Eco-eco Seminar: "Driving forces of carbon mitigation: working time and economic recession"

Eco-eco Seminar: "Driving forces of carbon mitigation: working time and economic recession"

Qing-long Shao, ICTA PhD candidate.

Date: Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Time: 14.00 pm- 15.30 pm

Location: Room Z/023 ICTA-UAB

Qing-long Shao will talk about two key questions for ecological economics and degrowth:

1. Does decreasing working time reduce environmental pressures? New evidence based on a dynamic panel approach. By Qing-long Shao & Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos



There is a growing interest in the correlation between working time and environmental pressures, but previous empirical studies were mostly focused on static methodologies within limited country groups. To fill the gap, this study aims to further the analysis by distinguishing between different time periods for developed and developing country groups within the research sample. In particular, we contribute to a further understanding of the environmental effects of working time reduction policies by comparing the differences under the dynamic framework of the system Generalized Method of Moments. This dynamic panel regression approach is used to examine this issue in 55 countries worldwide over the period 1980-2010, using carbon emissions per capita as an indicator of environmental pressure. In general, results confirmed the significant relationship between hours of work and environmental impacts in developed economies, although this is not the case for the developing counterparts. Interestingly, the significant correlations for the developed country group turn from positive during the first sub-period (1980-2000) to negative at the second sub-period (2001-2010). Connecting these results with the previous literature, we argue that possible reasons lie in the fact that energy use might be rebounded since some leisure activities can be more energy-intensive if excessive non-working time is provided. 



2. Could economic recession lead to absolute de-carbonization? A cross-national empirical analysis. By Qing-long Shao & Giorgos Kallis



In the past decades, endeavours to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission have been implemented among various countries and regions. Yet, evaluations of this program are far from unanimous, to what extent these schemes are able to mitigate carbon emission is still in debate. One argument propose that economic recession is an important driver of carbon emission reduction.

Corresponding to this issue, we comprehensively investigate the impact of economic recession on carbon emissions among 157 economies all around the world, during the years 1960-2013. For the variables employed, we use “de-carbonization” as dependent variable. Economic recession , together with other major factors influencing carbon emissions, e.g. de-forestation, foreign direct investment (FDI) and government debt, are illustrated and tested in this study. Urbanization (percentage of population living in urban area), exports and imports are set as control variables, according to the IPAT model. In addition, we detect the correlations between economic recession and innovation, as well as economic recession and environmental policies (renewable investment, carbon tax, etc).