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Misc • 2019

Dynamic Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI) and material requirements in scenarios of global transition to renewable energies

By: Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, Carlos de Castro, Luis Javier Miguel González

A novel methodology is developed to dynamically assess the energy and material investments required over time to achieve the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources in the electricity sector. The obtained results indicate that a fast transition achieving a 100% renewable electric system globally by 2060 consistent with the Green Growth narrative could decrease the EROI of the...

Report • 2019

Decoupling debunked – Evidence and arguments against green growth as a sole strategy for sustainability

By: Jonathan Barth, Timothée Parrique, François Briens, Christian Kerschner, Joachim H. Spangenberg, Alejo Kraus-Polk, Anna Kuokkanen

Is it possible to enjoy both economic growth and environmental sustainability? This question is a matter of fierce political debate between green growth and post-growth advocates. Considering what is at stake, a careful assessment to determine whether the scientific foundations behind this decoupling hypothesis are robust or not is needed. This report reviews the empirical and theoretical...

Misc • 2019

When green growth is not enough

By: Nick Meynen

In recent years, the concept of green economic growth, i.e. the expansion of the economy without an accompanying increase in environmental harm, has gained political acceptance. However, the idea that this policy alone is enough to deal with the environmental challenges we face appears to be founded on little to no scientific basis. META, the news channel of the European Environmental...

Misc • 2019

Desacoplamiento de la realidad

By: Iñigo Capellán-Pérez

La validez de la narrativa del crecimiento verde queda muy tocada tras la publicación de un nuevo detallado y riguroso informe científico. El tiempo se agota y la piedra angular de la propuesta del establishment no se ha demostrado como viable en ninguna circunstancia de forma relevante. El Diario, July 8th 2019, Opinión y Blogs

Misc • 2017

Technological progress alone won't stem resource use

By: Jennifer Chu

Subtitle: Researchers find no evidence of an overall reduction in the world's consumption of materials Summary: While some scientists believe that the world can achieve significant dematerialization through improvements in technology, a new study finds that technological advances alone will not bring about dematerialization and, ultimately, a sustainable world. The researchers found that no...

Scientific paper • 2017

Finance, energy and the decoupling: an empirical study

By: Alevgul H. Sorman, Zora Kovacic, Marcello Spanò, Samuele Lo Piano

Abstract: This paper investigates the empirical and theoretical basis of the decoupling between energy throughput and economic growth, with a critical view of the use of the decoupling concept as a policy priority. We provide an analysis of the historical trends of the metabolic pattern of European economies over a period of 18 years focusing on the changes in energy throughput and financial...

Misc • 2016

Was ist nur aus uns geworden?

By: Harald Welzer

Teaser des Artikels: Die grünen Revolutionäre der siebziger Jahre träumten von einer besseren, umweltbewussten Gesellschaft. Heute betreiben wir Naturschutz mit den Mitteln des Kapitalismus. Das kann nicht gutgehen.

Scientific paper • 2016

Between Green Growth and Degrowth: Decoupling, Rebound Effects and the Politics for Long-Term Sustainability

By: Jin Xue, Jørgen Nørgård

Abstract: Taking the simple equation: I(impact) = P(population) · A(affluence) · T(technology) as the point of departure, this chapter discusses the delusion of decoupling economic activities from environmental impacts by resorting to reduce eco-intensities through technological advancement alone. It is argued that the rebound effect is both a natural consequence of the growth dedicated...

Misc • 2016

Time for degrowth: to save the planet, we must shrink the economy

By: Jason Hickel

From the text: . . . SDG 8 calls for improving “global resource efficiency” and “decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation”. Unfortunately, there are no signs that this is possible at anything near the necessary pace. Global material extraction and consumption grew by 94% between 1980 and 2010, accelerating in the last decade to reach as high as 70 billion tonnes per year. And...

Misc • 2016

Decoupling: A Dangerous Fantasy

By: Robert Fletcher

Teaser: Decoupling offers a dangerous neoliberal fantasy that we can overcome environmental limits to indefinite economic growth. From the article: . . . While asserting the necessity of dramatic decoupling for any hope of genuine sustainable development within a growth-dependent economy, in short, UNEP simultaneously admits that: 1) there is virtually no evidence that decoupling works; 2) the...

Scientific paper • 2016

Is Decoupling GDP Growth from Environmental Impact Possible?

By: Robert Costanza, James D. Ward, Paul C. Sutton, Adrian D. Werner, Steve H. Mohr, Craig T. Simmons

Abstract: The argument that human society can decouple economic growth—defined as growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—from growth in environmental impacts is appealing. If such decoupling is possible, it means that GDP growth is a sustainable societal goal. Here we show that the decoupling concept can be interpreted using an easily understood model of economic growth and environmental...

Scientific paper • 2016

Rethinking Climate and Energy Policies

By: Tilman Santarius, Carlo Aall, Johannes Buhl, Jin Xue, Hans Jakob Walnum, Hans Jakob Walnum, José Acosta, Reinhard Madlener, Jørgen Nørgård, Petter Næss, Karen Turner, Debalina Chakravarty, Joyashree Roy, Anja Peters, Elisabeth Dütschke, Martin Soland, Christine Suffolk, Wouter Poortinga, C. Michael Hall, Kyrre Groven, Anders S.G. Andrae

The publisher about the book: This book calls for rethinking current climate, energy and sustainability policy-making by presenting new insights into the rebound phenomenon; i.e., the driving forces, mechanisms and extent of rebound effects and potential means of mitigating them. It pursues an innovative and novel approach to the political and scientific rebound discourse and hence, supplements...

Scientific paper • 2016

Green Economy - Mut zur Effizienz und Befreiung

By: Kai Niebert

Herausgeber_innen: In der Postwachstumsdebatte wird intensiv das Konzept der Grünen Ökonomie diskutiert. Als neues Leitbild verspricht es Lösungen für ökologische und ökonomische Probleme. Doch kann die Green Economy das wirklich? Wenn es der Gesellschaft tatsächlich gelingen soll, in der Zukunft anzukommen, ist es notwendig umzusatteln und sowohl Ross als auch Reiter zu wechseln.

Scientific paper • 2016

Ecomodernism and degrowth

By: Sam Bliss

In 2015, 19 scientists and thought leaders published “An Ecomodernist Manifesto” with “the conviction that knowledge and technology, applied with wisdom, might allow for a good, or even great, Anthropocene.” Like degrowth, ecomodernism criticizes mainstream environmentalism, considers “human prosperity and an ecologically vibrant planet inseparable,” and aims to shrink aggregate environmental...

Scientific paper • 2016

Economic values, capital accumulation and degrowth

By: Mikael Malmaeus

Historically, value theories used to be at the heart of critiques of capitalism. However, contemporary economists rarely focus on value theories, and the labor theory of value has not been discussed in relation to macroeconomic growth or in the context of degrowth. In this article it is theoretically and empirically demonstrated that economic values at the macroeconomic level are fundamentally...

Scientific paper • 2016

Mapping sustainable wellbeing viewpoints on two dimensions: technical and socio-cultural decoupling

By: Timo Järvensivu

It seems that discussions between camps such as ”green growth” and ”degrowth” often end up being debates, even if the aim would be a dialogue. The purpose of this paper and presentation is to draw a map of the main arguments of some of the camps, with the hope of improving the dialogue. Discussion on sustainable wellbeing is often carried along two main dimensions. The first dimension concerns...

Scientific paper • 2015

Green economy and carbon markets for conservation and development: a critical view

By: Kathleen McAfee

Geen economy, Development, Carbon markets, Ecosystem services, Degrowth, Buen vivir, REDD+

Report • 2015

Economics for a Full World

By: Herman Daly

The essay starts with a profound growth critique and then goes over to explain three approaches to integrate economy into the ecosystem. The first one the author calls economic imperialism. It is the concept of integrating the whole ecosphere into the economy by financialization, the second is an ecological reductionism and the 3rd is to create a steady state economy. The author is in favour of...

Report • 2015

What does degrowth mean to you?

By: Marc Menningmann

Short video where participants of the Degrowth Conference 2014 share what degrowth means for them.