GENERATIONAL DEMATERIALISATION OF ENERGY IN THE WORLD ECONOMY: EVALUATION APPROACH FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT POLICY

Abstract

Several methods and ecological indicators are used in environmental economics to analyse the process of sustainable use of natural resources. These approaches are helpful in measuring and assessing the intensity (efficiency) of products' use and their impact on the environment. However, they do not sufficiently reflect the dynamics and improvements in the achieved outcomes as compared to the population (generation) growth. Moreover, they do not allow always analysing product changes on the world level. Referring to this existing gap, we conceptualise a new approach — product generational dematerialisation (PGD) indicator, measuring product efficiency and population changes in relative values, and use it for investigating the dematerialisation for the world energy sector in the last 35 years. The indicator can be used as a new methodical tool to support and evaluate sustainable management policies on the enterprise, regional, national, and international level as well as for different resources, goods, and services.