A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part I: bibliometric and conceptual mapping

Abstract

As long as economic growth is a major political goal, decoupling growth from resource use and emissions is a prerequisite for a sustainable net-zero emissions future. However, empirical evidence for absolute decoupling, i.e. decreasing resource use and emissions at the required scale despite continued economic growth, is scarce and scattered across different research streams. In this two-part systematic review, we assess how and to what extent decoupling has been observed and what can be learnt for addressing the sustainability and climate crisis. Based on a transparent approach, we systematically identify and screen more than 11 500 scientific papers, eventually analyzing full texts of 835 empirical studies on the relationship between economic growth (GDP), resource use (materials and energy) and greenhouse gas emissions. Part I of the review examines how decoupling has been investigated across three research streams: energy, materials and energy, and emissions. Part II synthesizes the empirical evidence and policy implications (Haberl et al 2020 Environ. Res. Lett. 15 065003). In part I, we examine the topical, temporal and geographical scopes, methods of analysis, institutional networks and prevalent conceptual angles. We find that in this rapidly growing literature, the vast majority of studies-decomposition, 'causality' and Environmental Kuznets Curve analysis-approach the topic from a statistical-econometric point of view, while hardly acknowledging thermodynamic principles on the role of energy and materials for socio-economic activities. A potentially fundamental incompatibility between economic growth and systemic societal changes to address the climate crisis is rarely considered. We conclude that the existing wealth of empirical evidence merits braver conceptual advances than we have seen thus far. Future work should focus on comprehensive multi-indicator long-term analyses, conceptually grounded on the fundamental biophysical basis of socio-economic activities, incorporating the role of global supply chains as well as the wider societal role and preconditions of economic growth.

A systematic review of the evidence on decoupling of GDP, resource use and GHG emissions, part II: synthesizing the insights

“…The large body of literature focused on the causal interrelations between energy and GDP uses econometric time-series and causality testing methods, for example Granger causality, but often shows little interest in the energy indicators analyzed or in actual thermodynamic basis of their hypotheses (see part I, Wiedenhofer et al 2020). While no robust conclusion can be drawn on the direction of causality, these studies show that energy and GDP are strongly related.…”

“…In this set of two articles, we present a systematic review of the empirical literature on past (de)coupling of resource use and emissions and GDP. Part I has provided a bibliometric mapping of this literature and focuses on how decoupling is empirically analyzed in various strands of research (Wiedenhofer et al 2020). Here in part II, we synthesize the evidence in this literature with respect to observed historical (de)coupling and discuss its implications for science and policy.…”

A corridors and power-oriented perspective on energy-service demand and needs satisfaction

“…Embedded in this superstructure are ideas that see growth as necessary and desirable and that for a long time linked the pursuit of growth to the normative goal of increasing energy-service provision and demand. The related idea of decoupling suggests that further growth may be possible at lower levels of energy-service demand, even though decoupling from absolute energy demand is nowhere near in sight, and according to overwhelming evidence likely cannot be achieved rapidly enough to respond to the climate crisis (Haberl et al 2020;Wiedenhofer et al 2020). In this context, we also note the entrenchment of advertising in the capitalist superstructures.…”

Politicisation beyond post-politics: new social activism and the reconfiguration of political discourse

“…Almost in parallel, quite different forms of repoliticisation were flourishing as well. They, too, are critically engaging with neoliberal globalisation but, ideologically, they are radically opposed to the progressive-emancipatory tradition and have been conceptualised as agents of a great regression (Geiselberger, 2017): In the wake of the refugee crisis of 2015 in Europe and the US presidential elections of 2016, right-wing populist mobilisation fundamentally reconfigured public political discourse and the political space in many polities, militating not only against the market liberal project of globalisation but also against the perceived hegemony of liberal, cosmopolitan values (Mondon & Winter, 2020) and the emerging consensus that a tightening climate and sustainability crisis render a profound socioecological transformation of capitalist consumer societies inevitable and urgent (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018; Wiedenhofer et al, 2020). And most recently, new climate movements as well as protests against government policies addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, yet again, have added to the complexity of the repoliticisation of the supposedly post-political constellation (Dean, 2020;Pleyers, 2020).…”