The dual role of inequality for sustainability
Abstract
The inherently unsustainable environmental impacts of our global society are exemplified by anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity loss, and natural resource depletion. ‘Hotspots’ of causes and effects of these environmental impacts demonstrate that humanity at large is not a suitable analytical category for understanding these developments. Instead, links can be identified between environmental, social, and economic inequality and sustainability. The research project “Cause and effect – The dual role of inequality for sustainability” (DRIS) is dedicated to understanding these links. Spanning the global to the national and local level, DRIS investigates the systematic links between inequality and sustainability, i.e., the environmental impacts of societal resource use. The conceptual framework for this research considers both the environmental consequences of inequality and the role that resource use patterns plays in explaining inequality. Inequality and sustainability are multi-directionally linked across levels of scale, as exemplified by the international fragmentation of production and consumption and the associated environmental impact. On the basis of the conceptual framework, a database is developed covering environmental, social, and economic inequality, resource use, and environmental impacts at the national level for 150-200 countries in the long-term. This database will be exploited in quantitative analyses of the links between inequality and sustainability at the global and the national level. For a selection of case study countries, additional subnational and qualitative data will be considered. Possibilities for political interventions which simultaneously address inequality and sustainability can thus be identified.
Publikationen
Global patterns of ecologically unequal exchange: Implications for sustainability in the 21st century
Autoren: Dorninger, C; Hornborg, A; Abson, DJ; von Wehrden, H; Schaffartzik, A; Giljum, S; Engler, JO; Feller, RL; Hubacek, K; Wieland, H Jahr: 2021
Journal articles
Project staff
Anke Schaffartzik
Mag.rer.soc.oec. Dr.phil. Anke Schaffartzik B.Sc.
anke.schaffartzik@boku.ac.at
Project Leader
01.01.2019 - 31.01.2024