Tapio Decoupling Analysis

Decoupling analysis measures whether economic growth can proceed without a proportional increase in environmental pressure such as emissions, energy use, or resource consumption. The elasticity-based formulation introduced by Petri Tapio in 2005, refining the earlier OECD decoupling indicator, expresses the relationship as the ratio of the percentage change in environmental pressure to the percentage change in an economic driving force, typically GDP. This single decoupling elasticity is then sorted into a logical scheme of states — strong and weak decoupling, expansive and recessive coupling, and strong and weak negative decoupling — that distinguishes the desirable case where pressure falls while the economy grows from the undesirable case where pressure grows faster than the economy. Tapio's scheme has become a standard diagnostic for tracking progress toward green growth and sustainability.