1 Environmental costs of growth

Over the past more than two centuries mankind has experienced unprecedented economic development. As a result of this, in Europe and in America during the 19 th century and in the countries of the Far East in the latter half the 20 th century, previously unthinkable masses emerged from extreme poverty, infant mortality decreased and life expectancy increased. However, the sudden growth observed in the past decades has come at a price, as the consumption-centric economic growth based on the use of hydrocarbons has caused irreversible damages to the Earth’s climate and biodiversity.

The global warming of these days is the largest imbalance in the age of civilisation, which has become one of the biggest obstacles to long-term, sustainable growth, both at the national and global levels. So far the increase in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases has resulted in a more than 1-degree Celsius rise in the global average temperature compared to the age of industrialisation in the 19 th century. As a result of warming, glaciers and polar ice caps have started to melt, accelerating the rise in the sea and ocean levels, and thus endangering the life of hundreds of millions of people and the existence of several important world economic centres. As a result of climate change, extreme weather events are occurring more and more frequently causing greater and greater damages (hurricanes, floods, droughts).

Meeting the food needs of the increasing population imposes an ever larger burden on water management and food production. The increasing number of forests destroyed to expand agricultural production may lead to further erosion of the environment, forest fires and the extinction of species. Despite the rise in the ratio of renewable resources in the industrial utilisation of energy, fossil fuels are still determinant. The ecological footprint of mankind has expanded to an unprecedented size, and since in the present economic regime, the exploitation of nature and the degree of pollution inevitably increase in parallel with development, the continuing convergence of developing countries may result in further environmental degradation in the future.

According to the scientific research, if the current trends continue, even the realisation of the objectives to reduce emissions, undertaken in the 2016 Paris Agreement, will not be sufficient to prevent that by the end of the 21 st century the rise in the global average temperature does not exceed the 2-degree Celsius limit compared to the pre-industrial level. The latest results highlight the fact that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may heat the surface of the Earth faster than previously estimated, and thus in the absence of radical changes and appropriate climate protection measures the temperature may even be 7 degrees higher by the end of the century. Accordingly, the prevention of a climate catastrophe calls for intervention as soon as possible.