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Global Sustainability Models
Both the economy and the society that hosts it can
only exist within the confines of the environmental
and resource boundaries available.
One of the main frailties of the global sustainability
model up to recent years was the incorrect perception
that the social, economic and environmental pillars of the
sustainable development paradigm were equally weighted,
as represented in the classic sustainability Venn diagram
(Figure 9.1).
In fact, the relationship is less equal and, at the same
time, more complex. Our economy can only expand within
society’s ability to support it. Both the economy and the
society that hosts it can only exist within the confines of
the environmental and resource boundaries available. The
nested dependencies featured in Figure 9.1 are a better
representation of this understanding of the sustainable
development paradigm. Infinite economic expansion
without regard to environmental constraints is illogical,
immoral and, ultimately, impossible.
Economic Cost of Not Protecting our
Environment
The proposed economic cost of climate change impacts
for the EU – in the absence of adaptation actions – is in
the order of tens of billions of euros per year.
Insufficient protection and preservation of our environment
has a significant economic cost. The World Economic
Forum comments that “… the undesirable environmental
consequences of human activity are leading to a less
habitable world” (World Economic Forum, 2014). The World
Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the overall annual
economic cost of health impacts and mortality from air
pollution, including estimates for morbidity costs, amounts
to €1.45 trillion (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2015).
Another significant economic and social cost resulting
from environmental impact derives from climate change.
A recent European Union (EU) study on climate change
impacts proposed that the economic cost – in the absence of
adaptation actions – for the EU was in order of tens of billions
of euros per year (Ciscar
et al
., 2014). The economic costs-
avoided imperative is recognised in the intergovernmental
agreement reached following the Climate Change COP21
meeting in Paris in December 2015, one of the recitals to
which emphasises the “enduring benefits of ambitious and
early action (on climate change), including major reductions
in the cost of future mitigation and adaptation efforts”.
The World Economic Forum notes that social and
environmental sustainability issues increasingly influence
economic policy decisions and can have an impact on
economic performance (World Economic Forum, 2014).
Our future economic and social stability and resilience
requires accelerated and sustained action to reimagine and
decarbonise our society and move to an enduring state of
carbon neutrality.
National “Environomic” Performance
The challenge is to maintain the recent good
environmental performance in a recovering economy.
There is some evidence of the need to decouple economic
activity and growth from environmental impact. In recent
years, Ireland has moved from a position of being one of
the most resource-inefficient economies in the EU (our
rate of material consumption was growing faster than
the population) to greatly improve its efficiency in terms
of raw material consumption per capita (Figure 9.2).
The reduction in personal consumption and building
programmes over this period (associated with the
economic downturn) has – we believe – largely contributed
to this trend. This reduction in building has induced social
challenges (e.g. housing availability), suggesting that the
scale of reduction was too severe and poorly managed.
Better integration and coherence between environmental,
economic and social policy needs could act to mitigate
these shock swings.
Figure 9.1
Sustainable Development Paradigm
Ecological
Economy
Society
Environmental
Limits
Livable
Social
Viable
Sustainable
Fair
Economic