{"id":17657,"date":"2020-04-03T11:15:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T09:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naider.com\/naiderlab\/sociedad-post-coronavirus-efecto-rebote-o-desacoplamiento\/"},"modified":"2023-04-24T13:36:22","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T11:36:22","slug":"post-coronavirus-society-rebound-or-decoupling-effect","status":"publish","type":"naiderlab","link":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/naiderlab\/knowledge\/articles\/post-coronavirus-society-rebound-or-decoupling-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-coronavirus society: rebound or decoupling effect?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jevons paradox or rebound effect<\/strong>: An increase in the efficiency of the consumption of a\nresource may not decrease the consumption of that resource, but rather increase it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic intuition tells us that the improvement\nof efficiency (for example, energy) allows people to use less\nof that resource. However, the Jevons paradox \u2013 so named because of its\ndiscoverer William\nStanley Jevons (1835-1882)<\/a> \u2013 says that \u201cincreasing efficiency decreases instantaneous consumption but\nincreases the use of the model, which causes an increase in global consumption\u201d.\n<\/em>And why is this happening?<\/strong> <\/em>Because the lower cost of the service translates into a\ngreater demand for it, fully or partially offsetting the savings derived from\nthe highest efficiency. Disposable income also increases, increasing the\nconsumption of other goods and services that require energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what does this have to do with the crisis?\nof the coronavirus?<\/strong> Reflection is the\nfollowing: If a very high efficiency in the consumption of natural resources of\na system does not ensure that said system is sustainable in the long term (effect\nrebound<\/em>), to what extent does a society whose bases remain the same\nthan before the COVID-19 crisis (relentless economic growth, unsustainability,\netc.) is capable of taking advantage of this crisis to decouple development\neconomic impact of the environment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the last few days multiple media outlets\ncommunication have highlighted the positive effects on the environment of\nmeasures taken against the coronavirus, such as the reduction\nof atmospheric emissions<\/a>, the\npresence of animals in the streets<\/a>\u2026 . However, experts warn that the decline in\npollution levels will be temporary. In fact, the increasing purity of the air\ndoes not mean that global warming is being stopped, since while\nthat air pollution has a very short life (as soon as people stop driving,\nemissions go down), greenhouse gases have a longer life\nlong, and large amounts of carbon dioxide have accumulated in the atmosphere.\ncarbon since the Industrial Revolution of the mid-18th century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way as these days, during the global recession of 2008 there was a 1% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, but these recovered the following year and growth during the next two years was exceptionally high. Because of what?<\/strong> Due to the economic stimuli that were approved to increase production and demand. In other words, a crisis may not only not improve the state of the environment and our relationship with nature, but may even worsen it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is most likely to happen in a few weeks?<\/strong> Logically, an attempt will be made to reactivate the economy through stimulus packages and various necessary measures. At the same time, we are well aware of the characteristic rebound effect of our system after a crisis. Now, the question lies in whether the stimuli to reactivate the economy will focus on clean energy and sectors that are respectful of the environment – in this case, the coronavirus would have contributed its grain of sand in changing the production model – or if it will carry out the so-called \u201crevenge pollution\u201d<\/strong>: investments in coal, oil and the same heavy industries that in the past decades have given so much economic success. A piece of information: oil is currently the most attractive fuel due to its low price; It is at levels not seen since 1991, at the height of the Gulf War. The question is: Which path will the countries take?<\/strong> The answer will vary depending on each one, but it is quite obvious where many of them will head, in most cases due to force majeure.< \/p>\n\n\n\n

It is important to differentiate the coronavirus crisis from the environmental or climate crisis.<\/strong> Society perceives the coronavirus crisis as an extremely urgent and very close problem \u2013 its impact can be felt and seen \u2013, behavioral changes and associated sacrifices have immediate positive effects \u2013 and furthermore these will only be temporary \u2013 and there is no reliance on international collaboration to take action. With the climate crisis, the opposite is true: everything seems much more complex and distant, the sacrifices may not have an immediate positive effect and may not be temporary, and there is a reliance on international collaboration \u2013 which often delays the implementation of solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, the challenge for the coming months is clear: to be able to transfer a sense of urgency, and even positive fear, to the various environmental challenges we face<\/strong> \u2013 especially to climate change \u2013 as the world recovers from a pandemic that will leave us economically, socially and mentally drained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is not\nlittle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julen Gonz\u00e1lez Red\u00edn<\/strong><\/em>
PhD in Sustainable Development and Environment<\/strong>
NAIDER<\/strong><\/ p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jevons paradox or rebound effect: An increase in the efficiency of the consumption of a resource may not decrease the consumption of that resource, but rather increase it. Economic intuition tells us that the improvement of efficiency (for example, energy) allows people to use less of that resource. However, the Jevons paradox \u2013 so named…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15313,"template":"","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":""},"hashtag-lab":[],"naiderlab_tag":[151],"naiderlab_category":[51],"ppma_author":[198],"class_list":["post-17657","naiderlab","type-naiderlab","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","naiderlab_tag-positive-energy-cities-and-territories","naiderlab_category-articles"],"taxonomy_info":{"naiderlab_tag":[{"value":151,"label":"Positive energy cities and territories"}],"naiderlab_category":[{"value":51,"label":"Articles"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/naider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/foto_completa_2-1-1024x770-1.png",1024,770,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Naider","author_link":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/author\/sirope-naid3r\/"},"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naiderlab\/17657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naiderlab"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/naiderlab"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"hashtag-lab","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag-lab?post=17657"},{"taxonomy":"naiderlab_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naiderlab_tag?post=17657"},{"taxonomy":"naiderlab_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naiderlab_category?post=17657"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naider.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=17657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}