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Industrialization, Fossil Fuels, and the Transformation of Land Use

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  • Karl-Heinz Erb
  • Simone Gingrich
  • Fridolin Krausmann
  • Helmut Haberl

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> Human-induced changes in global stocks and flows of carbon are major drivers of global climate change. This article presents a comprehensive and systemic account of a nation's carbon budget, comprising socioeconomic as well as ecological carbon flows in a historic time series. The example of Austria 1830–2000, for which excellent databases facilitate a comprehensive assessment, suggests that changes in socioeconomic metabolism during the agrarian−industrial transition are intimately linked with changes in land use and natural carbon flows. In the preindustrial agrarian colonization of Austria (during the thousands of years before 1830), a huge amount of carbon was released due to the expansion of agricultural land. At the dawn of Austria's industrialization (1830–1880), this process was terminated, and carbon inflows and outflows of ecosystems were approximately balanced. With rising fossil fuel consumption, Austria's socioeconomic system added growing amounts of carbon to the atmosphere each year. At the same time, fossil-fuel-powered surges in the productivity of agro-ecosystems facilitated the production of growing amounts of agricultural biomass on shrinking agricultural areas. This greatly enhanced ecological carbon flows and, together with decreasing pressures on forests, allowed ecosystems to recover from past depletion and absorb increasing amounts of carbon. The systematic interlinkage between the socioeconomic energy system and carbon flows in ecosystems, as documented in this study, underlines the need for comprehensive and consistent analyses of society−nature interaction to develop monitoring tools and support strategies aimed at a more sustainable future.

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  • Karl-Heinz Erb & Simone Gingrich & Fridolin Krausmann & Helmut Haberl, 2008. "Industrialization, Fossil Fuels, and the Transformation of Land Use," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 686-703, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:12:y:2008:i:5-6:p:686-703
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2008.00076.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Niedertscheider, Maria & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Müller, Daniel & Erb, Karl-Heinz, 2014. "Exploring the effects of drastic institutional and socio-economic changes on land system dynamics in Germany between 1883 and 2007," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28, pages 98-108.
    3. Pichler, Melanie & Bhan, Manan & Gingrich, Simone, 2021. "The social and ecological costs of reforestation. Territorialization and industrialization of land use accompany forest transitions in Southeast Asia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    4. Gingrich, Simone & Lauk, Christian & Krausmann, Fridolin & Erb, Karl-Heinz & Le Noë, Julia, 2021. "Changes in energy and livestock systems largely explain the forest transition in Austria (1830–1910)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    5. Gerber, Julien-François & Scheidel, Arnim, 2018. "In Search of Substantive Economics: Comparing Today's Two Major Socio-metabolic Approaches to the Economy – MEFA and MuSIASEM," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 186-194.
    6. Gingrich, Simone, 2011. "Foreign trade and early industrialisation in the Habsburg Monarchy and the United Kingdom -- Two extremes in comparison," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(7), pages 1280-1288, May.
    7. Gavrilova, Olga & Jonas, Matthias & Erb, Karlheinz & Haberl, Helmut, 2010. "International trade and Austria's livestock system: Direct and hidden carbon emission flows associated with production and consumption of products," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 920-929, February.
    8. Gingrich, Simone & Kusková, Petra & Steinberger, Julia K., 2011. "Long-term changes in CO2 emissions in Austria and Czechoslovakia--Identifying the drivers of environmental pressures," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 535-543, February.
    9. Helga Weisz & Heinz Schandl, 2008. "Materials Use Across World Regions," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 12(5-6), pages 629-636, October.
    10. Haberl, Helmut & Sprinz, Detlef & Bonazountas, Marc & Cocco, Pierluigi & Desaubies, Yves & Henze, Mogens & Hertel, Ole & Johnson, Richard K. & Kastrup, Ulrike & Laconte, Pierre & Lange, Eckart & Novak, 2012. "Correcting a fundamental error in greenhouse gas accounting related to bioenergy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 18-23.
    11. Mamtani, Kapil & Shahbaz, Kaveh & Farid, Mohammed M., 2021. "Glycerolysis of free fatty acids: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).

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