Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T18:10:35.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Conclusions

The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation – Between Degrowth and Green Growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2024

Grégory Claeys ,
Marie Le Mouel ,
Simone Tagliapietra ,
Guntram B. Wolff  and
Georg Zachmann
Grégory Claeys
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Marie Le Mouel
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Simone Tagliapietra
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Guntram B. Wolff
Affiliation:
German Council on Foreign Relations
Georg Zachmann
Affiliation:
Bruegel
Get access

Summary

The Conclusion closes the book by going back to the opening question: given all the complexities entailed in the process, is it realistic to expect the world to be able to decouple economic growth from GHG emissions in time to save the planet, and by avoiding negative repercussions on our economies and societies? The Conclusion first discusses how the economic literature has so far tackled this question – namely presenting degrowth and green growth theories – and then illustrates the authors’ views on this.

Keywords

GHG emissionseconomic growthdegrowthgreen growth theories
Type
Chapter
Information
The Macroeconomics of Decarbonisation
Implications and Policies
 , pp. 315 - 327
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D., Aghion, P., Bursztyn, L., and Hemous, D. (2012) ‘The Environment and Directed Technical Change’, American Economic Review, 102:1, 131–66, available at http://dx.doi=10.1257/aer.102.1.131Google Scholar
Aghion, P., Dechezlepretre, A., Hemous, D., Martin, R., and Van Reenen, J. (2016) ‘Carbon Taxes, Path Dependency and Directed Technical Change: Evidence from the Auto Industry’, Journal of Political Economy, 124: 1, 1–51, available at https://doi.org/10.1086/684581Google Scholar
Antal, M., and van den Bergh, J. (2016) ‘Green Growth and Climate Change: Conceptual and Empirical Considerations’, Climate Policy, 16: 2, 165–77, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2014.992003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binswanger, H. (2013) The Growth Spiral (Berlin: Springer).Google Scholar
BloombergNEF (2021) ‘New Energy Outlook 2021’, BloombergNEF, available at https://about.bnef.com/new-energy-outlook/Google Scholar
Cosme, I., Santos, R., and O’Neill, D. (2017) ‘Assessing the Degrowth Discourse: A Review and Analysis of Academic Degrowth Policy Proposals’, Journal of Cleaner Production, 149, 321–34, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.02.016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cozzi, L., and Petropoulos, A. (2021) ‘Global SUV Sales Set Another Record in 2021, Setting Back Efforts to Reduce Emissions’, International Energy Agency, available at www.iea.org/commentaries/global-suv-sales-set-another-record-in-2021-setting-back-efforts-to-reduce-emissionsGoogle Scholar
Demaria, F., Schneider, F., Sekulova, F., and Martinez-Alier, J. (2013) ‘What Is Degrowth? From an Activist Slogan to a Social Movement’, Environmental Values, 22:2, 191–215, available at https://doi.org/10.3197/096327113X13581561725194CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastin, J., Grundman, R., and Prakash, A. (2011) ‘The Two Limits Debates: Limits to Growth and Climate Change’, Futures, 43:1, 16–26, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2010.03.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, P. (1968) The Population Bomb (New York: Sierra Club/Ballantine Books).Google Scholar
European Commission (2019) ‘The European Green Deal’, COM(2019) 640 final, available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/communication-european-green-deal_enGoogle Scholar
European Commission (2020) ‘Impact Assessment Accompanying the Document “Stepping up Europe’s 2030 Climate Ambition: Investing in a Climate-Neutral Future for the Benefit of Our People”’, SWD(2020) 176 final, available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020SC0176Google Scholar
Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1971) The Entropy Law and the Economic Process (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1979) Demain la décroissance: entropie-écologie-économie (Lausanne: Pierre-Marcel Favre).Google Scholar
Gorz, A. (1972) Proceedings from a Public Debate (Paris: Nouvelle Observateur).Google Scholar
Hickel, J. (2020) Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World (London: Cornerstone).Google Scholar
Hickel, J., and Kallis, G. (2020) ‘Is Green Growth Possible?’, New Political Economy, 25:4, 469–86, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2019.1598964CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, T. (2009) Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet (London: Earthscan).Google Scholar
Jacobs, M. (2012) ‘Green Growth: Economic Theory and Political Discourse’, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment Working Paper No. 92.Google Scholar
Kallis, G. (2011) ‘In Defence of Degrowth’, Ecological Economics, 70: 5, 873–80, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.12.007Google Scholar
Kallis, G., Kerschner, C., and Martinez-Alier, J. (2012) ‘The Economics of Degrowth’, Ecological Economics, 84, 172–80, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.08.017Google Scholar
Kallis, G., Kostakis, V., Lange, S., Muraca, B., Paulson, S., and Schmelze, M. (2018) ‘Research on Degrowth’, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 43, 291–316, available at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-025941Google Scholar
Kamien, M., and Schwartz, N. (1978) ‘Optimal Exhaustible Resource Depletion with Endogenous Technical Change’, Review of Economic Studies, 45:1, 179–96, available at https://doi.org/10.2307/2297093Google Scholar
Karlsson, M., Alfredsson, E., and Westling, N. (2020) ‘Climate Policy Co-benefits: A Review’, Climate Policy, 20:3, 292–316, available at https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1724070Google Scholar
Keysser, L., and Lenzen, M. (2021) ‘1.5°C Degrowth Scenarios Suggest the Need for New Mitigation Pathways’, Nature Communications, 12:2676, available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22884-9Google Scholar
Latouche, S. (2009) Farewell to Growth (Cambridge: Polity).Google Scholar
Lenaerts, K., Tagliapietra, S., and Wolff, G. (2022) ‘The Global Quest for Green Growth: An Economic Policy Perspective,’ Sustainability, 14, 9.Google Scholar
Loehr, D. (2012) ‘The Euthanasia of the Rentier – A Way toward a Steady-State Economy?’, Ecological Economics, 84, 232–39, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.11.006Google Scholar
Malthus, T. (1798) An Essay on the Principle of Population (London: J. Johnson).Google Scholar
Meadows, D., Meadows, D., Randers, J., and Behrens, W. (1972) The Limits to Growth (New York: Universe Books).Google Scholar
OECD (2009) ‘Declaration on Green Growth’, OECD Legal Instruments, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, available at https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0374Google Scholar
OECD (2011) Towards Green Growth (Paris: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development).Google Scholar
Osborn, F. (1948) Our Plundered Planet (New York: Little, Brown and Company).Google Scholar
Paech, N. (2012) Befreiung vom Überfluss: auf dem Weg in die Postwachstumsoekonomie (Munich: Oekom Verlag).Google Scholar
Raworth, K. (2017) Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist (London: Random House).Google Scholar
Stern, N. (2007) The Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Stiglitz, J. (1974) ‘Growth with Exhaustible Natural Resources: Efficient and Optimal Growth Paths’, Review of Economic Studies, 41, 123–37, available at https://doi.org/10.2307/2296377Google Scholar
UNEP (2011) Towards a Green Economy. Pathways to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication (Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme).Google Scholar
van den Bergh, J. (2011) ‘Environment versus Growth – A Criticism of “Degrowth” and a Plea for “Agrowth”’, Ecological Economics, 70, 881–90, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.09.035Google Scholar
van Griethuysen, P. (2012) ‘Bona diagnosis, bona curatio: How Property Economics Clarifies the Degrowth Debate’, Ecological Economics, 84, 262–69, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.02.018Google Scholar
Vogt, W. (1948) Road to Survival (New York: William Sloane Associates).Google Scholar
Weitzman, M. (1999) ‘Pricing the Limits to Growth from Minerals Depletion’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114:2, 691–706, available at https://doi.org/10.1162/003355399556025Google Scholar
White House (2022) ‘The Build Back Better Framework. President Biden’s Plan to Rebuild the Middle Class’, available at www.whitehouse.gov/build-back-better/Google Scholar
World Bank Group (2012) Inclusive Green Growth. The Pathway to Sustainable Development (Washington, DC: World Bank Group).Google Scholar
World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) ‘Our Common Future’, UN Sustainable Development Goals Knowledge Platform, United Nations, available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/resources/documentsGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×