Decoupling for ecological sustainability: A categorisation and review of research literature

Vadén, Tere; Lähde, Ville; Majava, Antti; Järvensivu, Paavo; Toivanen, Tero; Hakala, Emma; Eronen, Jussi T.

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2020.06.016

Cited by 164 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…The economic and policy perspectives are also important in tackling pollution problems. In the policy domain, the reduction of resource demands and footprints while preserving and even increasing economic prosperity is denoted by the term “decoupling” ( Vadén et al., 2020 ). That review has analysed 179 literature sources on decoupling, categorising the claimed research results according to the reported types of decoupling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The analysis of the problem basis and the summary of the previous related reviews shows that there have been considerations of the environmental footprints as possible indicators to track ( Čuček et al., 2012a ), as well as their potential application in PSE investigations ( Guillén-Gosálbez et al., 2019 ) aimed at sustainability assessment or improvement. It has become apparent that analyses of industrial process improvements and of partial sets of the necessary measures have been analysed – as in the case of the policies for GHG emission data repositories ( Utility Dive, 2020a ), or the policy discussion on the topic of “decoupling” ( Vadén et al., 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Process assessment, integration and optimisation: The path towards cleaner production

Varbanov

Jia

Lim

2021

Journal of Cleaner Production

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This contribution starts from the broad perspective of the global material cycles, analysing the main resource and pollution issues world-wide from the viewpoint of the disturbances to these cycles caused by human activities. The issues are analysed in the light of the currently developing COVID-19 pandemic with the resulting behavioural and business pattern changes. It has been revealed in the analysis of previous reviews that there is a need for a more comprehensive analysis of the resource and environmental impact contributions by industrial and urban processes, as well as product supply chains. The review discusses the recent key developments in the areas of Process Integration and Optimisation, the assessment and reduction of process environmental impacts, waste management and integration, green technologies. That is accompanied by a review of the papers in the current Virtual Special Issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production which is dedicated to the extended articles developed on the basis of the papers presented at the 22nd Conference on Process Integration for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction. The follow-up analysis reveals significant advances in the efficiency and emission cleaning effects of key processes, as well as water/wastewater management and energy storage. The further analysis of the developments identifies several key areas for further research and development – including increases of the safety and robustness of supply networks for products and services, increase of the resources use efficiency of core production and resource conversion processes, as well as the emphasis on improved product and process design for minimising product wastage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process assessment, integration and optimisation: The path towards cleaner production

Varbanov

Jia

Lim

2021

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…The more frequent strand concerns decoupling economic growth from carbon dioxide emissions. De Freitas and Kaneko [11] provide a literature review of the works published by 2010, and Wang et al [12], Leal et al [13], and Vadén et al [14] offer an updated literature review.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoupling Economic Growth from Fossil Fuel Use—Evidence from 141 Countries in the 25-Year Perspective

2020

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This study offers an in-depth analysis of the decoupling of economic growth from fossil fuel use in 141 countries over the last 25 years. The study is based on the Tapio decoupling approach, and two methods of measuring fossil fuel use, i.e., domestic material consumption (DMC) and material footprint (MF), are applied. Groups of countries with similar decoupling patterns are identified through the k-medoids method. Next, the relationship between these patterns and the level of countries’ development is examined. The results reveal that using different measures of fossil fuel use yields different processes of decoupling economic growth from fossil fuel use. In particular, when the DMC indicator is considered, relative decoupling is observed in most analysed cases. When the MF indicator is applied, the decoupling states of individual countries change more frequently. Finally, in highly developed countries, absolute decoupling is frequently observed, although only when the DMC indicator is used.

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“…When environmental pollution no longer increases with the growth of the economy, the decoupling condition occurs. The idea of decoupling “environmental bads” from “economic goods” has been proposed as a path towards sustainability by organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [ 5 ] and the United Nations (UN) [ 6 ]. Decoupling analysis is an academic theory to study whether economic and environment-related indicators have decoupled [ 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The idea of decoupling “environmental bads” from “economic goods” has been proposed as a path towards sustainability by organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [ 5 ] and the United Nations (UN) [ 6 ]. Decoupling analysis is an academic theory to study whether economic and environment-related indicators have decoupled [ 6 ]. At the end of the 20th century, academic researches using decoupling analysis started to develop after Weizsäcker’s study on economic growth and resource consumption [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial-Temporal Analysis and Driving Factors Decomposition of (De)Coupling Condition of SO2 Emissions in China

Wang

Shi

Chen

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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China has a fast-growing economy and is one of the top three sulfur dioxide (SO2) emitters in the world. This paper is committed to finding efficient ways for China to reduce SO2 emissions with little impact on its socio-economic development. Data of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2017 were collected to assess the decoupling relationship between economic growth and SO2 emissions. The Tapio method was used. Then, the temporal trend of decoupling was analyzed and the Moran Index was introduced to test spatial autocorrelation of the provinces. To concentrate resources and improve the reduction efficiency, a generalized logarithmic mean Divisia index improved by the Cobb–Douglas function was applied to decompose drivers of SO2 emissions and to identify the main drivers. Results showed that the overall relationship between SO2 emissions and economic growth had strong decoupling (SD) since 2012; provinces, except for Liaoning and Guizhou, have reached SD since 2015. The decoupling indexes of neighboring provinces had spatial dependence at more than 95% certainty. The main positive driver was the proportion of the secondary sector of the economy and the main negative drivers were related to energy consumption and investment in waste gas treatment. Then, corresponding suggestions for government and enterprises were made.

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Decoupling for ecological sustainability: A categorisation and review of research literature

Cited by 164 publications

References 54 publications

Process assessment, integration and optimisation: The path towards cleaner production

Process assessment, integration and optimisation: The path towards cleaner production

Decoupling Economic Growth from Fossil Fuel Use—Evidence from 141 Countries in the 25-Year Perspective

Spatial-Temporal Analysis and Driving Factors Decomposition of (De)Coupling Condition of SO2 Emissions in China

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