Abstract
From Environmental Technology to Sustainable Technologies – A Sweeping Technological Revolution Ahead. Environmental technology was established as a new branch of the modern economy. Half a million jobs are offered in this domain in Germany alone. Under the global criteria of sustainability, however, environmental technology is just not enough. Taking the Climate Convention seriously will force the North to fundamentally change the direction of technological progress, from the increase of labor productivity towards an increase of energy productivity. For this to happen, market signals are a more powerful tool than bureaucratic regulations. Prices should tell the ecological truth. A revenue-neutral ecological tax reform, gradually raising fossil and nuclear energy prices by 5 percent per annum (in constant dollars) would lead within some 40 years to a dramatic increase in both energy productivity and renewables, at the expense of fossil and nuclear energy. A far-reaching technological transformation would ensue. New high-efficiency “sunrise” technologies are bound to emerge. Complex services would gain ground. It is assumed that not all problems can be solved by ecologizing professional labor. Eventually, professional labor may shrink without loss of well-being.
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