Current climate mitigation policy in the United Kingdom focuses on low-emission energy generation and carbon capture and storage. Space and technological constraints limit the potential for further reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through these methods. A third approach is to achieve allocative resource efficiency by reducing demand in energy-intensive industries such as construction and beef production. Rather than focusing on the limited remaining efficiencies in converting energy into work, capitalising on available efficiencies in converting work into products will improve GHG reduction in the UK.
To gain political traction, there must be an economic argument for demand reduction. There are many technological options for reducing demand for energy and materials, but this approach is difficult to reconcile with a traditional economic model focused on increasing gross domestic product: a reframing is necessary. The discussion of climate change can no longer be about allowing GDP to grow without being tempered by adverse weather. Future policy must be grounded in reducing the civic and economic risks of rising temperatures, and addressing the security challenges in a future with increasingly scarce resources.
The proposed project aims to create a bridge between the technologies of demand reduction and the forms of economic model used in policy processes, with a view to reconciling technology, politics and economics in a manner that will mitigate the risks and security concerns associated with global warming.