At The Economist’s 10th Annual Sustainability Week in London, a lively panel titled “Grilling economic models: What’s the best fit for a sustainable future?” brought together three provocative thinkers who are reimagining how our economies work for people and planet. Delton Chen, founder of the Global Carbon Reward, set out a bold vision for a new climate mitigation sector, using carbon-backed digital assets and “balanced growth in carbon” to manage systemic climate risk and move beyond the old growth–degrowth stalemate. Sue Miller, head of global networks at Stop Ecocide International, showed how making ecocide an international crime could hard-wire legal accountability into the heart of economic decision-making, levelling the playing field for truly sustainable business models. Jon Alexander, co-founder of the New Citizenship Project, added a democratic lens, arguing for a “Citizen Future” where resilience, shared agency and relational wellbeing replace growth-at-all-costs as the core metrics of success. Together, their exchange offered the audience not just critique, but concrete levers—financial, legal and civic—for redesigning the rules of the game in the race to a sustainable future.

https://deltonchen.substack.com/