Chronological change of resource metabolism and decarbonization patterns in Pakistan: Perspectives from a typical developing country

With economic growth in many developing countries, not all are making similar progress with regard to material and environmental efficiencies. This study examines material use and CO2 emission patterns and intensities from 1971 to 2015 in a typical developing country, Pakistan, and investigates national‐level and multi‐country‐level efficiency improvements using data envelopment analysis. The results are used to derive key policy insights for a sustainable economic transition with higher resource and carbon efficiencies. Results show that material intensity has reduced by 39.1% while CO2 intensity has risen by 21.5% in the country. Pakistan, when compared with its top 10 export countries, was relatively more material and CO2 intensive. National‐level efficiency was found to be low in most of the periods due to material/energy intensive agriculture and industries, low value‐added exports, etc. Insights from the national‐level efficiency analysis indicate that surging CO2 intensities have started to decline since 2010 and the economy has greatly stabilized. Multi‐country analysis revealed that the efficiency gap between Pakistan and its developed export countries (such as the United Kingdom and France) has widened during the study period. Insights from the multi‐country analysis suggest that the economic growth and industrialization improves material and environmental efficiencies to some extent, yet these improvements are not equally distributed among all countries. As a way forward, integrated policies on sustainable resource consumption, carbon mitigation, and economic growth are necessary for accruing higher benefits from rising global trade and resource connectedness.