Wider economic and social implications of sustainable economy approaches: Some insights from a scenario exercise

Abstract

For sustainable economy approaches to gain more political support and be more present in forums of public debate, they must be allowed to have their wider economic and social implications subjected to scrutiny. Our focus is on the nexus of intended emission reduction and unintended structural implications on the economy. In order to gain insights into the possible implications, we construct two sustainable economy scenarios for Germany. The scope of these scenarios is based on 30 research projects of the funding measure Sustainable Economy. Our model based analysis shows that the effects of these scenarios on emissions are in the order of magnitude of seven to twelve percent of German annual CO2-emissions. The net effects on employment are moderate, but labor markets face huge challenges in managing the high number of job turnovers.