Reflections About
the Food–Energy–Water Nexus
in a World Without Economic
Growth—A Dynamic Multinational CGE
Model-Based Thought Experiment
Holger Schlör , Stefanie Schubert , and Sandra Venghaus
Abstract In response to the intensifying need to mitigate climate change and reduce
the pressures on the earth’s natural resources, alternative economic (post growth)
concepts begin to outstrip their role as niche concepts and are now frequently hypothesized to provide inevitable contributions to solving today’s sustainability challenges.
Almost half a decade ago, Meadows et al. (The limits to growth. Universe Books, New
York, 1972 [51]) instigated the discussion about “the limits to growth”, an idea which
was later supported by the Brundtland Commission’s (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in Our common future. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, New York, 1987 [94]) call for new growth models. More recently, authors
such as Stiglitz et al. (Report by the commission on the measurement of economic
performance and social progress. Paris, 2009 [74]; Mismeasuring our lives: why GDP
doesn’t add up. New Press, New York, 2010 [73]) or Tim Jackson have demanded
a complete redefinition of prosperity with the objective to decouple human welfare
from the material impact on the environment (Jackson in Prosperity without growth.
Earthscan, London, 2009 [37]). This discussion about new models of prosperity
often finds itself under the label of the “green economy” or the “food–energy–water
nexus” (FEW nexus) addressing the core sectors of this transformation process. In
the developed model, these new ideas are integrated in an intertemporal dynamic
multinational general equilibrium model (GE model). The GE model consists of
four countries (A, B, C, D) with three economic sectors (FEW, households, industry)
each. We discuss the economic effects of our GE model approach in four growth
H. Schlör (B) · S. Venghaus
IEK-STE, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
e-mail: h.schloer@fz-juelich.de
S. Venghaus
e-mail: s.venghaus@fz-juelich.de
S. Schubert
SRH, Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: Stefanie.Schubert@srh.de
S. Venghaus
School of Business and Economics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. S. Muthu (ed.), The Water–Energy–Food Nexus,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0239-9_1
1
the Food–Energy–Water Nexus
in a World Without Economic
Growth—A Dynamic Multinational CGE
Model-Based Thought Experiment
Holger Schlör , Stefanie Schubert , and Sandra Venghaus
Abstract In response to the intensifying need to mitigate climate change and reduce
the pressures on the earth’s natural resources, alternative economic (post growth)
concepts begin to outstrip their role as niche concepts and are now frequently hypothesized to provide inevitable contributions to solving today’s sustainability challenges.
Almost half a decade ago, Meadows et al. (The limits to growth. Universe Books, New
York, 1972 [51]) instigated the discussion about “the limits to growth”, an idea which
was later supported by the Brundtland Commission’s (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in Our common future. Oxford University Press,
Oxford, New York, 1987 [94]) call for new growth models. More recently, authors
such as Stiglitz et al. (Report by the commission on the measurement of economic
performance and social progress. Paris, 2009 [74]; Mismeasuring our lives: why GDP
doesn’t add up. New Press, New York, 2010 [73]) or Tim Jackson have demanded
a complete redefinition of prosperity with the objective to decouple human welfare
from the material impact on the environment (Jackson in Prosperity without growth.
Earthscan, London, 2009 [37]). This discussion about new models of prosperity
often finds itself under the label of the “green economy” or the “food–energy–water
nexus” (FEW nexus) addressing the core sectors of this transformation process. In
the developed model, these new ideas are integrated in an intertemporal dynamic
multinational general equilibrium model (GE model). The GE model consists of
four countries (A, B, C, D) with three economic sectors (FEW, households, industry)
each. We discuss the economic effects of our GE model approach in four growth
H. Schlör (B) · S. Venghaus
IEK-STE, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany
e-mail: h.schloer@fz-juelich.de
S. Venghaus
e-mail: s.venghaus@fz-juelich.de
S. Schubert
SRH, Heidelberg, Germany
e-mail: Stefanie.Schubert@srh.de
S. Venghaus
School of Business and Economics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. S. Muthu (ed.), The Water–Energy–Food Nexus,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0239-9_1
1