At COP30 in Belem, a coalition of major environmental groups launched a bold plan for doubling energy efficiency by 2030. With partners including UNEP, WRI, RMI, and WWF, the Mission Efficiency plan aims to be “the most cost-effective climate solution of the decade,” claiming that widespread efficiency adoption would “cut emissions while improving lives”.
Efficiency has long been a key pillar of sustainability campaigns. Four decades ago, the Brundtland Commission’s flagship report “Our Common Future” stated that “An increase in the efficiency of energy and material use serves ecological purposes but can also reduce costs.” Yet in the very next sentence, the report observed that “…the compatibility of environmental and economic objectives is often lost in the pursuit of individual or group gains…” Even at the outset of the modern sustainability sector, there was a note of hesitation about the endurance of efficiency savings. In its latest brief, the Degrowth Institute (DGI) reflects on recent experiences with efficiency, asking the important and timely question: what happens to the savings?
The global economy has been set up around a growth imperative, a long-held commitment to continual economic expansion. This dynamic means that if the savings from a sustainability initiative are not strictly conserved or protected, then they are available to be re-spent to serve growth elsewhere. Despite the dedicated efforts of sustainability advocates, environmental stewardship is at perpetual risk of being undermined by the broader economy.
Consider a few cases of where the impact-reduction promise of efficiency has clashed with the push for economic growth:
- Lightbulb efficiency standards have been celebrated for their potential to save the US billions of dollars and slash GHG emissions. Indeed, improved efficiency helped cut residential and commercial lighting demand in half in only a decade. But that’s just for lighting; the situation is different when the wider electricity sector is considered. National electricity sales have grown by 50 billion kilowatt-hours in just the past couple years, driven largely by demands from new datacenters. The savings made available by lighting are being rapidly redeployed.
- The campaign to “please consider the environment before printing” claimed that embracing digital technology could save both paper and trees. And thanks in part to digitalization, global graphic paper use has declined by almost 40% over the past two decades. But over this same period, global paper use for packaging actually increased by 60%, causing the overall weight of paper use to increase 7%. The savings created from not printing from a personal computer are being redirected to the packaging supplying the wider digital economy.
- The development of more efficient vehicles has been supported as a way of lowering emissions and providing cheaper travel. Although substantial efficiencies have been achieved in engine mechanics and body design, these gains have been disproportionately directed towards making cars larger, faster, and more convenient, rather than realizing the maximum ecological benefits. And even as the sale of gasoline for cars appears to be slowing, the increased demand for trucking diesel, shipping fuel, and aviation fuel has contributed to record growth in global energy use.
Each of these examples demonstrates how economic growth liquidates the savings from well-meaning efficiency efforts. Even when efforts are effective in one application, savings can be rerouted to new and extended uses in some other part of the economy. Forming a challenge to endless economic growth must be sustainability’s next evolution. The proposal for Degrowth calls for an intentional downscaling of the global economy to achieve both ecological sustainability and social justice. A degrowth transition would help ensure that ecological practices actually displace destructive ones, and that the savings from efficiency measures are truly saved.
Sustainability work will need to be reconsidered to make sure it not only reflects positive intentions but has positive effects on the global economy. Suggested points for action include:
- In your own work or when examining environmental claims from others, ask the question: what happens to the savings? Attempting to track the ultimate impact of efficiency measures can inspire institutional changes that address system-level challenges.
- When studying environmental solutions, be sure to keep the wider socio-economic context in mind. Recognizing that outcomes are subject to social and economic adaptation can prompt a more open conversation about the role of technology and economic objectives.
- Remember that “the economy is ecology”, meaning that every economic activity requires inputs from the global ecological system. This observation can move sustainability work towards real reciprocity with the wider world.
- Rather than prioritizing economic efficiency, focus on issues of fairness and inclusion. This will entail reorienting sustainability around community resilience, participation, and self-determination, instead of high-tech approaches.
- Advocate for degrowth and question the presumed need for endless growth. By focusing on the totality of economic production and consumption, degrowth stands apart from other limits-based proposals, and it shows the way to dislodging the growth imperative.
DGI is a US based non-profit formed in 2024. Its mission is to empower the sustainability movement to challenge the need for economic growth. Visit the DGI website to read the brief “What Happens to the Savings? Delivering on the promise of sustainability by challenging endless economic growth”.
