Since the Industrial Revolution, economic growth has been accompanied by a rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Coal, oil, and natural gas all contributed to improving the economy and raising living standards, however, they also caused a significant rise in emissions. It has long been thought by experts that in order to reduce emissions, a "degrowth" in the economy was necessary. This, however, theory has been debunked among richer and highly industrialized countries. In the past decade, 33 countries have been reported to have successfully increase their GDP while simultaneously lowering their emissions. There are two main shifts that are believed to have caused this trend.
The first shift is the changing structures of economies. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and for centuries after, many countries' economies were manufacturing based. This means they relied heavily on the use of fossil fuels to fuel their growth which contributing to rising emissions. Many large, rich economies, like the US, have now switched to being service-based economies. Serviced base economies do not require the level of fossil fuels as manufacturing ones and this shift has contributed to a reduction in their emissions.
The second shift is that, in general, imports are getting greener. China's export sector has been able to decarbonise itself at a faster rate than other economies. This then reduces the total carbon footprint of other economies like the US who import heavily from China.
The link between economic growth and rising emissions may have been broken for richer companies, it has not for poorer countries. Global emissions are still on the rise and further efforts still need to be made to minimize it.
From the article:
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/11/10/economic-growth-no-longer-requires-rising-emissions
Hello Katie,
ReplyDeleteGlobal emissions is a very current issue in the economy and it is important we do all we can to decrease the level of emissions produced. It is true to say that we needed this recession in order to decrease overall emissions. The de-growth in the economy allowed for a decrease in production levels which is why we saw a decrease in emissions. But what else can we do to decrease emissions without the effects of a recession. Well I believe if the government raised interest rates that it would decrease overall production levels because companies will have a higher cost level so they will find ways to cut costs. This could include reducing production levels or decreasing the labor supply which in turn would decrease production output. Really good post! Good Job
We mentioned earlier in the course that development and carbon emissions often reflect the Kuznet's curve, which is further enforced by the article presented. Countries in the early development stages cannot be concerned with carbon emissions because they are looking for any and all opportunities to increase the standard of living. However, more developed nations--those that are able to transition to service-based economies--are in a position where they can afford to use greener methods of production. I would challenge this with the idea that the US is one of the richest countries in the world with a service-based economy and yet we have the greatest carbon emissions in the world. It is important, then, to understand that Kuznet's curve is just a model and cannot represent all decisions made by every economy in the world, but it can help us understand which countries to target in policies regarding carbon emissions.
ReplyDeleteDo you think there is a way that we can decrease emissions while keeping recession risk low?
ReplyDeleteOverall, great post! I think the next biggest push will be toward solar power energy as well as making hybrid cars more affordable!
ReplyDeleteIt's hopeful knowing that some of the largest economies in the world have been able to reduce their carbon footprint while also seeing steady growth. I think it's really interesting that poorer countries who don't have access to the type of technology that wealthier nations do are still facing the issue of economic growth at the cost of increasing emissions. This was a really awesome post!
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