Macroeconomic Modelling of Sustainable Development and the Links between the Economy and the Environment

Study published by the European Commission

  • News 04.05.2012

The purpose of the MacMod project by Cambridge Econometrics, GWS, SERI and the Wuppertal Institute was to strengthen the economic underpinning for resource policy. The final study of the project provides a matrix of risks for Europe's future use of different resources: the nature of the risks, timescales, examples and quantifications of risks. The study notes an ongoing shift in Europe to resource imports: by 2030 two thirds of resource use will be either imports or use outside the EU. Marginal abatement cost curves are developed, showing that resource use can be reduced with benefits in terms of jobs and growth. A number of policy simulations are carried out, with the conclusion that we could realistically reduce the total material requirements of the EU economy by 17 %, and that this could boost GDP by up to 3.3 % and create between 1.4 and 2.8 million jobs. Every percentage point reduction in resource use is worth around 23 billion Euros to business and could lead to up to 100,000 to 200,000 new jobs.

 

The European Union, DG Environment, published the final report "Macroeconomic Modelling of Sustainable Development and the Links between the Economy and the Environment" together with an executive summary on its website under 7. Strategic Economic Modelling and Foresight.


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