A World out of Balance: Introducing Doughnut 3.0 w/ Andrew Fanning

Dec 2, 2025

Andrew Fanning, Research & Data Analysis Lead at Doughnut Economics Action Lab, dives into the transformative concept of Doughnut Economics. He vividly explains its evolution from Donut 1.0 to 3.0 and highlights alarming ecological overshoot trends threatening our planet. Fanning discusses the stark inequalities between country groups and the implications of continuing with GDP as a success metric. He advocates for a systems change towards a post-growth future, emphasizing the significance of localizing targets and using insightful indicators for actionable progress.

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ANECDOTE

From Mainstream Econ To Donut Developer

Andrew Fanning discovered ecological economics during his sixth year of formal economics training and called it an epiphany.
He learned web development via Coursera to build interactive Donut visualizations and met Kate Raworth to show early drafts.

INSIGHT

A New Goal For 21st-Century Economics

Doughnut Economics reframes the goal: meet everyone's needs within the planet's limits.
It combines heterodox economics and powerful visuals to reshape how we think about the economy.

INSIGHT

Donut’s Two-Ring Visual Logic

The Donut uses two concentric rings: an inner social foundation and an outer ecological ceiling.
The safe space is where everyone's needs are met without breaching planetary boundaries.

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In this episode we're joined by Andrew Fanning for a conversation about doughnuts…no, not that kind of doughnut. We're talking about Kate Raworth's famous Doughnut from Doughnut Economics.

Andrew Fanning is an ecological economist exploring how to move our interconnected societies towards the goal of meeting the needs of all people within the means of the living planet. He is particularly interested in finding ways to visualise progress towards this goal in data. Andrew is Research & Data Analysis Lead at Doughnut Economics Action Lab, where he co-creates metrics and research-related tools that make visible the core concepts of Doughnut Economics, and convenes spaces to connect scholars putting these concepts into action. His research has been published in leading journals, such as Nature and Lancet Planetary Health, and he leads the ongoing development of an interactive website entitled 'A good life for all within planetary boundaries', which makes indicators tracking the social shortfall and ecological overshoot of countries visible and widely accessible.

In this conversation, we get the latest progress report about our global economic system through Doughnut 3.0, we explore how environmental degradation and social deprivation differs among countries in the imperial core and the periphery, and we hear about ways communities are responding to Doughnut Economics to bring local and global economies into greater balance.

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Intermission music: "Green in the Valley" by Nicole Lawrence

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