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Growth and Rebound Effect Decrease and Debound Effect

Conference on "Sustainable Decrease (of products and services)" (Décroissance Soutenable) 26-27 September 2003 - Lyon Town hall, France . Growth and Rebound Effect Decrease and Debound Effect. François Schneider Francois@seri.at. Member of

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Growth and Rebound Effect Decrease and Debound Effect

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  1. Conference on "Sustainable Decrease (of products and services)" (Décroissance Soutenable) 26-27 September 2003 - Lyon Town hall, France Growth and Rebound EffectDecrease and Debound Effect François Schneider Francois@seri.at Member of Institut d'Etude Economique et Sociale pour la Décroissance Soutenable - www.decroissance.org Sustainable Europe Research Institute – www.seri.at World Carfree Network - www.worldcarfree.net

  2. GDP GDP Plan 1- Physical/material growth 2- Economic growth and "Rebound effect" 3- Sustainable Decrease (of products and services) Free time for ourselves and others, equity, health, nature, security, art, culture ...

  3. 1- Physical/material growth = More cars, more houses, more factories and mines... = More petrol, more coal, more electricity, more wood,more urbanised areas… = Increased extraction of natural resources

  4. Forecast of energygrowth in the worldInternational Energy Agency - 2002

  5. = An equal quantity of matter exists both before and after... Lavoisier Extraction Waste and pollution

  6. “The true defence of the environment should be centred on the global rate of resource exhaustion (and on the pollution rate linked to it).” Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen

  7. Realistic hypothesis : in today's world, we extract twice too much

  8. With a fair right to world consumption, • and considering demographic growth, • we will extract 12 times too much in 2050.

  9. With a material growth of 2% per year, we will extract 30 times too muchin 2050.

  10. At an institutional level • A factor2 or 4 reduction has been mentioned in some political programs e.g. in Austria, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands. • A “net reduction of theexploitation of natural resources” is part of the program of the EU. • Indicators of natural resource extraction are developed by EUROSTAT, UNEP.

  11. 2- Economic growth and Rebound Effect

  12. I=PAT (I = ecological impact)Ehrlich & Holdren (1971)3 solutions for the material decrease : • (act on P(Population) => lower birth rate) • act on A (Affluence) => frugality • act on T (Technology) => efficiency

  13. Faster!! Cheaper! No effort !! Safer!! Ecological!! Smaller!! Lighter!! Better for health A few words of advertising

  14. Always consuming more : • more flights, • more cars, heavier and more powerful, travelling longer distances, • more heating and more air conditioning in larger living spaces, • more exotic products, • more land sealed underneath concrete or asphalt, • more products and services in economic terms.

  15. … and impacts increase : • increase of CO2 emissions, • air pollution unresolved, • decrease of biological diversity, • higher consumption of • spaces • materials • energies • cultural standardisation, • increasing social imbalance.

  16. Two main reasons • Rebound effect that create an increase of consumptions • Pollution export

  17. Cars that consume less Computer Miniaturisation Less petrol costs Less consumption, reduced costs We drive further thanks to money savings We can buy more computers Rebound effect linked to economic efficiency Innovations Efficiency gains Rebound

  18. Acceptable travelling time does not decrease Acceptable pollution does not decrease Faster transportation Recycled paper Less time spent per km Less pollution per sheet The saved time enables us to travel further We can consume more paper Growth logics Innovations Efficiency gains Rebound

  19. € € € We do not want to consume more because our limits are reached € € € Product (or service) innovation € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € Rebound effect: product (or service) improvements enable us to increase our consumption. Rebound effect

  20. We heat the house less Savings on heating costs We can fly to Dakar Rebound effect linked to frugality

  21. 3- Sustainable decrease (of products and services) =material and economic decrease Reducing what reduces our well-being

  22. Solutions forthe Sustainable Decrease Individual actions: • Progressive adjusting of consumption limits: "frugal innovation" of lifestyles • Information research Collective actions: • Reduction of primary material extractions at the origin • Setting consumption limits democratically • Information on rebound effect on ecological product

  23. « Frugal innovation »of lifestyle - adjusting revenues by adjusting paid working hours, - adjusting living space to true needs, - adjusting the time linked to consumption: taking back our time, - adjusting ecological consciousness, - adjusting the acceptable danger for ourselves and others, - adjusting the acceptable toxicity for ourselves and others.

  24. Reducing our money needs, increasing our free time by working less Transportation that consume less Less costs We need to work less Economical debound effect Innovation Efficiency gains Debound

  25. Reducing acceptable pollution Recycled paper Less pollution per kg of paper We improve the environment by consuming less kg of paper Ecological debound effect Innovation Efficiency gains Debound

  26. Limiting extraction at the origin • Setting of progressive extraction quotas: material input certificate • Setting progressive importation quotas • Taxes and removal of subsidies to extraction • Setting areas protected from extractionsor further destructions • Less excavators • Less explosives

  27. « Frugal innovation  »of products and services • Designing technical limits to consumption • technical limitation of speed ; limitation of roads capacity ; favouring proximity with the internet... • Favouring the products and activities leading to debound • utilitarian cycling, gardening, hiking, train travelling, sharing of goods, solar heating, packaging with deposit... • Limiting the products leading to rebound • cars and trucks, one-way packaging, TGV, motorways...

  28. Limiting buying capacity: • Redistribution of work (and free-time) as well as revenues, • Ecological taxes, • Reduction of paid working hours.

  29. Decrease is possibleat the local level Let us imagine and invent a new economic and social system based on the economical decrease.

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