Ecological elasticity, decoupling, and dematerialization: Insights from the EU-15 study (1970–2018)

Abstract

In the field of decoupling and dematerialization indicators, Ecological Elasticity is suitable for studying the relationship between economic growth and material consumption over extended periods of time. This article aims to analyze decoupling and dematerialization for the EU-15 countries over the period 1970–2018 using the Ecological Elasticity indicator. For this purpose, data obtained through the Material Flow Analysis methodology are used from two different perspectives, territorial and consumption. This allows us to study the differences between the two approaches and to determine the area of utility of each. It is observed that decoupling is a widespread situation across both indicators, but dematerialization is achieved much more frequently in the territorial case. The comparison between methodologies confirms that the dematerialization observed at the territorial level is closely linked to the delocalization of productive activities and the consequent displacement of the environmental burden to other countries. It is proposed that other indicators be used to measure the inter-annual variation of decoupling and to complement Ecological Elasticity, providing a simple and manageable framework on which to design ecological objectives and policies.

Keywords

• Ecological elasticity
• Dematerialization
• Decoupling
• Material flows analysis
• Environmental impact
• European Union