Identifying decarbonization leverage points (IMAGE)
Caption
(A) Hungary's production network.
(B) Micro-level diagram of a production sub-network consisting of five firms. Every firm employs people, produces economic output, and emits CO2 byproducts. The right-hand bars show the total emissions, number of jobs, and total output of the sub-network.
(C) ‘Remove largest emitters first’ strategy. To effectively reduce emissions, firm d which is the largest emitter, is removed. Firm e loses its only supplier which causes it to stop its production and lay off its employees. Firm c loses one of its suppliers and reduces its production level by 50%. In total, CO2 emissions are decreased by 50% while jobs are cut by 70%, similar to economic output.
(D) ‘Smart strategy’ based on the identification of decarbonization leverage points. By closing systemically irrelevant firms a and b, total CO2 emissions are reduced by 50% while jobs drop by just 30%. Total output is affected similarly. Since in this schematic figure a linear production function is assumed for all firms, only firm c is affected by a and b's production stops. The ratio of emission savings per job loss is maximal for this second strategy.
Credit
Complexity Science Hub
Usage Restrictions
Please mention credit
License
Original content