Sufficiency Economics

This book is also available in Portuguese on Amazon and other booksellers as Banda Larga no Brasil: Passado, presente e futuro. São Paulo: Novo Século, 2016.
The Internet has been a reality in Brazil for more than 20 years. Its growth has been encouraged by the government, by large telecom companies, and by small and medium Internet service providers, as well as by rapidly increasing demand. The achievements to date are clear, but almost half the population is still not participating in the digital world. Furthermore, the cost of broadband is still high and its quality should be improved so that it will be possible to take advantage of all the benefits it can bring, whether related to health, education, or even the exercise of political rights. It is necessary, therefore that the Brazilian Internet be fast, reliable, and accessible.

This book brings together 23 specialists in various areas related to broadband, specialists who wanted to discuss Brazil’s public policies and regulations as well as the progress and challenges related to expanding access to broadband Internet service. The 16 chapters also address the evolution of the country’s broadband infrastructure, including experiences of entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships. This debate is fundamental for Brazil’s technological, economic and social progress.

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Autors: Parrique T., Barth J., Briens F., Kerschner, C., Kraus-Polk A., Kuokkanen A., Spangenberg J.H. Edited by the European Environment Bureau EEB. Open access at https://eeb.org/library/decoupling-debunked/

Is it possible to enjoy both economic growth and environmental sustainability? This question is a matter of fierce political debate between green growth and post-growth advocates. Over the past decade, green growth clearly dominated policy making with policy agendas at the United Nations, European Union, and in numerous countries building on the assumption that decoupling environmental pressures from gross domestic product (GDP) could allow future economic growth without end. Considering what is at stake, a careful assessment to determine whether the scientific foundations behind this “decoupling hypothesis” are robust or not is needed. This report reviews the empirical and theoretical literature to assess the validity of this hypothesis. The conclusion is both overwhelmingly clear and sobering: not only is there no empirical evidence supporting the existence of a decoupling of economic growth from environmental pressures on anywhere near the scale needed to deal with environmental breakdown, but also, and perhaps more importantly, such decoupling appears unlikely to happen in the future. The validity of the green growth discourse relies on the assumption of an absolute, permanent, global, large and fast enough decoupling of economic growth from all critical environmental pressures. The literature reviewed clearly shows that there is no empirical evidence for such a decoupling currently happening. This is the case for materials, energy, water, greenhouse gases, land, water pollutants, and biodiversity loss for which decoupling is either only relative, and/or observed only temporarily, and/or only locally. In most cases, decoupling is relative. When absolute decoupling occurs, it is observed only during rather short periods of time, concerning only certain resources or forms of impact, for specific locations, and with very small rates of mitigation. There are at least seven reasons to be skeptical about the occurrence of sufficient decoupling in the future: Rising energy expenditures, Rebound effects, Problem shifting, The underestimated impact of services, The limited potential of recycling, Insufficient and inappropriate technological change, and Cost shifting. Each of them taken individually casts doubt on the possibility for sufficient decoupling and, thus, the feasibility of “green growth.” Considered all together, the hypothesis that decoupling will allow economic growth to continue without a rise in environmental pressures appears highly compromised, if not clearly unrealistic. This report highlights the need for a new conceptual toolbox to inform and support the design and evaluation of environmental policies. Policy-makers have to acknowledge the fact that addressing environmental breakdown may require a direct downscaling of economic production and consumption in the wealthiest countries. In other words, we advocate complementing efficiency-oriented policies with sufficiency policies, with a shift in priority and emphasis from the former to the latter even though both have a role to play. From this perspective, it appears urgent for policy-makers to pay more attention to and support the developing diversity of alternatives to green growth.