GAYA HERRINGTON

Career Highlights

• Vice President of ESG Research at Schneider Electric

• Member of The Club of Rome's Transformational Economics Commission

• Former Director of Sustainability Services at KPMG US (2014-2020)

• International policymaker and economic policy advisor for the Dutch Central Bank (2011-2014)

• Executive director of StoereVrouwen, a non-profit Dutch women's movement (2007-2011)

Gaya Herrington is a Dutch Economist and sustainability researcher known for challenging the economic obsession with perpetual growth. Instead, she advocates for a system that prioritises human and ecological well-being.

She gained international recognition for her 2021 study, Update to Limits to Growth, which revisited the landmark 1972 Limits to Growth report by the Club of Rome. That original study used computer modelling to project the consequences of continued economic and population growth in a world of finite resources. Herrington’s findings showed that the world is tracking some of the report’s predicted scenarios—underscoring the urgent need for a shift in economic priorities. Her study went viral, sparking widespread discussion and cementing her reputation as a thought leader.

She expanded on these ideas in her book, Five Insights for Avoiding Global Collapse offering a roadmap for systemic change. Recognising the importance of widespread knowledge-sharing, she developed a business model that allowed her to work with a publisher while forgoing her own fee. This ensured the book could be made open-source and free, increasing readership and access to this critical information without financial barriers.

Before moving to the U.S. in 2014, Herrington worked as an economic policy advisor at the Dutch Central Bank. She later advised multinational corporations as director of sustainability services at KPMG US. Since 2022, she has served as vice president at Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation solutions. At Schneider, she focuses on advancing the energy transition by promoting sustainable, efficient, and digital solutions that help businesses and governments reduce their environmental impact.

Beyond her research and policy work, she is the founder of Stop Straatintimidatie, a Dutch initiative pushing to criminalise street harassment. She holds a Master’s degree in Sustainability Studies from Harvard University.

Herrington is shaping conversations at both local and global levels, arguing that true sustainability is impossible without rethinking our economic system.

AI Will Not Save Us—Unless We Change the System It Serves

Gaya Herrington’s Keynote on AI, Climate Change, and Systemic Sustainability

This talk explores the nuanced role of AI in society, highlighting a critical truth: technology alone, including AI, cannot free us from planetary boundaries or prevent ecological collapse. While AI is often seen as a tool for efficiency, its overall growth in use vastly outpaces any resource savings—a phenomenon explained by the Jevons Paradox. First observed by 19th-century economist William Stanley Jevons, this paradox reveals that increased efficiency often leads to greater resource consumption rather than reduction, as seen during the Industrial Revolution with coal use.

In today’s economy, AI primarily serves the system it operates within. Whether extracting fossil fuels through fracking or extracting human attention online, its true value in a profit-at-all-cost model lies in maximising resource exploitation—often at the expense of ecological health and human well-being. This includes not only environmental damage but also the mental strain on users and those training AI systems.

However, there is an alternative path. A shift toward a "well-being economy"—where businesses generate profit in service of human and ecological well-being—could transform AI into a powerful force for good. In this model, AI’s ability to optimise resource distribution could help build a more sustainable and equitable society. But ultimately, the direction AI takes is not predetermined by its algorithms—it is a choice we must make as a society.

Press Coverage: The Guardian, Tridos, Wired, Beautiful Truth, VICE, The Independent

Talks

• Bloomberg Green Festival

• TED Talks

• Berkeley University

• Cambridge

• UCLA

• Shizenkan University

• UN Institute for Training and Research

• Victoria University of Wellington

• The House of Beautiful Business

• United Nations (various)