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Dematerialization Through Services: Evaluating the Evidence

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  • Fix, Blair

    (York University)

Abstract

Dematerialization through services is a popular proposal for reducing environmental impact. The idea is that by shifting from the production of goods to the provision of services, a society can reduce its material demands. But do societies with a larger service sector actually dematerialize? I test the `dematerialization through services' hypothesis with a focus on fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions --- the primary drivers of climate change. I find no evidence that a service transition leads to carbon dematerialization. Instead, a larger service sector is associated with greater use of fossil fuels and greater carbon emissions per person. This suggests that `dematerialization through services' is not a valid sustainability policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Fix, Blair, 2019. "Dematerialization Through Services: Evaluating the Evidence," SocArXiv bw5gm, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:bw5gm
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/bw5gm
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peter Victor, 2010. "Questioning economic growth," Nature, Nature, vol. 468(7322), pages 370-371, November.
    2. Henriques, Sofia Teives & Kander, Astrid, 2010. "The modest environmental relief resulting from the transition to a service economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 271-282, December.
    3. Christof Ellger & JOACHIM SCHEINER, 1997. "After Industrial Society: Service Society as Clean Society? Environmental Consequences of Increasing Service Interaction," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 564-579, October.
    4. Stern, David I. & Common, Michael S. & Barbier, Edward B., 1996. "Economic growth and environmental degradation: The environmental Kuznets curve and sustainable development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(7), pages 1151-1160, July.
    5. Faridah Djellal & Faïz Gallouj, 2015. "Service innovation for sustainability: paths for greening through service innovation," Working Papers halshs-01188530, HAL.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Roberts, Simon H. & Foran, Barney D. & Axon, Colin J. & Stamp, Alice V., 2021. "Is the service industry really low-carbon? Energy, jobs and realistic country GHG emissions reductions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    3. Rögnvaldur Hannesson, 2021. "Are We Seeing Dematerialization of World GDP?," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 1-6, June.
    4. C. Seri & A. de Juan Fernández, 2023. "CO2 emissions and income growth in Latin America: long-term patterns and determinants," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 4491-4524, May.
    5. Fix, Blair, 2021. "Living the Good Life in a Non-Growth World. Investigating the Role of Hierarchy," Working Papers on Capital as Power 2021/02, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism.
    6. Dorn, Franziska & Maxand, Simone & Kneib, Thomas, 2024. "The nonlinear dependence of income inequality and carbon emissions: Potentials for a sustainable future," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    7. Bohnenberger, Katharina, 2022. "Is it a green or brown job? A Taxonomy of Sustainable Employment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
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    9. Althouse, Jeffrey & Guarini, Giulio & Gabriel Porcile, Jose, 2020. "Ecological macroeconomics in the open economy: Sustainability, unequal exchange and policy coordination in a center-periphery model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    10. Andrew Leigh, 2021. "Putting the Australian Economy on the Scales," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(1), pages 19-35, March.
    11. Fix, Blair, 2021. "Living the good life in a non-growth world: Investigating the role of hierarchy," SocArXiv wem9p, Center for Open Science.
    12. A. A. Emel’yanov & N. R. Kelchevskaya & K. A. Popova & I. S. Pelymskaya, 2023. "Long-Term Trends in Real Consumption of Copper in the United States," Studies on Russian Economic Development, Springer, vol. 34(5), pages 618-626, October.
    13. García-García, Pablo & Buendía, Luis & Carpintero, Óscar, 2022. "Welfare regimes as enablers of just energy transitions: Revisiting and testing the hypothesis of synergy for Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).

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