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Structural changes and sustainability. A selected review of the empirical evidence

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 16:49 authored by Maria SavonaMaria Savona, Tommaso CiarliTommaso Ciarli
The paper offers a review of selected topics in the empirical literature on structural change and sustainability. We focus on aspects of structural change that directly affect emissions and energy intensity: changes of the sectoral composition of economies, trade and international fragmentation of production, technological change and innovation, and demand. We identify several empirical facts. First, only a few countries have experienced a decoupling between growth and emissions, due to proportionately faster growth rather than greater energy efficiency. Second, the long-term shift from manufacturing to services has not led, in all cases, to the de-materialisation of economies and a lower environmental burden. Exploitation of energy efficiency increases depends on the ability of the service sectors to incorporate technical changes to reduce energy intensity. Third, global trade and energy and emissions intensity trends support the ‘pollution haven’ hypothesis, which predicts displacement of the environmental burden from developed to emerging countries. The pursuit by developing countries of a long-term strategy of ‘trading jobs for emissions' is likely to exacerbate the asymmetry related to emissions intensities between developed and less developed economies. The review should inform debate on environmental policy within the broader context of innovation and development policies.

Funding

ISIGrowth: Innovation-fuelled, Sustainable, Inclusive Growth; G1610; EUROPEAN UNION; 649186

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Ecological Economics

ISSN

09218009

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

159

Page range

244-260

Department affiliated with

  • SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-02-11

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-02-08

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-02-10

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