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If governments are serious about meeting environmental and social goals, they should overcome dominance of the GDP indicator in political discourse. Institutionalizing a beyond-GDP metric would be an essential step, in interaction with a shift in the direction of an "agrowth" paradigm. For a significant step forward, a permanent UN panel could be charged to explore the options and prepare a metric for global implementation. This essay outlines the choice spectrum and provides criteria and guidelines for the metric-selection process. It is suggested that the panel considers four critical dimensions of potential alternatives, namely means versus ends, objective versus subjective information, aggregate index versus multiple indicators, and monetary versus other units. In deciding about each dimension, serious attention needs to be given to the psychological-communicative appeal of the resulting options, so as to guarantee a fluent uptake of the selected beyond-GDP metric in society, media and politics. The combined environmental and inequality crises at national and global scales make this the right time to finally translate a respectable history of beyond-GDP thinking into practical action.

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSIC ; Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M ; If governments are serious about meeting environmental and social goals, they should overcome dominance of the GDP indicator in political discourse. Institutionalizing a beyond-GDP metric would be an essential step, in interaction with a shift in the direction of an "agrowth" paradigm. For a significant step forward, a permanent UN panel could be charged to explore the options and prepare a metric for global implementation. This essay outlines the choice spectrum and provides criteria and guidelines for the metric-selection process. It is suggested that the panel considers four critical dimensions of potential alternatives, namely means versus ends, objective versus subjective information, aggregate index versus multiple indicators, and monetary versus other units. In deciding about each dimension, serious attention needs to be given to the psychological-communicative appeal of the resulting options, so as to guarantee a fluent uptake of the selected beyond-GDP metric in society, media and politics. The combined environmental and inequality crises at national and global scales make this the right time to finally translate a respectable history of beyond-GDP thinking into practical action.

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M ; Optimism about the contribution of city policies worldwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is widespread. It is based, though, on partial and anecdotal studies rather than comprehensive system-wide estimates. Popular empirical indicators to support the importance of cities, such as consumption-based emissions within city borders, lack a policy connection. Here I undertake an initial assessment of the effectiveness of emissions reduction through urban climate policies. It employs a novel decomposition of effectiveness into reach, capability and stringency. This results in a qualitative estimation of current and maximum contributions of city climate policies - divided into four types - to global emissions reduction. I formalize the framework to numerically illustrate additional policy aspects. Based on the insights obtained, I suggest policy and political strategies to make better use of cities' competences to mitigate climate change.

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552 ; An agrowth strategy, defined as being agnostic and indifferent about GDP growth, is proposed as an alternative to unconditional anti- and pro-growth strategies. It is argued that such a strategy can contribute to reducing scientific and political polarization in the long-standing debate on growth versus the environment. Hence, it can broaden urgently needed support for serious sustainability and climate policies. The exposition includes a novel graphical illustration, a summary of recent surveys of citizens and scientists regarding support for an agrowth position, and a discussion of implications for population growth and policies.

The debate on growth versus the environment is usually summarized as optimists believing in limitless growth versus pessimists seeing environmental and resource limits to growth. This opposition defines the main strategies: namely, striving for green growth versus some anti-growth approach. In this paper I argue that we should not feel obliged to choose between these polarized opinions, as there is in fact a third option. I call this the "agrowth" strategy, and it offers a way out of the impasse that characterizes the growth-versus-environment debate. I will define this agrowth strategy, motivate its rationality, and examine its premises, implications, advantages, political feasibility and practical steps. I suggest that an agrowth strategy follows logically from accepting the shortcomings of GDP (per capita) as an indicator of social welfare. It will be graphically shown that both anti-growth and pro-growth goals represent avoidable, unnecessary constraints on our search for human betterment, which lead to lower realizations of social welfare than are in fact feasible. I will further discuss the idea of green agrowth, notably in the context of avoiding dangerous climate change. Finally, a pragmatic approach to selecting alternative macro indicators is proposed.

En els debats sobre política mediambiental, la necessitat d'eliminar les subvencions mediambientalment nocives ha rebut poca atenció. Aquestes subvencions solen augmentar la grandària i la intensitat de la contaminació de les activitats econòmiques, sovint sense una clara compensació dels beneficis socials. L'impacte ambiental de les subvencions directes, o en el pressupost, ha estat àmpliament reconegut. Però les subvencions indirectes o fora de pressupost (no visibles en els pressupostos del govern) són almenys igual d'importants. La investigació realitzada sobre aquest tema és escassa, però aquest estudi mostra els resultats de les emissions de gasos d'efecte hivernacle (GEH) i dels acidificantes derivats de les subvencions fora de pressupost als Països Baixos i, en particular, mostren que els subsidis en l'agricultura, l'energia i els transports contribueixen de manera important a les emissions de GEH. Una política climàtica eficaç, per tant, ha de considerar l'eliminació de les subvencions fora de pressupost. ; En los debates sobre política medioambiental la necesidad de eliminar las subvenciones medioambientalmente dañinas ha recibido poca atención. Estas subvenciones suelen aumentar el tamaño y la intensidad de la contaminación de las actividades económicas, a menudo sin una clara compensación de los beneficios sociales. El impacto ambiental de las subvenciones directas, o en el presupuesto, ha sido ampliamente reconocido. Pero las subvenciones indirectas o fuera de presupuesto (no visibles en los presupuestos del gobierno) son al menos igual de importantes. La investigación realizada sobre este tema es escasa, pero este estudio muestra los resultados de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) y de los acidificantes derivados de las subvenciones fuera de presupuesto en los Países Bajos y, en particular, muestran que los subsidios en la agricultura, la energía y los transportes contribuyen de manera importante a las emisiones de GEI. Una política climática eficaz, por tanto, debe considerar la eliminación de las subvenciones fuera de presupuesto. ; In debates on environmental policy the complementary need for removing environmentally harmful subsidies has received little attention. Such subsidies typically increase the size and pollution intensity of economic activities, often without clear, compensating social benefits. The environmental impact of direct or on-budget subsidies has been well recognized. Indirect or off-budget subsidies, not visible in government budgets, are at least as important. Research on this topic is scarce. This research reports findings on greenhouse gas (GHG) and acidifying emissions arising from off-budget subsidies in the Netherlands and show that subsidies particularly in agriculture, energy and transport contribute importantly to GHG emissions. Effective climate policy therefore needs to consider removal of off-budget subsidies.

Expectations and information about the growth of GDP per capita have a large influence on decisions made by private and public economic agents. It will be argued here that GDP (per capita) is far from a robust indicator of social welfare, and that its use as such must be regarded as a serious form of market and government failure. This article presents an update on the most important criticisms of GDP as an indicator of social welfare and economic progress. It further examines the nature and extent of the impact of GDP information on the economy, revisits the customary arguments in favour of the GDP indicator, and critically evaluates proposed alternatives to GDP. The main conclusion is that it is rational to dismiss GDP as an indicator to monitor economic progress and to guide public policy. As is clarified, this conclusion does not imply a plea against growth, innovation or national accounting.

Expectations and information about the growth of GDP per capita have a large influence on decisions made by private and public economic agents. It will be argued here that GDP (per capita) is far from a robust indicator of social welfare, and that its use as such must be regarded as a serious form of market and government failure. This article presents an update on the most important criticisms of GDP as an indicator of social welfare and economic progress. It further examines the nature and extent of the impact of GDP information on the economy, revisits the customary arguments in favour of the GDP indicator, and critically evaluates proposed alternatives to GDP. The main conclusion is that it is rational to dismiss GDP as an indicator to monitor economic progress and to guide public policy. As is clarified, this conclusion does not imply a plea against growth, innovation or national accounting.

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M ; A widespread implicit assumption is that renewable energy options are approximately low-carbon. However, production and life cycles of such technologies tend to produce CO2 emissions. To minimize life-cycle emissions, one should account for such emissions and implement adequate policies to encourage innovation and adoption of well-performing technologies in this respect. We develop a framework to analyse this issue, grounded in the concepts of 'energy return on energy invested' (EROI) and 'net energy return on carbon invested' (EROC). Applying these to the main PV technologies and production regions - namely China, EU and USA - displays considerable discrepancies. We conditionally predict the development of average EROI and EROC over time under business-as-usual and low-carbon electricity generation scenarios. A main policy lesson is that without a systemic policy instrument, such as carbon pricing, incentives for low-carbon production of renewable energy options are too weak, which likely will delay a complete transition to a low-carbon economy.