Purpose– The purpose of the paper is to offer a new view on economic growth and use this view to add to the explanation of economic growth as a powerful agent that determines policies regarding urgent issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution.Design/methodology/approach– The study is based on analysis of scholarship and media, interviews and observations in a multi-sited ethnography of economic growth.Findings– The article argues that the circulation of economic growth has contributed to a shaping of institutions and language to an extent where environmental policy proposals framed as harmful to economic growth can easily be rejected. Furthermore, the article offers an operationalisation of the termecologisationby promoting a new inclusive language in decision-making.Originality/value– The paper fills a gap in literature by offering an empirical philosophical take on economic growth and by offering a suggestion for the operationalisation of the termecologisation.</jats:sec
