« Dans la quête aux réductions d’émissions de CO2, on parle régulièrement de différents leviers : démographie, décroissance, sobriété, efficacité énergétique ou encore mix énergétique. Pour comprendre l’impact de chacun de ces termes, il est commode de se servir de l’équation de Kaya. Cette équation, que l’on doit à l’économiste japonais Yoichi Kaya, décompose les émissions de CO2 énergétiques (donc qui proviennent de la consommation d’énergie) selon une formule mathématique qui n’est qu’une tautologie, mais qui donne un axe de lecture intéressant. Dans « Environment, Energy, and Economy : strategies for sustainability« , il écrit en 1997 que la quantité de CO2 énergétique émise dans l’atmosphère est égale à l’intensité carbone de l’énergie, multipliée par l’intensité énergétique du PIB, multipliée par le PIB par habitant, multiplié par la population. » … Simon Yaspo.
All local communities affected by mining projects should have the right to have a say on whether mining activities will start or continue in their backyard. This belief in community involvement in political, economic, and environmental decision-making is epitomised in a Right to Say No (RTSN), which is the inalienable and collective right of a community to say no (or yes) to extractive projects on the territories/lands they are living within. Currently, there is no real ‘Right’ to Say No outside of iterations of the indigenous right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) — it is a right we are asserting, not something we can yet claim. This toolbox will elaborate on the rights local communities already have and those rights that still need to be recognised and enforced, to establish a Right to Say No.
The massive and growing ‘forever chemicals’ scandal in Belgium marks the culmination and possible endpoint of the endless growth logic, not to mention the privatising of profit and the socialising of costs. This was reflected in the leaked secret settlement, reached in 2018, between a Flemish government-owned company (Lantis) and a mega-multinational (3M), which leaves the taxpayers footing the bill, currently estimated at €63 million, for just a small part of the enormous PFOS pollution that seeped into the soil and water around the 3M plant in Zwijndrecht.
Is it possible to enjoy both economic growth and environmental sustainability? This question is a matter of fierce political debate between green growth and post-growth advocates. Considering what is at stake, a careful assessment to determine whether the scientific foundations behind this decoupling hypothesis are robust or not is needed.
