Twin transitions of decarbonisation and digitalisation: a historical perspective on energy and information in European economies

Roger Fouquet and Ralph Hippe

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper investigates the structural transformation associated with the ‘twin transition’ of decarbonisation and digitalisation in European economies by placing it in a broader historical perspective. With this in mind, this paper analyses the long run trends in energy intensity and communication intensity since 1850. The evidence indicates that these economies experienced a coevolution of energy and communication intensities during their industrialisation phase, followed by a divergence in the energy and communication intensities associated with the development of high tech and ICT. Overall, this reflects the dematerialisation of these European economies. The paper also analyses the speed of historical energy transitions and communication technology transitions in these economies, finding that communication transitions appear to be substantially faster than energy transitions. The evidence suggests that twin transitions of the decarbonisation and digitalisation of economies are likely to experience a process of imbalanced structural transformation (with ICT continuing to forge ahead). This expectation should guide policy recommendations – increasing the need for low carbon industry to develop and create synergies between the two industries in order to avoid the new industrial revolution being high-carbon.

Keywords: energy transitions; ICT; twin transition; energy intensity; historical; Twin transition; Energy transitions; Energy intensity; Historical (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2022-09-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene, nep-his, nep-ict, nep-reg and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published in Energy Research and Social Science, 1, September, 2022, 91. ISSN: 2214-6296

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/115544/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Twin Transitions of Decarbonisation and Digitalisation: A Historical Perspective on Energy and Information in European Economies (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:115544

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