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This study considers the potential conflict between economic growth and climate change mitigation. Some believe green growth is an option, while others think climate goals are incompatible with growth. It does so by developing a sector-based approach to analyze the relation between on the one hand carbon dioxide emissions per dollar of output and on the other the growth in economic output and labor productivity. This allows us to investigate whether green growth – combining economic growth with environmental sustainability – is feasible. The analysis covers Denmark, Germany and Spain for the period 1995–2007. An important innovation of this study is that carbon intensity is calculated in two different ways: (1) as direct carbon dioxide emissions from each sector, which can be seen to immediately result from the processes in the respective sector; and (2) as total, direct plus indirect, emissions, by using environmentally-extended input–output tables and considering also indirect carbon emissions through imported goods. Another novelty of this study is that we calculate correlations over time between sectoral carbon intensity and a range of economic indicators: sectoral total and relative output, final demand, value added, and so-called output and valued-added productivity indicators, and their change. A main conclusion is that despite past climate policy, developed under the Kyoto protocol, relatively clean sectors do not seem to be more productive than dirtier ones, and neither show higher productivity growth. Sectors associated with high carbon intensity grew more in absolute terms than those with low carbon intensity. The share of these sectors increased suggesting that green development requires an extremely rapid pace of decarbonization (to allow for green growth), or the economy as a whole to shrink (green decline). An important additional finding of this study is that longer-term sectoral growth, as expressed by a change in value added, does not seem to be positively correlated with carbon intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming mitigation is used as a key to devise built environment strategies and sustainable policies in developed countries that aim to reduce the rate of carbon emissions. The goal of this research is to mitigate global warming from building construction by suggesting an alternative building scheme for Malaysia. A problem related to the building industry is releasing carbon dioxide emission. Use of timber for construction has less impact on the environment due to less carbon dioxide emissions, thus making wood the best material for wall construction. However, as the Malaysian climate is hot and humid, wood encounters many defects and deteriorates. Presently, most buildings in Malaysia are built from other materials such as concrete or brick. In the last 40 years, wood materials in building schemes in Malaysia have dropped from 60% to almost 5%. This research proposed a new approach to minimize the effect of CO 2 emission for buildings as well as to improve their structural stability for a longer lifespan because these would encourage the Malaysian construction industry to use wood components in their building schemes. In this study, SIMAPRO Software was used to assess CO 2 emissions caused by seven different types of building schemes in wall constructions. The results from a simulation of three time frames of twenty, one hundred and five hundred years showed that timber scheme is the best choice for construction. To promote the use of timber, a new building scheme that would solve the problem of timber wood structure in Malaysia were proposed. The alternative building scheme has combined precast concrete and timber (H8) to improve the timber scheme deficiency while releasing less CO 2 emissions compared to other systems. Therefore (H8) could replace current building schemes. This research can facilitate decision-maker to choose the most flexible scheme for Malaysian housing. Thus, this system could be positively and widely used in the Malaysian construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]