City-Level Decoupling-Full Report

Figure 2.1 Global metabolic rates and income, 1900-2005 5 F ig 2.1 Global metabolic rates and income, 1900-2005

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Income (international dollars cap/yr)

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Metabolic rate (t/cap/yr)

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0 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 0

Ores and industrial minerals Fossil energy carriers Construction minerals

Biomass Income

Source: UNEP 2011

infrastructures, buildings and other resource intensive economic activities have been saturated in the advanced nations. 8 In order to make the transition to a greener and more socially inclusive global economy, absolute reductions in resource use will be required in industrialised economies, while developing economies will need to face the challenge of relative decoupling (making sure that resource consumption rates are lower than economic growth rates over the long term). 9 Reductions in overall resource consumption and poverty can only be achieved if radical changes are made to systems and technologies in pursuit of decoupling. New standards are required that promote higher quality of life for all through contextually relevant, low-impact solutions in both the developed and developing world. 10 Even if everyone agreed on the

can also be used as a lens through which to envision the reconciliation of human and environmental interests in rapidly growing cities. UNEP describes two modes of decoupling. Resource decoupling or 'dematerialisation' involves reducing the rate at which primary resources are used per unit of economic output, while impact decoupling means increasing economic activity while decreasing negative environmental impacts like pollution, CO 2 emissions or the destruction of biodiversity. 6 Both are illustrated in Figure 2.2. Global material intensities have declined substantially in the past few decades; energy intensity is 33% less than it was in 1970, and CO 2 intensity has dropped by almost 25% since 1980. 7 Global resource decoupling has occurred spontaneously at a rate of 1-2% per annum, mainly because markets for bulk

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