Future Energy and Material Scenarios based on Decent Living Standards

The decent living standards (DLS) framework defines a minimum set of material requirements essential for achieving human wellbeing. Over the last decade, it has served as a normative reference to link the environmental impacts of socioeconomic futures to progress in human development. Studies have applied DLS at national, regional and global scales to quantify multidimensional poverty, infrastructure and service requirements to eradicate poverty and in turn the energy and materials required to meet these needs. A few studies examine the GHG implications of providing DLS to all in climate futures. Overall, the literature suggests that energy and GHG emissions implied in closing gaps and sustaining DLS are, and will remain, smaller than impacts associated with affluence beyond DLS. There are substantial regional variations in resource impacts, due to differences in climate, population density and existing provisioning systems. Transport needs are relatively poorly understood and its quantifications vary the most. These studies reveal the importance of inequality reduction in simultaneously meeting future poverty eradication and climate stabilization goals.