Why is sustainability important for an economics student?

Sustainability and environmental issues are slowly making their way into the classroom as businesses, organisations and individuals around the world start to understand that protecting the planet while securing our livelihoods is something that we need to weave into our everyday actions.  

I’ve seen schools, colleges and universities start to incorporate sustainability topics in their curricula, as young people demand that their educators take matters seriously and provide the knowledge required to live, work and make change in the climate emergency. And it’s no different for students of economics.  

In fact, one of the sayings you hear a lot as an economics student is ‘resources are limited but human wants are unlimited.’ It’s a quote commonly used by economists like Adam Smith who proposed a theory for the ways to satisfy unlimited human wants. Since resources are limited, we’re faced with the prospect of scarcity which then forces us to make choices. And the choices we make have a huge impact on the economy and the world.  

Economics is the study of how people make choices, while considering how choices are constrained because of limited resources such as money, time, information and materials. Economists also consider how policies and practices could help people make better choices for themselves, their families, or for society (British Academy). So as an economics student, there's an opportunity to make positive changes to the choices people make when it comes to sustainability. 

Here are some reasons why sustainability is important to an economics student and how you can – and should – incorporate the environment into your learning. 

The United Nations has set up 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in line with its agenda of ‘promoting prosperity while protecting the climate’. The SDGs are set to be achieved by 2030, so learning about the goals and finding ways to implement them is the call of this decade. As a future economist, learning about SGDs has helped me to understand and interpret concepts like the Green GDP, which can illustrate how certain green initiatives can be used as a sustainable way to invest in companies that take up environmentally conscious business practices. 

Climate change has brought about threats like poverty and food insecurity, and while rapid economic growth has helped reduce food insecurity to some extent, extreme hunger and malnutrition continue to pester several parts of the world. So, promoting sustainable agriculture (one of the SDGs) could prove to be essential for ending food insecurity and malnutrition, and provide employment opportunities for many people.