Sir, – Further to the ongoing debate regarding the “obsession” with economic growth and its effects on the planet, Our World in Data recently published data showing that GDP per capita in Sweden doubled from 1971 to 2021, while carbon emissions per capita halved during the same period.
On the face of it (“land use change” data was excluded from the results and some commentators have claimed that Sweden has outsourced much of its emissions heavy industry to China), it would appear that growing GDP per capita and reducing CO2 emissions are not necessarily mutually exclusive aims, and that it is possible to decouple GDP growth from CO2 emissions. – Yours, etc,
ROB SADLIER,
Rathfarnham,
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Dublin 16.