Global Responses to Rapid Nonlinear Global Change
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this project is to address the economic, social and technological implications of ramping-down carbon emissions to zero and moving to a steady-state global economy. Humankind faces an unprecedented crisis arising from the complex interaction of energy, climate and security phenomena. In response to this crisis, a consensus is emerging among climate scientists that the world needs to move, as quickly as possible, to net zero carbon emissions. At the same time, sometime in this century, the physical growth of the global economy (in terms of material and energy throughput) will halt (and likely reverse) because of the planet's biophysical and ecological constraints.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
CIGI seed funding will be used to develop a major two-track research project examining these entangled issues. Working in partnership with the International Institute for Sustainable Development and top North American academics and policy makers, this project will examine:
- the range of social, political, economic and technological scenarios leading to a rapid ramp-down to zero carbon emissions; and
- the consequences of reaching such a low-carbon society, particularly the social and normative characteristics of an economic system characterized by much lower material and energy intensity.
PARTNERS
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