The 'Kaya Identify' (simplified here) is a decomposition of the growth in fossil CO2 emissions (black dots) into economic growth (orange), energy efficiency & structure change (green), & carbon intensity (blue).
It is often interpreted as "therefore we need degrowth".
No....
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It is often interpreted as "therefore we need degrowth".
No....
1/
Comments
Degrowth treats CO2 and climate change as mere symptoms of growth focused economy - but impacts are much bigger - thinks all planetary boundaries, not just climate alone.
There is also a strong component of justice.
* Shift to services
* Energy efficiency
* Coal to gas or renewables
* Weaker GDP growth in developed economies
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* Developing countries have higher economic growth (c.f. developed world decades ago)
* Energy &/or carbon efficiency may be significant, just lower than economic growth
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You can look up the 'Kaya' figures for your favourite country here: https://robbieandrew.github.io/country/
4/4
The right question is...
How can the world provide wellbeing for all, for all time?
The answer is to ditch the GDP metric and replace it with a wellbeing metric.
PS Oxfam noted that growth benefits went into rich pockets.
https://www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-releases/richest-1-grab-nearly-twice-as-much-new-wealth-as-rest-of-the-world-put-together/