Week 3; is green growth possible + degrowth Flashcards
How does Jason Hickel define green growth?
- Continued economic growth (measured by GDP) without increasing resource use or carbon emissions.
Goal: Avoid ecological breakdown and climate change.
What is the origin of green growth?
The Rio+20 Conference in 2012 in response to climate change concerns.
How do the OECD, UNEP, and World Bank define green growth differently, and where do they agree?
OECD: ‘promoting economic growth and development while ensuring that natural resources continue to support well-being’
UNEP:’ one that grows income and improves human well-being while reducing environmental risks and scarcities.’
World Bank: ‘growth that is efficient in resource use, minimizes pollution, and accounts for natural hazards to build resilience’.
>Only UNEP emphasizes decoupling (separating economic growth from environmental degradation) as a core component.
>All three organizations see technological advancements as essential to achieving green growth.
What does UNEP say about decoupling?
Observes relative decoupling (GDP grows faster than resource use).
Questions whether absolute decoupling is achievable quickly enough.
What is the evidence about absolute decoupling?
> Some European countries report decoupling GDP from Domestic Material Consumption (DMC), but this excludes fossil fuels.
Material footprint data shows no absolute decoupling in countries like the USA, UK, or Japan.
What historical trends highlight the challenges of green growth?
20th Century: Relative decoupling—GDP grew faster than resource use.
21st Century: Re-coupling—Resource use grows at the same rate as GDP.
Why have services-based economies not reduced resource use?
- Services need resource-heavy inputs (e.g tech equipment)
- Income generated is spent on resource-intensive goods.
What are the physical constraints to resource efficiency gains?
- technological improvements plateau over time.
- absolute decoupling indefinitely is physically impossible.
When is green growth feasible, according to Hickel?
Achievable only under very low GDP growth rates (<1% annually).
What does the jevons paradox describe? Give an example
Increased energy efficiency, often leads to increased overall energy consumption. Cars have become more energy efficient, but also bigger, cancelling out the effect.
Jevons Paradox: When something becomes more efficient, people or the economy use it so much more that total consumption increases.
Example: Better coal engines led to more coal being used overall.
Rebound Effect: When efficiency saves resources, some of those savings are used up again, but not always fully.
Example: A fuel-efficient car saves gas, but the owner drives more, using some of the savings.
Key difference: Jevons Paradox is about total consumption going up (a big rebound), while the rebound effect can be partial (not always a total increase).
How does Hickel define degrowth?
Planned reduction of energy and resource use.
Aims to achieve ecological balance, not just GDP reduction.
Why does Hickel argue for degrowth?
- Current system benefits the wealthy, drives ecological breakdown.
- Transition to renewables isn’t fast enough to match current growth rates (to achieving absolute decoupling of GDP from emissions requires replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy.
Transitioning to renewables at the current economic growth rate is not fast enough.)
What are the key differences between degrowth and a recession?
**Degrowth: **
- Planned
- focused on well-being
- and reducing inequality (includes policies for fair distribution of resources and services)
**Recession: **
- Unplanned
- harms public services
- and exacerbates inequality
What ecological objectives does degrowth pursue?
Expand renewable energy and ecological restoration.
-reduce harmufl production
Why does Hickel emphasize degrowth for high-income nations?
> They exceed planetary resource limits.
to allow sustainable development in low-income countries, they must reduce consumption
