Welcome back to The Ledger - a weekly briefing at the intersection of business, sustainability, technology and systems thinking. Let’s get straight into Issue #3.
The Big Idea: The Myth of Green Growth
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We love the idea that economic growth and decarbonisation can run hand in hand. “Green growth” sounds tidy. It soothes boardrooms. It reassures policymakers.
But growth has gravity. Every efficiency gain is eaten by rebound effects. Cheaper solar panels? We build more. Faster chips? More AI models, more compute, more energy. Cleaner cars? More cars, more roads, more sprawl.
It’s not that growth is inherently bad. It’s that growth, left unexamined, smuggles in the same extractive logic we’re supposedly leaving behind.
The real question isn’t: Can growth be green?
The real questions: Growth of what? For whom? At what cost?
That doesn’t mean abandoning innovation, jobs or progress. It means shifting the yardstick - from how fast the line goes up, to whether what we’re building actually reduces emissions, regenerates systems and improves lives.
Because if we keep chasing the wrong kind of growth, we’ll find ourselves sprinting faster and faster… right off the same cliff.
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Signals from the Noise
What matters, what works, and what’s worth watching
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🖥 AI’s Growth vs Climate Reality
RAND projects AI data centres could hit 300 gigawatts by 2030 - larger than the power consumption of many nations. Meanwhile, The Economist reports that one-sixth of US GDP growth last year came from building AI infrastructure. This kind of growth looks spectacular - until you consider whether energy, water and carbon are keeping pace.
🔗 My Journal Courier | The Economist
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☀️ Solar’s Silent Surge
Pakistan generated 25% of its power from solar in the first half of 2025 - just behind California’s 32%. Green growth is no longer a Western ideal; it’s taking root wherever economics and necessity align. The story of the transition may be written far from London and New York.
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💸 The Scale of Climate Finance
Mafalda Duarte, head of the Green Climate Fund, warns that climate finance must expand by an order of magnitude. Green growth isn’t just about new tech; it’s about mobilising capital at a scale the current system has never managed. Without it, “growth” will be growth in rhetoric, not results.
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🚰 Water Stress, Growth’s Invisible Constraint
Half the world’s population now faces monthly water stress. AI, agriculture and heavy industry all pull from the same shrinking well. A new UN report highlights that the limiting factor for growth may not be energy or capital, but water itself.
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♻️ Rebound in Action
UK research shows that home efficiency retrofits often underdeliver, as savings get eaten by higher thermostat settings and bigger TVs. Efficiency is vital - but without systemic design, growth cancels it out. Green growth isn’t just about better tech; it’s about redesigning incentives.
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From the Ground
“We keep being told we’re decarbonising fast. But when I ask to be shown the net reductions and not the pledges, the room goes quiet.”
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The Ledger Line
Growth without direction is just acceleration.
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End Note
Thanks for reading Issue #3 of The Ledger.
This one’s about clarity: naming the gap between what looks like progress, and what actually matters.
If this issue resonated, please forward it to someone who’s navigating the same noise.
And if something struck a nerve, why not hit reply? I read every one.
Here’s to what’s possible.
Dom