by Kate Raworth
Overview
Doughnut Economics (Kate Raworth, 2017) redefines the goal of economics: instead of maximising GDP growth, the aim is to meet the needs of all people within the means of the living planet. The metaphor of a doughnut captures this:
- Inner ring (social foundation): a set of minimum social standards — food, water, health, education, income, political voice — below which no one should fall
- Outer ring (ecological ceiling): the Planetary boundaries beyond which human pressure destabilises Earth systems
- The doughnut itself (safe and just space): the region between the two rings where humanity can thrive
The framework is a visual synthesis of two bodies of work: the UN Sustainable Development Goals (social floor) and Rockström’s planetary boundaries (ecological ceiling). The doughnut has been adopted as a planning framework by the City of Amsterdam, and influenced the Wellbeing economy movement.
Connection to Earth for All
“Earth for All” (Club of Rome, 2022) can be read as a quantitative, policy-operational version of doughnut economics: the Giant Leaps are five policy packages specifically designed to lift humanity above the social floor while staying below the ecological ceiling. The Earth4All model provides the system-dynamics modelling that doughnut economics lacks — quantifying which interventions are necessary and in what order.
Resources
- 2026-06-05 ◦ Earth for All — Dixson-Declève et al. (Club of Rome, 2022) — positions Giant Leaps as the operational counterpart to doughnut economics; doughnut’s social foundation and ecological ceiling both appear in Earth4All’s model architecture