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With the rapid development of China's industrialization, the extensive development of industrial models has led to increasing environmental pressure. In this paper, we use China as an example, combined with the Tapio elastic analysis method (Tapio model), modified gravity model, social network analysis (SNA), quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) regression and logit model, to explore a network effect on the decoupling of industrial waste gas emissions and industrial added value (industrial GDP). We use the special network structure of industrial waste gas emissions and industrial GDP to capture the network effect. The results show the following: (1) For industrial sulfur dioxide (SO 2), nitrogen oxide (NO x) and soot (dust) (SD), most provinces in China show obvious strong decoupling, and provinces with faster economic growth, such as the eastern coastal areas, have a larger proportion of strong decoupling than provinces with poor economic development. (2) According to the network analysis of the industrial GDP, SO 2 , NO x and SD, economically developed provinces such as Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Beijing and Guangdong are generally located at the core of the network and have a strong spatial spillover effect on other provinces; (3) The QAP regression results show that the spillover effects of industrial SO 2 , NO x and SD are largely influenced by industry structural similarities, geographic proximity, and the development of economy. (4) The logit regression results show that the decoupling of industrial waste gas emissions will be greatly affected by the spatial network structure of industrial waste gas emissions and industrial GDP. The provinces at the core of the network are more likely to undergo strong decoupling. Finally, based on the research results, this paper provides some recommendations. • A network effect on decoupling of industrial emissions and industrial added value. • The modified gravity model is used to build the network. • Provinces with faster economic development are more prone to pollution decoupling. • Provinces at the core of the network are more prone to pollution decoupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sweden has a policy goal of solving major environmental problems in Sweden within a generation, without increasing environmental or health problems in other countries. Following up this goal requires indicators for domestic and external footprints of Swedish consumption. This paper presents such macro-level indicators for the years 2008–2014. The new indicators are consistent with Swedish statistics from the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts. They combine a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) database, to capture the external components of Sweden's consumption, with national input-output, trade and environmental statistics. The hybrid MRIO-Sweden model provides a comprehensive environmental account for follow-up of the Generational Goal. This paper presents impacts from household consumption, government consumption and capital formation, covering emissions of greenhouse gases, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), land use, materials consumption, and blue water consumption. Except for land use, the majority (60% or more) of the environmental pressures due to consumption occurred outside Sweden in 2014; more than 90% of sulphur emissions and more than 80% of the water use fell abroad. The environmental pressures from consumption decreased over this period for all indicators (except materials consumption). This suggests an absolute decoupling between environmental pressure due to consumption and economic growth, which rose over the period. It is, however, too early to determine whether this is a genuine trend or a temporary stabilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the concept of decoupling, from institutional theory in organizational studies, this paper explains how organizations mitigate demands for circularity. Seven Swedish apparel companies that have started collecting used clothes as a form of engagement with circular business models serve as case studies. The paper shows how outsourcing and internal separation allow these companies to buffer their business model and core way of creating value from emerging demands. It also shows how companies pro-actively work at influencing institutional demands for circularity by making these demands compatible with their own interests. The concept of decoupling thereby provides key insights into the development and implementation, or absence thereof, of circular business models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical industry is one of the fundamental industries of economic development. Coordinating the relationship between economic growth and carbon emissions (EGCE) is crucial in realizing the carbon neutrality target. The Tapio model and decomposition models are used to assess the degree of decoupling within the Chinese chemical industry and identify pivotal factors impeding progress. The energy efficiency decomposition model explores the crux of failure to achieve strong decoupling. This framework further decomposed the energy intensity to uncover how technical efficiency, technological progress, and input substitution changes affect energy intensity and CO 2 emission. The paper found that the EGCE of the chemical industry were stable in a weak decoupling mode from 2009 to 2019. The reliance on technological progress to reduce energy intensity and emissions is insufficient (accounting for only 18.2%), far below the cumulative contribution from economic growth (accounting for 57.76%), which has become the crux of the strong decoupling failure. Technological advancements drive energy substitution for labour, resulting in 244.41 Mt of cumulative carbon emissions. The improper factor input allocation hinders the desired reduction in energy intensity and carbon emissions. A series of policy implications are proposed based on the insights derived from the decomposition analysis to foster sustainable practices in the chemical industry. [Display omitted] • This study focuses on the decoupling in chemical industry. • The decoupling between economic growth and carbon emissions (EGCE) is explored. • The reasons for the failure of strong decoupling from technical perspective are tested. • The decoupling between EGCE of chemical industry was in a weak decoupling mode. • Technological progress accelerated the substitution of energy for labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the decoupling of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from agricultural economic growth in 30 Chinese provinces from 1997 to 2014. First, CO 2 emissions from agricultural production activities, farming, and livestock husbandry are computed. Then, this paper explores the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of CO 2 emissions and their intensity in China’s agricultural sector. Finally, this paper compares decoupling of China’s agricultural CO 2 emissions from agricultural output value across different regions and years. The results indicate that fertilizer, in-season rice cultivation, and cattle generated the most CO 2 emissions in the categories of agricultural production activities, farming, and livestock husbandry, respectively. The results also show that East China covered more periods of the strong decoupling of CO 2 emissions from agricultural output value between 1997 and 2014. To decrease CO 2 emissions, this paper suggests imposing a higher value-added tax on fertilizer producers, while waiving value-added tax for organic fertilizer and substituting animal manure for conventional fertilizers where possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses household behaviour as response to changes in waste management systems. The paper discusses the results of a case study from Vellinge municipality (Sweden), where the introduction of separate food waste collection is thought to have a role in reducing the total amount of household waste and improving the sorting of packaging waste. The study relies on data from official waste statistics and a survey of 117 municipal residents focusing on households' perceptions, attitudes and self-reflected changes in waste sorting behaviour. The respondents mentioned the increased environmental awareness and the convenience of food waste sorting among the primary reasons for the perceived changes in personal waste sorting routines. The study also tested the significance of other variables, such as income, employment, economic activity, socio-demographics, infrastructure, waste tariffs, illegal dumping, and awareness raising campaigns. Most of the variables were static and none showed sufficient correlation to the observed reduction of waste collection rates and the improvements in sorting other waste fractions. The analysed case had particularly high income levels, which were the main dynamic variable under study. The analysis suggests that we may be observing an example of a decoupling between economic growth and waste generation rates. This observation is explained by the Kuznets phenomena and it is being discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive understanding of the interdependence between China's economy and carbon emissions can better serve China's transition towards a low-carbon economy, and can also provide reference for other developing countries. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the dependence of China's economy on CO 2 emissions: (i) the Tapio decoupling model was applied to quantify the decoupling elasticity between China's economy and CO 2 emissions; (ii) the structure decomposition technique was utilized to quantity the contribution of China's economic structure to the decoupling elasticity; (iii) the combined decomposition model which combined Cobb–Douglas (C-D) production function with Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) technique and was solved the residual problem was employed to identify more driving factors (labor input, investment, carbon coefficient, energy structure, energy intensity, economic structure, and technology state) affecting the decoupling elasticity. The main results were as follows: (i) The decoupling elasticity showed a downward trend during the whole period, and the decoupling state was characterized by two types: expansive negative decoupling (2002–2005) and weak decoupling (2000–2002 and 2005–2014). (ii) The industry sector played the most negative effect on the decoupling process expect 2013–2014. From the cumulative effect, the contribution of six sectors to promote decoupling effect was ranked as follows: Construction > Agriculture > Trade > Other > Transport > Industry. (iii) The most critical factor driving the increased CO 2 emissions was the investment effect, accounting for 145.34% of the cumulative total CO 2 emissions, while the energy intensity effect contributed to a cumulative reduction in CO 2 emissions of 1443.72 Mt. Finally, some policy recommendations were offered to achieve the decoupling of China's economic growth and carbon emissions. • Quantifying effects of investment on decoupling economy from emission in China. • Combining C-D function and LMDI to develop non-residual decomposition technique. • The decoupling elasticity showed a downward trend, dominated by weak decoupling state. • Industry sector played the most negative effect on the decoupling process. • The leading contributor to China's CO 2 emissions was the investment effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyses drivers for resource use and material productivity across countries. This is not only relevant in light of soaring raw material prices but also because EU policies, such as the ‘Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources’ (COM [2005] 670), the EU Raw Materials Initiative (COM [2008] 699) and various similar policies internationally, seek to better manage materials along their life-cycle and across economies. In order to better understand the system dynamics of material use, our paper applies methodologies of material flow analysis and regression analysis to identify the major drivers for resource use and decoupling from GDP. Drivers are understood as those factors that exert influence on human activities to use resources. A panel data set is taken for the European Union for the years 1980–2000 (EU-15) and 1992–2000 (EU-25). The main drivers of resource use were found to be energy efficiency, new dwellings and roads construction activities. Shortcomings of the methodology are also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract City has always been a concentrated area of consumption and pollution in a country or region. Solutions to the dematerialization of city would exert a profound impact on the entire socio-economic system. And the issue of resources and environment in Beijing, the center of China’s politics, economy, and culture, becomes a focus of attention both domestically and internationally. In this paper, we used the economy-wide material flow analysis to describe the socio-economic development and the current situation of resources and environment in Beijing during the period 1992–2015. Based on this, Tapio decoupling model and the logarithmic mean divisia index method were used to analyze the level and influencing factors of dematerialization in Beijing. The results of the study showed that: From 1992 to 2015, GDP of Beijing increased from 61.25 billion yuan to 623.45 billion yuan, at the same time, direct material input and domestic processed output also increased from 139.88 million tons and 78.63 million tons in 1992 to 205.17 million tons and 166.27 million tons in 2015 respectively. Judging from the change of the decoupling relationship between economic growth and resources and environment, the level of dematerialization in Beijing was continuously increasing. And the dematerialization level of resource consumption was slightly better than that of pollution discharge. The high expansion of population and economy was not conducive to the realization of dematerialization in Beijing. However, the decrease of the intensity of material utilization played a crucial role in the process of dematerialization in Beijing. Moreover, increases in material circulation and social overall level of cleaner production were beneficial to the realization of dematerialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of the economy-material-emissions nexus is fundamental in order to reveal the interactions between human development and the natural environment, and more importantly, to design integrated de-carbonization and de-materialization policies. In this paper, we conducted a decoupling analysis of fossil fuel-induced CO 2 emissions and in-use material stocks in infrastructure to economic growth at the provincial level in China and investigated the trilateral causal relationships among the three indicators. The results show that the average elasticity of CO 2 emissions and material stocks to economic growth was smaller than 1, representing a status of relative decoupling. However, in many less developed provinces in central and western China, we observed increasing trends of elasticity in the past three decades, which suggest their economic growth became more tightly linked to CO 2 emissions and the accumulation of material stocks. Granger tests suggest that in the long run there existed a unidirectional causality running from CO 2 emissions, economic growth and urbanization to material stocks. In the short run, a bi-directional causality between CO 2 emissions and economic growth and a unidirectional causality from material stocks to CO 2 emissions were detected. Policy implications for the de-carbonization and de-materialization transition include enhancing renewable energy utilization, upgrading industries to less carbon-intensive ones, developing compact cities, prolonging the lifespan of infrastructure, and strengthening the life-cycle carbon management of infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is facing the dilemma of how to coordinate economic development and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions reduction. This paper investigates the decoupling effect of economic growth from CO 2 emissions in China during the period 1992–2012. Using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method, we decompose the driving forces of the decoupling of economic growth from CO 2 emissions in China's five major economic sectors into several factors, and measure the contribution of each factor to the decoupling of China's overall economy from CO 2 emissions. The results show that China performed the weak decoupling of economic growth from CO 2 emissions during 1992–2012, and so did all its five major sectors. Such a state did not occur smoothly and presented five different stages. Energy intensity and economic activity level were the most important factors affecting the decoupling in China. Energy intensity decreased in all sectors, indicating a large acceleration for the sectoral decoupling states. This finding is applicable to process carbon intensity in industrial sector and energy emission factor in agricultural, industrial, construction, and service sectors. In terms of sectoral effects on the decoupling in China, industrial sector played a dominant role, while construction sector had the most marginal influence. The economic activity level and economic share of industrial sector exerted the most negative effects on the decoupling. The energy intensity of industrial sector played a key role in promoting the national decoupling state, while the energy emission factor of agricultural sector contributed the least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New developments in consumption-based emissions accounting suggest that the reductions claimed by wealthy, environmentally progressive nations have often come at the expense of increased emissions elsewhere – and thus net growth in global GHG concentrations. This paper traces Sweden's attempts to translate growing recognition of displaced emissions into national environmental policy. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic research and policy analysis in Sweden and China, we argue that while the logical implications of consumption-based analyses point to the need to address production and consumption as an integrated system, complex governance challenges and the political precariousness of these ideas have thus far limited policy to the reinvention of consumer awareness campaigns and an international extension of long-standing ecological efficiency efforts. We argue that consumption-based emissions indicators justify more ambitious demand-side policy response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socioenvironmental performance of suppliers is a matter of critical concern in buyer-supplier relationships. Studies have shown that many times adoption of socioenvironmental standards (SES) by the suppliers remains ceremonial and does not translate into concrete performance. This phenomenon called 'decoupling' has serious implications for both buyers and suppliers, and the need arises to understand the underlying dynamics of SES decoupling. This paper builds on a systematic review of the literature to discuss the antecedents of decoupling. The paper has three main contributions. First, it identifies the antecedents of SES decoupling; second, it develops a taxonomy of the antecedents, and finally, it develops a model comprising a set of propositions explaining how the identified antecedents bring about decoupling. The framework developed in this paper can help buyers and supplier in preventing decoupling and developing integrated systems at suppliers' end. Overall, the framework is useful for making decisions regarding supplier selection, retention, development, and prevention of supplier opportunism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pursuing a responsible and sustainable development, the United Nations urged to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts. Several European Union (EU) policies have been implemented towards such goal. Although multiple authors have evaluated the decoupling of the economic growth from the resource use or environmental concerns, the environmental assessment mostly focused on pressures rather than impacts, and used single indicators assumed to be a proxy of the overall effects on the environment. Furthermore, no studies were found using a process-based life cycle approach to quantify the environmental impacts of consumption. To solve such research gap, this paper assesses the decoupling in the EU focusing on potential environmental impacts, complementing a production-based approach with two options for accounting for the impacts of consumption. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the decoupling of the economic growth (in terms of Gross Domestic Product) from the environmental impacts due to EU-28 consumption, assessed by means of life cycle assessment (LCA). The decoupling is then assessed in impact terms rather than limited to pressures by using the Environmental Footprint (EF2017) indicators, which allows assessing 16 different impacts. The Consumption Footprint indicator quantified the environmental impacts of EU apparent consumption, including the territorial impacts (Domestic Footprint) and the embodied impacts in both imports and exports (Trade Footprint). The inventory of pressures for the trade component is compiled either with a bottom-up approach (process-based LCA of representative traded goods) or a top-down approach (input-output-based LCA). Methodological aspects influencing the decoupling assessment and the resulting outputs are presented and discussed. According to the results, the environmental impacts of EU-28 consumption showed decoupling during the last decades (2005–2014), between relative to absolute decoupling depending on the inventory modeling approach taken. Some countries showed higher decoupling levels than others displaying a heterogeneous map of EU-28 decoupling, which was led by acidification, particulate matter, land use and eutrophication impacts. Notwithstanding current limitations, the assessment of decoupling using consumption-based environmental indicators is very promising for supporting policy-making towards addressing the actual impacts driven by the EU production and consumption system. • Comprehensive assessment of the decoupling of environmental impacts of EU-28 consumption from GDP. • A life cycle perspective is taken for the environmental impact modeling. • Decoupling assessment need further refinements to be used for policy support. • Top-down and bottom-up approaches indicated from relative to absolute decoupling. • Decoupling of environmental impacts from human development index is also evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Economic Energy Intensity of a country, defined as the ratio between the energy consumed and the Gross Domestic Product of a country, is a widely-adopted indicator of economic performance, often applied to sustainability analysis. The usefulness of this indicator has been challenged on the basis of the fact that the two variables making up this ratio are correlated. This implies that, when considered in isolation, each one of these two variables (Energy Consumption p.c. and GDP p.c.) maps on to typologies of socio-economic systems (e.g. developed countries vs. less developed countries), however calculating their ratio produces an indicator which does not map on to any meaningful typology of economic system (a number without an external referent). This paper checks the validity of this criticism by looking at the Economic Energy Intensity (EEI) of 133 countries over the period 1960–2009. Two approaches are used for this task: (1) an analysis at a given point in time (year 2009): after excluding countries with real GDP p.c.<5000 US$ I considered three clusters of countries with similar values of EEI. Within each cluster, when looking at similar values of EEI, we find extremely diverse typologies of economies; (2) a video showing the movement in time of 133 countries between 1960 and 2010 over the plane determined by the two variables composing the indicator. These results confirm the doubts about both the meaning and usefulness of the indicator itself. In particular this analysis indicates that the problems with the EEI indicator are generated by the attempt to compress into a single number different pieces of information referring to different dimensions (monetary and energy flows) and to different scales (the characteristics of the whole country are determined by the specific characteristics of different sectors). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to measure raw material inputs and waste flows in an Irish city-region in order to analyse (i) whether there was absolute dematerialisation in the particular case study over the period 1992–2002 and (ii) whether material consumption and waste generation were decoupled from economic growth and increases in disposable income over the same period. It was found that the selected material flow indicators showed no evidence of absolute dematerialisation over the given study period, although more recent evidence at the national level suggests that a decline in construction activity and extraction of non-metallic minerals has resulted in an absolute reduction in material consumption and it is likely that this will be mirrored at the system boundary level. It was found that Domestic Material Consumption (DMC) per capita and Direct Material Input (DMI) per capita increased at a faster rate than Domestic Processed Output (DPO) per capita and Direct Material Output (DMO) per capita between 1992 and 2002, which indicates relative decoupling of consumption from waste generation. In addition, it was found that there was relative decoupling of consumption and waste generation from disposable income growth over the study period. Finally, it was found that average DMC and DMI figures for the selected case study were lower than the national averages but broadly similar to results for other city-regions in the European Union (EU). On a methodological note, it was concluded that material flow accounting (MFA) for city-regions in Ireland is constrained due to a lack of disaggregated data for material flows, with the exception of local waste data, and it is recommended that bottom-up analysis should be used to complement disaggregated top-down data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper combines grid-level data of eight emission types – CO2, N20, CH4, NH3, NOX, PM10, PM2.5, and SO2 – with sub-national economic data to create a 1995–2015 balanced panel for NUTS 2 regions in EU countries. Regions on average show decoupling of emissions from output but most of the emission reductions are achieved before the 2008 financial crisis. Post 2008, very weak decoupling and even coupling can be observed. Using OECD's Environmental Policy Stringency (EPS) Index as an intervention variable, an event study analysis shows that strong policies significantly reduce emissions, but there is considerable heterogeneity in the response by emission types and regional income levels. • EU NUTS 2-level emissions and economic output panel dataset from 1995–2015. • Spatial and temporal decoupling of emissions from output for NUTS 2 regions. • Decoupling in most regions is weakened after the 2008 financial crisis. • Emission types show varying response to environmental policies across regions. • Lower income regions show a stronger response than higher income regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's strategy of greening industrial development aims to decouple industrial growth from industrial wastewater discharges (IWDs). This study combines decoupling analysis, decomposition analysis, and attribution analysis to support this goal. First, the decoupling analysis is employed to explore the degree of decoupling between industrial growth and IWDs in China, as well as across 30 provinces, from 2000 to 2015. Next, a decomposition analysis focusing on the change in industrial wastewater discharge intensity (IWDI) is performed to reveal the factors influencing decoupling trends. Then, attribution analysis is used to attribute contributions of these factors to different regions. Our decoupling results indicate an increasing decoupling trend between industrial output and IWDs in China in the past 15 years. Meanwhile, there is a convergence in decoupling degrees among provinces. Decomposition results reveal that water intensity plays a dominant role in promoting decoupling, while the wastewater discharge coefficient negatively impacted decoupling before 2005 but contributed to decoupling later on. Regional attribution results indicate provinces in South China have exerted more efforts in both water saving and wastewater treatment during the study period. Water scarce provinces in North China performed better in terms of water saving, while more developed and water-rich provinces in South China performed better in wastewater treatment. This paper suggests targeted policy methods at province level. • Decomposition and attribution analyses are combined to explain decoupling trends. • There is a witnessed convergence in decoupling degrees among provinces. • Water intensity is the dominant factor for the decline in wastewater intensity. • The North does better in water saving while the South dominate in wastewater treatment. • South China has exerted more efforts in both of water saving and wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]