Decoupling economic growth from resource extraction is an obvious necessity for a sustainable world. It is also true that this is the most under-assessed element in the climate emergency debate. The Green New Deal for instance promises jobs, education, healthcare and a better life especially for marginallized communities. Although we support the initiative, at its core GND is nationalist and hence insufficient to the international challenge. Truth about growth will eventually immerge but it is indisputable that given our current system we should fully expect a serious lowering of standards of living especially in the first world countries if we are to reduce emissions radically over 5-10 years especially and if we do so in a fair handed way with regards to actually increasing standards of living in the third world.
Economic growth measures the increase in the amount of goods and services produced by an economy over time, and it has historically been tightly coupled to CO2 emissions. Decoupling these two factors is not impossible, and indeed many leading academics argue that the power of human ingenuity will solve the climate crisis. However, this is certainly unlikely in the timescales needed to tackle climate change in a just and equitable way.
Any argument that we just can not afford this or change has to happen in a way that magically maintains standard of living is nothing short of suicidal and so the issue is rhetorical and divisive. I hold that we just go in with humility and acceptance but of course this is in very short supply among elites that are currently in charge of things.
This article is not deep but does have some good references to stimulate further discussion and research.
https://truthout.org/articles/cop24-climate-protesters-must-get-radical-and-challenge-economic-growth/
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