International agreements to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide have been limited so far. One argument commonly used against them is economic—politicians believe that limiting greenhouse gas emissions could hurt economic growth. A recent study published in Nature uses a novel integrated analysis of energy, food, and water to demonstrate that economic growth can remain strong even as environmental concerns place restrictions on industry.
The authors of this study focus on Australia, building an analytical framework using more than 20 scenarios that explore a range of factors that can shape environmental and economic outcomes. These include national trends and policies, energy and resource efficiency, agricultural productivity, as well as consumption and working hours.
