Decoupling economic growth and environmental degradation: Reviewing progress to date in the small Island state of Malta

Sustainability (Switzerland)

Volumn 6, Issue 10, 2014, Pages 6729-6750

  Conrad, Elisabeth ^a   Cassar, Louis F ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MALTA   (Malta)

Author keywords

Decoupling; Malta; Small island state

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC GROWTH; ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT; ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION; ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATOR; POPULATION GROWTH; SMALL ISLAND STATE; STATISTICAL ANALYSIS;

MALTA;

EID: 84907993672     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20711050     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3390/su6106729     Document Type: Article

References (77)

1. Kuznets, S. Economic growth and income inequality. Am. Econ. Rev. 1955, 45, 1-28.
2. He, J.; Richard, P. Environmental Kuznets Curve for CO2 in Canada. Ecol. Econ. 2010, 69, 1083-1093.
3. Lee, C.; Chiu, Y.; Sun, C. The Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis for Water Pollution: Do Regions Matter? Energy Policy 2010, 38, 12-23.
4. Leitão, A. Corruption and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: Empirical Evidence for Sulfur. Ecol. Econ. 2010, 69, 2191-2201.
5. Sephton, P.; Mann, J. Further Evidence of an Environmental Kuznets Curve in Spain. Energy Econ. 2013, 36, 177-181.
6. Harbaugh, W.T.; Levinson, A.; Wilson, D.M. Reexamining the Empirical Evidence for an Environmental Kuznets Curve. Rev. Econ. Stat. 2002, 84, 541-551.
7. Caviglia-Harris, J.L.; Chambers, D.; Kahn, J.R. Taking the "U" Out of Kuznets: A Comprehensive Analysis of the EKC and Environmental Degradation. Ecol. Econ. 2009, 68, 1149-1159.
8. Mills Busa, J.H. Dynamite in the EKC Tunnel? Inconsistencies in Resource Stock Analysis under the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis. Ecol. Econ. 2013, 94, 116-126. Rev. Econ. Stat. 2002, 84, 541-551.
9. Jorgenson, A.K.; Burns, T.J. The Political-Economic Causes of Change in the Ecological Footprints of Nations, 1991-2001: A Quantitative Investigation. Soc. Sci. Res. 2007, 36, 834-853.
10. Stern, D.I. The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve. World Dev. 2004, 32, 1419-1439.
11. Rockstrom, J.; Steffen, W.; Noone, K.; Persson, A.; Chapin, F.S., III; Lambin, E.; Lenton, T.M.; Scheffer, M.; Folke, C.; Schellnhuber, H.; et al. Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecol. Soc. 2009, 14, 32.
12. Steffen, W.; Rockstrom, J.; Costanza, R. How Defining Planetary Boundaries Can Transform Our Approach to Growth. Available online: http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/935 (accessed on 5 September 2014).
13. Baykan, B.G. From limits to growth to degrowth within French green politics. Environ. Polit. 2007, 16, 513-517.
14. Priesnitz, W. It's Not about Growth. Nat. Life 2009, 126, 62.
15. Van der Voet, E.; van Oers, L.; Nikolic, I. Dematerialization: Not just a Matter of Weight. J. Ind. Ecol. 2004, 8, 121-137.
16. Van Caneghem, J.; Block, C.; van Hooste, H.; Vandecasteele, C. Eco-Efficiency Trends of the Flemish Industry: Decoupling of Environmental Impact from Economic Growth. J. Clean. Prod. 2010, 18, 1349-1357.
17. Verfaillie, H.A.; Bidwell, R. Measuring Eco-Efficiency-A Guide to Reporting Company Performance. Available online: http://oldwww.wbcsd.org/web/publications/measuring_eco_efficiency.pdf (accessed on 1 August 2014).
18. Van der Voet, E.; van Oers, L.; Moll, S.; Schutz, H.; Bringezu, S.; de Bruyn, S.; Sevenster, M.; Warringa, G. Policy Review on Decoupling: Development of Indicators to Assess Decoupling of Economic Development and Environmental Pressure in the EU-25 and AC-3 Countries. Available online: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/natres/pdf/fin_rep_natres.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2014).
19. UNEP. Decoupling Natural Resource use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth. Available online: http://www.unep.org/resourcepanel/decoupling/files/pdf/decoupling_report_ english.pdf (accessed on 3 June 2014).
20. Haberl, H.; Fischer-Kowalski, M.; Krausmann, F.; Weisz, H.; Winiwarter, V. Progress towards Sustainability? What the Conceptual Framework of Material and Energy Flow Accounting (MEFA) can offer. Land Use Policy 2004, 21, 199-213.
21. Knight, K.W.; Rosa, E.A.; Schor, J.B. Could Working Less Reduce Pressures on the Environment? A Cross-National Panel Analysis of OECD Countries, 1970-2007. Global Environ. Change 2013, 23, 691-700.
22. Steinberger, J.K.; Roberts, J.T.; Peters, G. How Much is Enough? A Sufficiency Perspective on Low-Carbon Development Pathways. Available online: http://www.ukerc.ac.uk/support/tiki-download_ file.php?fileId=1966&display (accessed on 1 August 2014).
23. Giljum, S.; Behrens, A.; Hinterberger, F.; Lutz, C.; Meyer, B. Modelling Scenarios towards a Sustainable use of Natural Resources in Europe. Environ. Sci. Policy 2008, 11, 204-216.
24. Huppes, G.; Ishikawa, M. Eco-Efficiency Guiding Micro-Level Actions towards Sustainability: Ten Basic Steps for Analysis. Ecol. Econ. 2009, 68, 1687-1700.
25. Wursthorn, S.; Poganietz, W.; Schebek, L. Economic-environmental Monitoring Indicators for European Countries: A Disaggregated Sector-Based Approach for Monitoring Eco-Efficiency. Ecol. Econ. 2011, 70, 487-496.
26. Jevons, W.S. Of the economy of fuel. Org. Environ. 2001, doi:10.1177/1086026601141006.
27. York, R. Ecological Paradoxes: William Stanley Jevons and the Paperless Office. Res. Hum. Ecol. 2006, 13, 143-147.
28. Binswanger, M. Technological Progress and Sustainable Development: What about the Rebound Effect? Ecol. Econ. 2001, 36, 119-132.
29. York, R.; Rosa, E.A. Key Challenges to Ecological Modernization Theory. Org. Environ. 2003, 16, 273-288.
30. Calwell, C. Is Efficient Sufficient? The Case for Shifting Our Emphasis in Energy Specifications to Progress Efficiency and Sufficiency. Available online: http://www.eceee.org/policy-areas/sufficiency/eceee_Progressive_Efficiency.pdf (accessed on 1 August 2014).
31. Daly, H.E. Towards a Steady-State Economy; W.H. Freeman & Co. Ltd.: San Francisco, CA, USA, 1973.
32. Schumacher, E.F. Small is Beautiful; Harper & Row: New York, NY, USA, 1973.
33. Gorgescu-Roegen, N. The Entropy Law and the Economic Process; Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 1971.
34. Daly, H.E. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development; Beacon Press: Boston, MA, USA, 1996.
35. Van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. Environment Versus Growth-A Criticism of "degrowth" and a Plea for "a-Growth". Ecol. Econ. 2011, 70, 881-890.
36. Kallis, G. In Defence of Degrowth. Ecol. Econ. 2011, 70, 873-880.
37. Latouche, S. Farewell to Growth; Polity: Cambridge, UK, 2010.
38. Steinberger, J.K.; Krausmann, F.; Getzner, M.; Schandl, H.; West, J. Development and Dematerialization: An International Study. Development and Dematerialization: An International Study. PLoS One 2013, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.00703858.
39. Krausmann, F.; Fischer-Kowalski, M.; Schandl, H.; Eisenmerger, N. The Global Socio-Metabolic Transition: Past and Present Metabolic Profiles and their Future Trajectories. J. Ind. Ecol. 2008, 12, 637-656.
40. Steinberger, J.K.; Krausmann, F.; Eisenmenger, N. Global Patterns of Material use: A Socio-Economic and Geophysical Analysis. Ecol. Econ. 2010, 69, 1148-1158.
41. Jorgenson, A.K.; Clark, B. Societies consuming nature: A panel study of the ecological footprints of nations, 1960-2003. Soc. Sci. Res. 2010, 40, 226-244.
42. Ru, X.; Chen, S.; Dong, H. An Empirical Study on Relationship between Economic Growth and Carbon Emissions Based on Decoupling Theory. J. Sustain. Dev. 2012, 5, 43-51.
43. Mattila, T. Any Sustainable Decoupling in the Finnish Economy? A Comparison of the Pathways and Sensitivities of GDP and Ecological Footprint 2002-2005. Ecol. Ind. 2012, 16, 128-134.
44. Andreoni, V.; Galmarini, S. Decoupling Economic Growth from Carbon Dioxide Emissions: A Decomposition Analysis of Italian Energy Consumption. Energy 2012, 44, 682-691.
45. Bertram, G.; Poirine, B. Island political economy. In A World of Islands; Baldacchino, G., Ed.; Agenda Academic & Institute of Island Studies: Luqa, Malta & Charlottetown, PE, Canada, 2007; pp. 323-378.
46. Baldacchino, G. Development strategies for smaller island states and territories: An ecological approach. In Landscape Approaches for Ecosystem Management in Mediterranean Islands; Conrad, E., Cassar, L.F., Eds.; Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta: Msida, Malta, 2012; pp. 31-44.
47. Storey, D. Kiribati: An environmental "perfect storm". Aust. Geogr. 2010, 41, 167-181.
48. Fathimath, G. Sustainable development in small island developing states. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 2003, 5, 139-165.
49. Taylor, J. Saving small island developing states: environmental and natural resource challenges 2012, 7, 149-150.
50. Lane, D.; Mercer Clarke, C.; Forbes, D.; Watson, P. The Gathering Storm: Managing adaptation to environmental change in coastal communities and small islands. Sustain. Sci. 2013, 8, 469-489.
51. Tapio, P. Towards a Theory of Decoupling: Degrees of Decoupling in the EU and the Case of Road Traffic in Finland between 1970 and 2001. Transp. Policy 2005, 12, 137-151.
52. Wang, W.; Kuang, Y.; Huang, N.; Daiqing, Z. Empirical Research on Decoupling Relationship between Energy-Related Carbon Emission and Economic Growth in Guangdong Province Based on Extended Kaya Identity. Sci. World J. 2014, Article ID 782750.
53. OECD. Indicators to Measure Decoupling of Environmental Pressure from Economic Growth. SG/SD(2002)1/FINAL. Available online: http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=sg/sd(2002)1/final&doclanguage=en (accessed on 3 June 2014).
54. Ehrlich, P., Holdren, J. The impact of population growth. Science 1971, 171, 1212-1217.
55. Dietz, T., Rosa, E.A. Rethinking the environmental impacts of population, affluence, and technology. Hum. Ecol. Rev. 1994, 1, 277-300.
56. York, R.; Rosa, E.A.; Dietz, T. STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: Analytic Tools for Unpacking the Driving Forces of Environmental Impacts. Ecol. Econ. 2003, 46, 351-365.
57. Norden (Nordic Council of Ministers). Measuring Sustainability and Decoupling: A Survey of Methodology and Practice; Nordic Council of Ministers: Copenhagen, Denmark, 2006.
58. National Statistics Office (NSO-Malta). Environment Statistics. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=57&backurl=/themes/theme_page.aspx (accessed on 12 September 2014).
59. Eurostat. News Release: Renewable Energy in the EU28. 37/2014. Available online: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/8-10032014-AP/EN/8-10032014-AP-EN.PDF (accessed on 12 September 2014).
60. Galdies, C. The Climate of Malta: Statistics, Trends, and Analysis 1951-2010. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3141 (accessed on 12 September 2014).
61. World Health Organization. Environment and Health Performance Review: Malta. Available online: http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/95343/E93547.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2014).
62. NSO. Energy Consumption in Malta: 2003-2012. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=3622 (accessed on 12 September 2014).
63. De Freitas, L.C.; Kaneko, S. Decomposing the Decoupling of CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth in Brazil. Ecol. Econ. 2011, 70, 1459-1469.
64. Vehmas, J. Decomposition Analysis of CO2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion in Selected Countries. Int. J. Environ. Technol. Manag. 2009, 11, 47-67.
65. Malta Resources Authority. National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for Malta 2013-Annual Report for Submission under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Available online: https://unfccc.int/national_reports/annex_i_ghg_inventories/national_ inventories_submissions/items/7383.php (accessed on 1 September 2014).
66. Cremona, M.; Saliba, G. Water Consumption Benchmarks: A Step Towards Reduced Consumption. Available online: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction= home.showFile&rep=file&fil=InvestingInWater_Paper_May2012FINAL.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2014).
67. Mangion, J.; Micallef, P.; Attard, G. Treated sewage effluent: an alternative water supply for the Maltese Islands. In Options Méditerranéennes: Série B. Etudes Et Recherches; Hamdy, A., El Gamal, F., Lamaddalena, N., Bogliotti, C., Guellobi, R., Eds.; CIHEAM/EU DG Research: Bari, Italy, 2005.
68. National Statistics Office (NSO-Malta). News Release: World Water Day 2014. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3974 (accessed on 12 September 2014).
69. Cremona, E. University of Malta, Msida, Malta. 2014, unpublished work.
70. National Statistics Office (NSO-Malta). News Release: World Water Day 2013. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3556 (accessed on 12 September 2014).
71. Axiak, V.; Gauci, V.; Mallia, A.; Mallia, E.; Schembri, P.J.; Vella, A.J.; Vella, L. State of the Environment Report for Malta 2002; Malta Environment and Planning Authority: Floriana, Malta, 2002.
72. Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change. Waste Management Plan for the Maltese Islands: A Resource Management Approach 2014-2020. Available online: http://msdec.gov.mt/en/Document%20Repository/Waste%20Management%20Plan%202014%20-%202020%20-%20Final%20Document.pdf (accessed on 12 September 2014).
73. National Statistics Office (NSO-Malta). Solid Waste Management in Malta: 2012. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=3683 (accessed on 12 September 2014).
74. Cassar, L.F. A Landscape Approach to Conservation: Integrating Ecological Sciences and Participatory Methods; Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta: Msida, Malta, 2010.
75. National Statistics Office (NSO-Malta). Sustainable development indicators for Malta 2010. Available online: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=2848 (accessed on 12 September 2014).
76. European Environment Agency. Land use-State and Impacts (Malta). Available online: http://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/countries/mt/land-use-state-and-impacts-malta (accessed on 12 September 2014).
77. European Environment Agency. Air Pollution Fact Sheet 2013: Malta; European Environment Agency: Copenhagen, Denmark.