Globalisation

Sustainable international development requires a substantial reduction of natural resource use on a global level and a fair distribution of environmental space between countries in North and South.

The realisation of a sustainable development on a global level can only be achieved by integrating all 4 dimensions of sustainability:

• the economic dimension, with the major issues of reforming international trade and financial markets,
• the social dimension, with the central goals of reducing poverty and unequal distributions of the gains from globalisation,
• the environmental dimension, tackling global environmental problems, such as climate change, overuse of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources, and the loss of biodiversity
• the institutional dimension with the central question of redistributing power within the global institutions and ensuring democratic decision processes

The concept of environmental space as the framework for SERI´s activities, explicitly stresses the links between the ecological dimension and the social dimension of sustainability within a global context. Thus the work of SERI in the area of globalisation focuses on two main goals:

1. Reduction of the overall amount of natural resource use on a global level
2. A fair distribution of these resources between the rich and the poor countries

Methodologies of physical accounting, such as Material Flow Accounting and Analysis (MFA) are especially appropriate to measure the use of environmental space in different countries and its unequal distribution between the world regions.

This empirical data can support the formulation of policy strategies and suggestions for policy instruments. Central policy issues addressed by SERI are:

• The reduction of the overall amount of resource flows activated by trade demand as a prerequisite for establishing a "sustainable trade regime", providing suggestions on how to solve the debate on free trade versus environment
• Re-regulating and greening international financial markets

Project Areas

Global Material Flows

Many scientists today recognize that the scale of the economy is a central determining factor for ecological sustainability of economic activities. Scale is a shorthand for the aggregate matter-energy-throughput of the industrial metabolism.
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Ecologically unequal Exchange

The analysis of the manifold impacts of globalisation processes and in particular of intensified international trade relations on countries in the south has so far often been restricted to economic criteria. The physical dimension, especially the material and energy flows induced by these processes, is often neglected. However, these physical aspects, which are not reflected in a pure economic analysis, often determine the actual occurring ecological and social impacts of globalisation processes.
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Eco Trade

The conflicts at the WTO meeting in Seattle between supporters and opponents of further trade liberalisation clearly indicated that the environmental and social impacts of globalisation will be among the key political issues in the coming decade.
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Country Studies

"The world is like a human body: If one part aches, the rest will feel it; if many parts hurt, the whole will suffer." [Todaro]
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Long text version of the theme-description Globalisation
[pdf ]

SERIs flyer on Globalisation
[pdf 34 kB].

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Fred Luks - Stefan Giljum