Unmasking decoupling: Redefining the Resource Intensity of the Economy

Bithas, Kostas; Kalimeris, Panos

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.061

Cited by 71 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…There are some advances regarding two of the countries of our study; in the case of Sweden, GS estimations are available since 1850 and in the case of Chile since 1900 [134,135]. The incorporation into the analysis of resource intensity measures could also improve our understanding due to fact decoupling: the capacity of the digital economy to reduce the use of materials is going to have an impact on countries depending on natural resources [136]. In this context, further research should focus on the reconstruction of green national accounts for the rest of the countries studied in this paper.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The new estimates of the Maddison Project show that GDP per capita ratio at purchasing power parity (ppp) between Bolivia and Finland has changed from 0.68 ca. 1850 to 0.16 in 2015; similarly, that between Chile and Norway from 0.65 to 0.28. The aim of this article is to present a review of the literature and available quantitative evidence to understand how these extreme differences became possible between countries with similarly enormous natural resource endowments. Specifically, the article seeks to: (a) identify some stylized facts that may help understand the divergence between Andean and Nordic countries; (b) identify key historical processes that explain the divergent effect of natural resource abundance in Andean and Nordic economies. In order to achieve these objectives, four topics are covered: GDPpc, population, trade and taxation. The analysis comprises three Nordic countries (Finland, Norway and Sweden) and three Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile and Peru) from the mid-Nineteenth Century to present day. The sample size, time span covered and thematic approach provide new evidence regarding previous work.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror

et al. 2018

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“…The elasticity of fossil RMC is higher than that of biomass RCM in both EORA-and WIOD-based models. Economic growth, affluence or final demand are recognized as key determinants of material use (e.g., Bithas & Kalimeris, 2017;Eisenmenger et al, 2016;Hatfield-Dodds et al, 2017;Krausmann et al, 2009;Pothen, 2017;Schaffartzik, Wiedenhofer, & Eisenmenger, 2015;Schandl & Turner, 2009;Shao, Schaffartzik, Mayer, & Krausmann, 2017;Wood, Lenzen, & Foran, 2009). Long-term material flow accounting studies have shown decreasing coupling intensities between GDP and direct material use as the economic development of countries proceeds.…”

Section: Driving Forces Of Fossil and Biomass Rmcmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioeconomic transition?: Projecting consumption‐based biomass and fossil material flows to 2050

Asada

Krisztin

Fulvio

et al. 2020

J of Industrial Ecology

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Countries are responding to unsustainable resource extraction, rising emissions, and increasing waste streams by implementing national bioeconomy strategies. Assuming that the purpose of a bioeconomy is to replace fossil use by biogenic resource use, we estimate biomass and fossil raw material consumption (RMC) by applying multiregional input-output methodology for middle and high income countries. Next, we use a panel fixed effects model to explain RMC with economically active population, urban population, GDP, land cover, and fossil/biomass domestic material consumption. With this model, we project RMC under five Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios up to 2050. The projections show an increase in per capita biomass RMC between 2010 and 2050, accompanied by-in many cases pronounced-per capita growth of fossil RMC across most of the countries and scenarios. We conclude that, if GDP continues to drive fossil RMC at its current magnitude, upcoming conditions are likely to counteract a potential bioeconomic transition and increase, instead of decrease, fossil RMC. Thus, increasing biomass use will not necessarily lead to reduced fossil resource consumption. When considering the relative scarcity of biomass, land and water, more focus needs to be placed on the relevance of technological bio-based innovations in the reconfiguration of RMC drivers.

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“…Bithas and Kalimeris [14] World The elasticity of GDP and income to DMC MFA, Tapio decoupling index 1900Tapio decoupling index -2009 From 1900 to 2009, there was no global decoupling. After the 1970s, industrialized economies experienced decoupling, but were offset by resource intensification in some developing economies.…”

Section: -2011mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are differences between the results of the dematerialization assessment at the global level and the country level. The dematerialization trend of developed countries or economies may be offset by the resource intensification of developing countries or economies [14]. Hence, at the global level, it is difficult to determine whether dematerialization has occurred in country level or economies [13][14][15]17].…”

Section: Dai and Liu [21] Beijingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dematerialization trend of developed countries or economies may be offset by the resource intensification of developing countries or economies [14]. Hence, at the global level, it is difficult to determine whether dematerialization has occurred in country level or economies [13][14][15]17]. Similarly, due to the different levels of economic development of cities within the country, it is necessary to conduct dematerialization research at city level to judge the development stage of the city [20].…”

Section: Dai and Liu [21] Beijingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Path Analysis of Beijing’s Dematerialization Development Based on System Dynamics

Dai

Shan

2020

Sustainability

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Dematerialization is a phenomenon in which resource consumption and pollutant discharge decrease during economic development. In order to explore the optimal paths of Beijing’s dematerialization, this study combines material flow analysis method and the Tapio decoupling model to construct a city dematerialization evaluation model, and establishes a system dynamics model to simulate the comprehensive dematerialization levels and the dematerialization levels of eight materials under four scenarios. The results show that the key factors affecting the dematerialization levels of resource and discharge end were non-metals consumption and CO2 emissions respectively. During 2016–2030, Beijing would achieve weak decoupling state under four scenarios, but the degree of dematerialization would be different. For the comprehensive dematerialization level, during 2017–2024, an industrial restructuring (IR) scenario, which would strengthen R&D investment and optimize the industrial structure, would be the optimal choice. During 2025–2030, an environmental governance (EG) scenario, which means increasing the investment in pollution control, would bring about the best dematerialization level. There would be differences in the optimal dematerialization paths for eight materials. For example, economic sustainable degrowth (ESD) and EG scenarios would be the optimal paths for dematerialization of atmospheric pollutants in the period 2017–2021 and 2022–2030, respectively.

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Unmasking decoupling: Redefining the Resource Intensity of the Economy

Cited by 71 publications

References 52 publications

Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror

Natural Resources Curse in the Long Run? Bolivia, Chile and Peru in the Nordic Countries’ Mirror

Bioeconomic transition?: Projecting consumption‐based biomass and fossil material flows to 2050

Path Analysis of Beijing’s Dematerialization Development Based on System Dynamics

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