Decoupling: a step toward sustainable development with reference to OECD countries

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to closely examine the evidence of decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation as experienced by OECD member countries. In order to analyze these aspects and to explore the comparative assessment, this work has utilized available statistical data of OECD. The study employed DPSIR methods outlined in the OECD report, which state that Indicators measure the decoupling of environmental pressure from economic growth for analyzing environmental pressure/degradation indicators, such as population growth, energy production, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, CO2 emission, SOx emission, NOx emission, water abstraction and waste with economic indicator, i.e., nominal and per capita GDP. The major finding of this study is that among the selected indicators, some resulted from relative decoupling rather than absolute decoupling, which means that the environmental pressure still increases, albeit at a lower rate than economic performance, and that the presence of decoupling is not an indication for sustainable economic development.