
Absolute decoupling is when emissions going down while we have economic growth, relative decoupling is when emissions diverge from economic growth. The last one os insufficient for mitigate climate change.
https://eeb.org/library/decoupling-debunked/
Another good resource is Tim Jackson "Prosperity without Growth".
You may then counter that a decoupling of economic growth from its material and energy underpinnings is possible. This has yet to be effectively proven. We have only seen partial decoupling so far. For more information on this see the writings of Tim Jackson in his book Prosperity without Growth.
I also urge you to download this spreadsheet (from the BP website) showing the growth in usage of fossil fuels (http://tinyurl.com/2yhx7d). We may find alternatives to these but if we do, we will have to bring the alternatives online at roughly the same level to supply our societies with the energy they now require to function. This is no easy feat. It's good know, quantitatively, just what's required.
Another great read from a more relate able angle is The Omnivore's Dilemma which doesn't address the issue very directly, but shows in painstaking detail how the US food chain has moved from a renewable solar base to one derived entirely from corn, which in turn relies on cheap petrochemical sources to grow at the speed, intensity, and volume that we grow it in the US.
Check out the reviews for both books as well - many of them cite other important works in the genre.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Prosperity-without-Growth-Economics-F...
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Mea...
More specifically:
1) Do you agree/disagree with the premise that is the first half of the book?
2) What do you think about the framework (for solution) outlined in the second half of the book?
For those that haven't read it, I recommend that you do.
