The Material Stock–Flow–Service Nexus: A New Approach for Tackling the Decoupling Conundrum

Haberl, Helmut; Wiedenhofer, Dominik; Erb, Karl‐Heinz; Görg, Christoph; Krausmann, Fridolin

doi:10.3390/su9071049

Cited by 122 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 147 publications

(190 reference statements)

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“…Socio-economic activities (such as increasing production and consumption as well as complexity of distribution) directly or indirectly inevitably require materials and energy in various forms. They are utilized to provide functions and services to society by utilizing stocks of infrastructure, buildings and machinery, ultimately and necessarily resulting in waste and emissions (Pauliuk and Müller 2014, Weisz et al 2015, Haberl et al 2017. These interdependences between the socio-economic system and its biophysical basis are fundamental to understanding the role of economic growth and prospects for absolute resource and impact decoupling at the required scale and speed Hertwich 2015, Haberl et al 2019).…”

Section: Conclusion: Status Quo For Decoupling Studies and The Way Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Wiedenhofer

Virág

Kalt

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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122

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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.

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Section: Conclusion: Status Quo For Decoupling Studies and The Way Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Wiedenhofer

Virág

Kalt

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

Self Cite

122

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“…These results might be valuable inputs for the research fields of material flow and stock analysis and social metabolism [see e.g. 25,26].…”

Section: Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon dynamics and GHG implications of increasing wood construction: long-term scenarios for residential buildings in Austria

Kalt

2018

Carbon Management

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Wooden construction elements often exhibit lower life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional counterparts (‘material substitution effect’). Moreover, the building stock represents a carbon (C) sink if timber inflows (construction) surpass outflows (demolition) (‘C-stock effect’). A dynamic stock model incorporating these effects is applied to quantify potential climate benefits of wood construction in Austria's residential building sector. If present trends are maintained, culminating in a wood construction share (WCS) of 50% during 2050-2100, building shells could contain three times as much C in 2100 as today. Annual timber demand for residential construction could double, but would remain well below Austria's current net exports. Compared to a baseline scenario with constant WCS (22%), cumulated GHG savings from material substitution until 2050 are estimated 2 to 4.2 Tg CO 2 -equivalent – clearly less than savings from C-stock expansion (9.2 Tg). Savings from both effects would double in a highly ambitious scenario (WCS=80% during 2050-2100). The applied ’Stock Change Approach’ is consistent with IPCC Guidelines, but the above-mentioned savings from C-stock changes would not materialize under the current default GHG inventory accounting approach. Moreover, savings from C-stock effects must eventually be weighed against forest C-stock changes, as growing domestic demand might stimulate wood harvesting.

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“…In order to illuminate the distinctions between industrial social metabolism and the social metabolism of quiet sustainability, the analysis draws on theoretical discussions on socio-metabolic constellations/configurations, and the implications for long-term sustainability. Additionally, the analysis draws on theoretical insights from long-term socio-ecological research, environmental history, and historical political ecology, such as the concept of landesque capital [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31], in order to investigate how different socio-metabolic configurations produce distinct forms of capital stocks, and the role of these capital stocks in resource flow path dependencies [32][33][34]. One key insight gained from this body of research and literature is that humans can organize society and social metabolism in ways that contribute to both sustainability and equality.…”

Section: Social Metabolism Biocultural Diversity and Diverse Practimentioning

confidence: 99%

The Social Metabolism of Quiet Sustainability in the Faroe Islands

Bogadóttir

2020

Sustainability

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This paper investigates the interrelations between social metabolism and socio-ecological sustainability in the Faroe Islands in a long-term perspective. It traces the trajectory and changes in socio-metabolic configurations from the time of settlement until today and shows how social metabolism has increased to very high per capita levels during the past century. The analysis departs from the recognition that a decrease in social metabolism, i.e., a net reduction in throughput of natural resources in human economies, is necessary in order to curb the impending ecological crisis. It is argued that parallel to the growth oriented formal Faroese economy, economic food-provisioning practices rooted in the traditional, and ecologically sustainable, land management system continue to be practiced by Faroese people. These practices can be conceptualized as practices of so-called “quiet sustainability” and their contribution is estimated in bio-physical metrics of weight. The analysis shows that practices of “quiet sustainability” contribute significant quantities of certain food items to the local population thereby enhancing food security and food sovereignty. Moreover, these practices are an integral element in the biocultural diversity, which has constituted the Faroe Islands for close to two millennia. Therefore, they should be considered real alternatives to import-based consumption and taken into account in sustainability discourse and policy to a higher degree than is currently the case.

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The Material Stock–Flow–Service Nexus: A New Approach for Tackling the Decoupling Conundrum

Cited by 122 publications

References 147 publications

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

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

Carbon dynamics and GHG implications of increasing wood construction: long-term scenarios for residential buildings in Austria

The Social Metabolism of Quiet Sustainability in the Faroe Islands

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