Raising the bar: on the type, size and timeline of a ‘successful’ decoupling

T. Vadén; V. Lähde; A. Majava; P. Järvensivu; T. Toivanen; J. T. Eronen

doi:10.1080/09644016.2020.1783951

Raising the bar: on the type, size and timeline of a ‘successful’ decoupling

T. Vadén^*, V. Lähde, A. Majava, P. Järvensivu, T. Toivanen, J. T. Eronen

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Decoupling environmental ‘bads’ from economic ‘goods’ is a key part of policies such as green growth and circular economy that see economic growth as desirable or necessary, and also see that current use of natural resources and its environmental impacts is unsustainable. We estimate what a ‘successful decoupling’ (2% annual GDP growth and a decline in resource use by 2050 to a level that could be sustainable and compatible with a maximum 2°C global warming) would mean in terms of its type, timeline and size. Compared to 2017, ‘successful’ decoupling has to result in 2.6 times more GDP out of every ton of material use, including in-use material stocks. There are no realistic scenarios for such an increase in resource productivity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	462-476
Number of pages	15
Journal	Environmental Politics
Volume	30
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2020.1783951
Publication status	Published - 24 Jun 2021
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

Decoupling
material stocks
material use
resource use

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1080/09644016.2020.1783951

https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/fi/publications/raising-the-bar-on-the-type-size-and-timeline-of-a-successfuldeco

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title = "Raising the bar: on the type, size and timeline of a {\textquoteleft}successful{\textquoteright} decoupling",

abstract = "Decoupling environmental {\textquoteleft}bads{\textquoteright} from economic {\textquoteleft}goods{\textquoteright} is a key part of policies such as green growth and circular economy that see economic growth as desirable or necessary, and also see that current use of natural resources and its environmental impacts is unsustainable. We estimate what a {\textquoteleft}successful decoupling{\textquoteright} (2% annual GDP growth and a decline in resource use by 2050 to a level that could be sustainable and compatible with a maximum 2°C global warming) would mean in terms of its type, timeline and size. Compared to 2017, {\textquoteleft}successful{\textquoteright} decoupling has to result in 2.6 times more GDP out of every ton of material use, including in-use material stocks. There are no realistic scenarios for such an increase in resource productivity.",

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AU - Majava, A.

AU - Järvensivu, P.

AU - Toivanen, T.

AU - Eronen, J. T.

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Raising the bar: on the type, size and timeline of a ‘successful’ decoupling

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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