Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019

Thomas Unnerstall

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019

Thomas Unnerstall

Published in International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (Volume 10, Issue 3)

Received: 22 April 2022 Accepted: 14 May 2022 Published: 26 May 2022

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Abstract

In its targets for sustainable development, the UN urges to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, stemming to a very large part from resource use and CO₂-emissions. The EU implemented a number of political measures to foster such decoupling and also advocates the concept of “green growth”. In this study, we analyse the development of important consumption-based indicators of resource use (including domestic material consumption, raw iron and energy) for the EU-15 from 1970 to 2019. We show that they have all absolutely decoupled from economic growth (i.e. GDP) in the last 15-20 years. Unlike many studies before, we thus do find absolute, permanent decoupling of important resource uses in a prominent economic region of the world. In many cases, the development over the past 50 years actually follows an inverted U-shape. We also compare today’s per-capita-levels of resource use of EU-15 to the world average; we find that - despite the striking difference in industrial output and standard of living – they are actually quite similar, with the exception of energy use. Finally, we stress that, while our findings strongly support the feasibility of green growth, decoupling of CO₂-emissions at a rate much faster than today remains of central importance to a sustainable economic development of the EU-15 countries.

Published in	International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis (Volume 10, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12
Page(s)	59-67
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Decoupling, Resource Use Assessment, Footprint Accounts, Sustainable Development Goal 12, Sustainable Development Goal 8.4

References

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[3]	H. Haberl, D. Wiedenhofer, D. Virág, G. Kalt, B. Plank, P. Brockway, T. Fishman, D. Hausknost, F. Krausmann, B. Leon-Gruchalski, A. Mayer, M. Pichler, A. Schaffartzik, T. Sousa, J. Streeck and F. Creutzig A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part II: synthesizing the insights Environ. Res. Lett. 15 (2020) 065003 https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab842a
[4]	Parrique, J. Barth, F. Briens, C. Kerschner, A. Kraus-Polk, A. Kuokkanen, J. H. Spangenberg Decoupling Debunked: Evidence and Arguments Against Green Growth As a Sole Strategy for Sustainability European Environmental Bureau (2019) https://eeb.org/library/decoupling-debunked/
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Thomas Unnerstall. (2022). Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019. International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis, 10(3), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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Thomas Unnerstall. Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019. Int. J. Environ. Monit. Anal. 2022, 10(3), 59-67. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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AMA Style

Thomas Unnerstall. Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019. Int J Environ Monit Anal. 2022;10(3):59-67. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12,
  author = {Thomas Unnerstall},
  title = {Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019},
  journal = {International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis},
  volume = {10},
  number = {3},
  pages = {59-67},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijema.20221003.12},
  abstract = {In its targets for sustainable development, the UN urges to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, stemming to a very large part from resource use and CO2-emissions. The EU implemented a number of political measures to foster such decoupling and also advocates the concept of “green growth”. In this study, we analyse the development of important consumption-based indicators of resource use (including domestic material consumption, raw iron and energy) for the EU-15 from 1970 to 2019. We show that they have all absolutely decoupled from economic growth (i.e. GDP) in the last 15-20 years. Unlike many studies before, we thus do find absolute, permanent decoupling of important resource uses in a prominent economic region of the world. In many cases, the development over the past 50 years actually follows an inverted U-shape. We also compare today’s per-capita-levels of resource use of EU-15 to the world average; we find that - despite the striking difference in industrial output and standard of living – they are actually quite similar, with the exception of energy use. Finally, we stress that, while our findings strongly support the feasibility of green growth, decoupling of CO2-emissions at a rate much faster than today remains of central importance to a sustainable economic development of the EU-15 countries.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019
AU  - Thomas Unnerstall
Y1  - 2022/05/26
PY  - 2022
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DO  - 10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12
T2  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
JF  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
JO  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
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AB  - In its targets for sustainable development, the UN urges to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, stemming to a very large part from resource use and CO2-emissions. The EU implemented a number of political measures to foster such decoupling and also advocates the concept of “green growth”. In this study, we analyse the development of important consumption-based indicators of resource use (including domestic material consumption, raw iron and energy) for the EU-15 from 1970 to 2019. We show that they have all absolutely decoupled from economic growth (i.e. GDP) in the last 15-20 years. Unlike many studies before, we thus do find absolute, permanent decoupling of important resource uses in a prominent economic region of the world. In many cases, the development over the past 50 years actually follows an inverted U-shape. We also compare today’s per-capita-levels of resource use of EU-15 to the world average; we find that - despite the striking difference in industrial output and standard of living – they are actually quite similar, with the exception of energy use. Finally, we stress that, while our findings strongly support the feasibility of green growth, decoupling of CO2-emissions at a rate much faster than today remains of central importance to a sustainable economic development of the EU-15 countries.
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Author Information

Thomas Unnerstall

Department of Technology, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Germany

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Thomas Unnerstall. (2022). Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019. International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis, 10(3), 59-67. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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ACS Style

Thomas Unnerstall. Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019. Int. J. Environ. Monit. Anal. 2022, 10(3), 59-67. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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AMA Style

Thomas Unnerstall. Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019. Int J Environ Monit Anal. 2022;10(3):59-67. doi: 10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12,
  author = {Thomas Unnerstall},
  title = {Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019},
  journal = {International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis},
  volume = {10},
  number = {3},
  pages = {59-67},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijema.20221003.12},
  abstract = {In its targets for sustainable development, the UN urges to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, stemming to a very large part from resource use and CO2-emissions. The EU implemented a number of political measures to foster such decoupling and also advocates the concept of “green growth”. In this study, we analyse the development of important consumption-based indicators of resource use (including domestic material consumption, raw iron and energy) for the EU-15 from 1970 to 2019. We show that they have all absolutely decoupled from economic growth (i.e. GDP) in the last 15-20 years. Unlike many studies before, we thus do find absolute, permanent decoupling of important resource uses in a prominent economic region of the world. In many cases, the development over the past 50 years actually follows an inverted U-shape. We also compare today’s per-capita-levels of resource use of EU-15 to the world average; we find that - despite the striking difference in industrial output and standard of living – they are actually quite similar, with the exception of energy use. Finally, we stress that, while our findings strongly support the feasibility of green growth, decoupling of CO2-emissions at a rate much faster than today remains of central importance to a sustainable economic development of the EU-15 countries.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Permanent Absolute Decoupling of Economic Growth from Resource Consumption in the EU-15, 1970-2019
AU  - Thomas Unnerstall
Y1  - 2022/05/26
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12
T2  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
JF  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
JO  - International Journal of Environmental Monitoring and Analysis
SP  - 59
EP  - 67
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2328-7667
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijema.20221003.12
AB  - In its targets for sustainable development, the UN urges to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, stemming to a very large part from resource use and CO2-emissions. The EU implemented a number of political measures to foster such decoupling and also advocates the concept of “green growth”. In this study, we analyse the development of important consumption-based indicators of resource use (including domestic material consumption, raw iron and energy) for the EU-15 from 1970 to 2019. We show that they have all absolutely decoupled from economic growth (i.e. GDP) in the last 15-20 years. Unlike many studies before, we thus do find absolute, permanent decoupling of important resource uses in a prominent economic region of the world. In many cases, the development over the past 50 years actually follows an inverted U-shape. We also compare today’s per-capita-levels of resource use of EU-15 to the world average; we find that - despite the striking difference in industrial output and standard of living – they are actually quite similar, with the exception of energy use. Finally, we stress that, while our findings strongly support the feasibility of green growth, decoupling of CO2-emissions at a rate much faster than today remains of central importance to a sustainable economic development of the EU-15 countries.
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
ER  -

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