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The European Union Green Deal: Clean Energy Wellbeing Opportunities and the Risk of the Jevons Paradox

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  • Estrella Trincado

    (Department of Applied Economics, Structure and History, Faculty of Economics and Business, Campus de Somosaguas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

  • Antonio Sánchez-Bayón

    (Department of Business Economics (ADO), Applied Economics II and Fundamentals of Economic Analysis, Social and Legal Sciences School, Rey Juan Carlos University, 28033 Madrid, Spain)

  • José María Vindel

    (Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, 28040 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

After the Great Recession of 2008, there was a strong commitment from several international institutions and forums to improve wellbeing economics, with a switch towards satisfaction and sustainability in people–planet–profit relations. The initiative of the European Union is the Green Deal, which is similar to the UN SGD agenda for Horizon 2030. It is the common political economy plan for the Multiannual Financial Framework, 2021–2027. This project intends, at the same time, to stop climate change and to promote the people’s wellness within healthy organizations and smart cities with access to cheap and clean energy. However, there is a risk for the success of this aim: the Jevons paradox. In this paper, we make a thorough revision of the literature on the Jevons Paradox, which implies that energy efficiency leads to higher levels of consumption of energy and to a bigger hazard of climate change and environmental degradation.

Suggested Citation

  • Estrella Trincado & Antonio Sánchez-Bayón & José María Vindel, 2021. "The European Union Green Deal: Clean Energy Wellbeing Opportunities and the Risk of the Jevons Paradox," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-23, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:14:p:4148-:d:591647
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