space developing Oldenburg) and the network KoBE e.V. (Expertise center for Building and Energy). In addition, Paech is a member of and scientific adviser for attac-Germany[3] and a founding member of the "Postfossil-Institut" (2011).[4]

In 2006, he was awarded the Kapp Research Award for Ecological Economics for his work on "Sustainable business models beyond innovation and growth – a company-oriented theory of transformation".[5] In 2014, he received the award "Mut zur Nachhaltigkeit" ("Standing up for Sustainability") from the magazine Zeit Wissen.[6] The jury recognised Paech's contribution as a leading light in the worldwide post-growth debate.[7][8] In an article published in the Guardian about the German post growth movement, he was characterized as "one of the more high-profile members of the movement".[9]

Post-growth economy

The post-growth economy Paech proposes is one that meets human needs independently of economic growth and which is characterized by degrowth. Post-growth economics intentionally distances itself from popular terms such as "sustainable", "green", "dematerialized" or "decarbonized", rejecting the idea that ecological sustainability can realistically be achieved through technological development alone within a system that continues to measure progress merely in terms of added economic value.[10] Paech argues that it is necessary to overcome growth imperatives and to bring about a new economic order by acknowledging the failure of efforts to decouple environmental destruction and the consumption of resources from economic added value, addressing the need to raise overall well-being in society based on happiness economics, and recognising economic limitations such as global maximum oil output.[10][11]

His approach is based upon five pillars: institutional innovations, material zero sum games,[12] regional economics, subsistence economy and sufficiency, "which conclusivly leads to higher individual quality of life and promotes the common good." He stresses that there are no sustainable products or sustainable technologies as such, only sustainable lifestyles.[13][14]

Public perception

Niko Paech's ideas and proposals have featured in German national newspapers such as the Süddeutsche,[15] Bild,[16] Zeit,[17] taz,[18][19] Le Monde diplomatique,[14] Tagesspiegel,[20] Badische Zeitung[21] and VDI nachrichten.[22] He has been interviewed on Deutschlandradio Kultur[23] 3sat,[24] Arte[25] and has been an in-studio guest on the German TV show Planet Wissen.[26] Internationally, his ideas have been discussed in the Austrian Südwind Magazin,[27] the magazine Format[28] and on the ORF,[29] as well as on the Swiss radio station Radio Stadtfilter[30] and in the Italian newspapers La Stampa[31] and Panorama.[32]

Literature

by Paech
  • Niko Paech: Se libérer du superflu - vers une économie de post-croissance, éd. Rue de l'échiquier, Paris, 2017 ISBN 978-2-37425-057-1
  • Niko Paech: Liberation from Excess - The road to a post-growth economy. oekom verlag, Munich 2012. ISBN 978-3-86581-324-4
  • Niko Paech: Vom grünen Wachstum zur Postwachstumsökonomie. Warum weiteres wirtschaftliches Wachstum keine zukunftsfähige Option ist In: Woynowski, Boris et al. 2012 (Hg.): Wirtschaft ohne Wachstum?! Notwendigkeit und Ansätze einer Wachstumswende. ISSN 1431-8261 free access, 20 MB
  • Niko Paech: Nachhaltiges Wirtschaften jenseits von Innovationsorientierung und Wachstum. Eine unternehmensbezogene Transformationstheorie. Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2005. ISBN 978-3-89518-523-6

About Paech's approaches
  • Felix Wilmsen: Ignorant und verharmlosend. Dem Postwachstumsspektrum fehlt ein antifaschistischer Konsens - die politische Rechte weiß das zu nutzen. (Ignorant and trivialising: the post-growth community lacks an anti-fascist consensus and the political right knows how to take advantage, in German) analyse & kritik 655. December 10, 2019.

References
  1. complete vita (PDF; 74 kB) Archived 2013-03-03 at the Wayback Machine (Homepage of the Universität Oldenburg Archived 2013-03-13 at the Wayback Machine)
  2. Vorstand der VÖÖ, accessed February 25, 2015.
  3. Mitgliederliste des wissenschaftlichen Beirates von attac-Deutschland, accessed February 25, 2015.
  4. Website of "Postfossil-Institut" (PFI e.V.), Hamburg
  5. Kapp-Forschungspreis - Preisträger 2006, accessed February 25, 2015.
  6. Niko Paech mit dem ZEIT WISSEN-Preis Mut zur Nachhaltigkeit ausgezeichnet, press release by Oldenburg University, February 28, 2014.
  7. Niko Paech mit dem ZEIT WISSEN-Preis Mut zur Nachhaltigkeit ausgezeichnet Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, press release by Zeit-Verlagsgruppe, February 27, 2014.
  8. Max Rauner: Grünkohl gut, Geländewagen böse? In: Zeit Wissen 3/14, page 80.
  9. Sherelle Jacobs: Germany's 'post-growth' movement, The Guardian, September 19, 2012.
  10. Niko Paech. "Grundzüge einer Postwachstumsökonomie" (in German). Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  11. Paech, Niko (2006). "Wirtschaften ohne Wachstumszwang". Ökologisches Wirtschaften. 21 (3): 30–33. doi:10.14512/oew.v21i3.460.
  12. Niko Paech (2006), "Wachstumsneutralität durch stoffliche Nullsummenspiele", Ökologisches Wirtschaften (in German), no. 3, pp. 30–33
  13. Niko Paech: Wachstumsdämmerung, Artikel in Oya 7/2011 (Onlineversion).
  14. Niko Paech. "Die Legende vom nachhaltigen Wachstum (The legend of stustainable growth)". Le Monde diplomatique. Retrieved 2015-09-04.
  15. Tilman Wörtz: "Grünes Wachstum" gibt es nicht, Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 17, 2014.
  16. Holger Bloethe: Spinnt der? Deutschlands härtester Konsumkritiker fordert 20-Stunden-Woche für alle!. Bild, December 8, 2012.
  17. Georg Etscheit: Niko Paech: Aufklärung 2.0. Die Zeit 49/2012, December 11, 2012.
  18. "Jetzt hören Sie mit den Radieschen auf", die tageszeitung, January 21, 2012.
  19. Niko Paech über Postwachstum: Konsum nervt, die tageszeitung, September 1, 2014.
  20. Norbert Thomma and Manfred Kriener: Wachstumskritiker Niko Paech: "Sehe ich aus wie ein Hippie?", Der Tagesspiegel, November 25, 2012.
  21. Jürgen Reuß: Ökonom Niko Paech fordert Abschaffung der Industrie, Badische Zeitung, January 28, 2014.
  22. I. Hartbrich/P. Schwarz/C. Böckmann: „Wir brauchen einen Plan B“, VDI nachrichten 17/2014, April 25, 2014.
  23. Überleben ohne Wirtschaftswachstum. Niko Paech under discussion with Ute Welty. Deutschlandradio Kultur, January 4, 2013.
  24. Interview mit Volkswirt Niko Paech Archived 2018-07-30 at the Wayback Machine, 3sat, makro, June 5, 2014.
  25. Interview mit Niko Paech Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, Arte Journal, June 21, 2012.
  26. Gut leben - mit oder ohne Geld?. Planet Wissen, March 28, 2014, SWR and BR-alpha.
  27. Niko Paech im Gespräch: „Neue Lebensstile brauchen Übung“, Südwind Magazin, September 2014.
  28. Martina Bachler: Ökonom Niko Paech: „Wir sind Trophäensammler mit Konsum-Burn-out“, Format, August 12, 2014.
  29. Prof. Dr. Niko Paech: „Befreiung vom Überfluss - Aufbruch in die Postwachstumsökonomie“, ORF Focus, November 29, 2012.
  30. Wachstumskritiker Niko Paech - Befreiung vom Überfluss Archived 2015-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, Radio Stadtfilter, Synapsenfunk, January 20, 2015.
  31. Alessandro Alviani: Paech, profeta della decrescita radicale “Aboliti aereo, cellulare, carne e uova”, La Stampa, December 13, 2012.
  32. Stefania Medetti: La Germania e i dieci indicatori economici oltre al pil, Panorama, May 9, 2013.
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