ABSTRACT
This article describes and analyses a generic causal loop diagram (CLD) to explore the nexus between greenhouse gas emissions and the use of raw materials in the energy sector. The article offers perspectives into an explanation as to why current purely sectoral policy approaches are very likely to be less successful than they would have been. Instead, it argues for the adoption of intersectoral multi-level policy approaches, which take into account the different feedback mechanisms, to describe and analyse the said nexus. After a short explanation of how the term ‘systems analysis’ is understood and used by the author, the generic CLD, with its important feedback structures, is presented as a worthy alternative to exploring the nexus between greenhouse gas emissions and the use of raw materials in the energy sector.
