Circular economy: A new research field?

Action to pursue the circular economy (CE) transition is burgeoning in the government and the private sector. Does this action signal that CE is a distinct field of research with a unique disciplinary identity? This article argues that CE has reached field status, through its own epistemic communities characterized by increasingly shared methodological perspectives and normative ideals, and through institutionalized knowledge development through research journals and authority structures. The recent growth of CE research points toward more contextualized and nuanced operationalizations of the concept, evidence that the field is approaching a threshold state of maturity. Drawing on observations from academic literature and discussions with researchers and experts, we trace the process by which CE has arrived at the status of a field. The article concludes with reflections on research directions.     

Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard

One method to assess the sustainability performance of products is life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA), which assesses product performance considering the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of the life cycle. The results of LCSA can be used to compare different products or to support decision making toward sustainable production and consumption. In both cases, LCSA results could be too disaggregated and consequently too difficult to understand and interpret by decision makers. As non‐experts are usually the target audience of experts and scientists, and are also involved in decision‐making processes, the necessity for a straightforward but comprehensive presentation of LCSA results is becoming strategically important. The implementation of the dashboard of sustainability proposed in this article offers a possible solution. An outstanding characteristic of the dashboard of sustainability is the communicability of the results by means of a graphical representation (a cartogram), characterized by a suitable chromatic scale and ranking score. The integration of LCSA and the dashboard of sustainability into a so‐called Life Cycle Sustainability Dashboard (LCSD) is described here. The first application of LCSD to a group of hard floor coverings is presented to show the applicability and limitations of the methodology.     

Ecological Footprint Policy? Land Use as an Environmental Indicator

This article argues that policies aimed at sustainability need to address the spatial dimensions of environmental problems and their solutions. In particular, spatial configurations of economic activities deserve attention, which means addressing land use, infrastructure, trade, and transport. Unfortunately, good theory and indicators to support the analysis and design of spatial‐environmental policies are not fully developed. One approach that has become very popular in the last decade is the ecological footprint (EF). It is both an environmental accounting tool and aggregate indicator, which is used by scientists, environmental organizations, and popular media. Despite criticisms of the EF method in the past, its popularity has only increased. In fact, an increasing number of publications with an application of the EF appear in scientific journals. We review the EF approach from indicator‐methodology and welfare angles and assess its policy relevance. Our conclusion is that it does not offer any meaningful information for public policy.     

工业生态学的内涵与发展

作为一门发展不到20a的综合性交叉学科,工业生态学目前需要界定其学术范畴和理论基础.首先评述了工业生态学的4个主要领域:(1)社会代谢是工业生态学起源最早也是发展最为成熟的领域.它提供了宏观层次上观察和测量经济发展与物质流动关系的方法和工具,但需要进一步细化物质流动图景和加强流动机制的解释;(2)工业共生是工业生态学最具特征的领域.它实质上是人们出于观察视角的转变而对工业体系的重新认识.逻辑严谨且规则统一的解释框架有助于工业共生理论的发展和实践;(3)基础设施与产业相互选择且协同演进,二者共同构成了城市的物质基础,而城市又是更大范围内区域经济系统的子集.这一组工业生态学的研究对象需要处理产业全球化与社会和生态要素本土化的矛盾;(4)工业发展的可持续性是工业生态学关注的核心目标,而多样性和复杂性给其研究带来了很大的挑战.这提醒我们要避免陷入简单化、还原论或机械论的陷阱,多开展实证研究.最后,从本体论、方法论和隐喻3个标准给出了工业生态学的初步界定,并指出4个重要的努力方向.     

Uncertainty, ecology, sustainability and policy

Using an Australian focus to explore theoretical and policy issues of wider concern, this article examines linkages between public policy and the science of ecology. This is done within the broader framework of sustainability, emphasizing the problem of decision making in the face of uncertainty. Insights from the ecological, risk, sustainability and policy literatures are used. The sustainability-uncertainty problem is characterized, and the adequacy of existing policy support techniques and approaches noted, particularly the precautionary principle. The problem is further defined using the notion of ignorance. The treatment of ignorance and uncertainty in ecology is discussed. We suggest that the science of ecology has had a limited influence on policy formulation and discuss the basis of this using biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management as examples. We conclude by considering challenges for handling risk, uncertainty and ignorance in ecological science for policy formulation. We emphasize the need for improved communication between the science and policy communities, greater recognition of the limits of quantitative techniques in addressing uncertainty, and contingency planning.     

Design and Analysis of Bioenergy Networks

This article presents a new methodology for designing industrial networks and analyzing them dynamically from the standpoint of sustainable development. The approach uses a combination of optimization and simulation tools. Assuming "top-down" overarching control of the network, we use global dynamic optimization to determine which evolutionary pathways are preferred in terms of economic, social, and environmental performance. Considering the autonomy of network entities and their actions, we apply agent-based simulation to analyze how the network actually evolves. These two perspectives are integrated into a powerful multiscale modeling framework for evaluating the consequences of new policy instruments or different business strategies aimed at stimulating sustainable development as well as identifying optimal leverage points for improved performance of the network in question. The approach is demonstrated for a regional network of interdependent organizations deploying a set of bioenergy technologies within a developing-economy context.     

工业生态学研究现状与展望

工业生态学是一门新兴交叉学科,自诞生10多年来,其理论研究与实践活动已经取得了长足的进展。首先介绍了工业生态学的缘起,综述了目前国外工业生态学在原料与能量流动(工业代谢)、物质减量化、技术变革和环境、生命周期规划设计与评价、为环境设计、延伸生产者的责任、生态工业园(工业共生系统)、产品导向的环境策略、生态效益等主要领域的研究进展;分析了我国工业生态学的研究现状,并结合国际发展趋势提出了我国工业生态学未来的研究框架和主要研究领域     

Can a small island nation build resilience? The significance of resource-use patterns and socio-metabolic risks in The Bahamas

Resource-use patterns may entail systemic risks and cascade effects, which consequently inhibit the ability to deliver socioeconomic services. Identifying resource-use patterns exhibiting systemic risks and reshaping their combinations is a potential lever in realizing the transition to a sustainable, resilient, and resource-secure system. Using an island context to assess the quantity and composition of resource throughput enables a more comprehensive analysis of these risks. This article presents the first mass-balance account of socio-metabolic flows for The Bahamas in 2018, to identify socio-metabolic risks and cascading effects. Socio-metabolic risks are systemic risks related to critical resource availability, material circulation integrity, and (in)equities in cost and benefit distributions. We utilize the economy-wide material flow accounting framework to map the material flow patterns across the economy. In 2018, annual direct material input was estimated at 9.4 t/cap/yr, of which 60% were imports. High masses of waste (1.4 t/cap/yr) remained unrecovered due to the lack of recycling. Total domestic extraction (DE) were dominated by non-metallic minerals with more than 80%, while marine biomass makes up barely 1% of total DE. Due to its linear, undiversified metabolism, and heavy imports dependency, the system is susceptible to socio-metabolic risks and cascading effects including low levels of self-sufficiency, high vulnerability to shocks, commodity price fluctuations, threats to sensitive ecosystems, health impacts, and economic losses, among others. A holistic resource management strategy and nature-based solutions that consider the trade-offs and synergies between different resource-use patterns are critical when exploring potential plans for metabolic risk reduction.     

国际景观生态学研究新进展

20世纪90年代中期以来,国际景观生态学发展迅速.景观生态学研究最为活跃的地区集中在北美、欧洲、大洋洲(澳大利亚)、东亚(中国),表明景观生态学理论、方法和应用的广泛性和越来越高的认知度.从研究内容上看,景观生态评价、规划和模拟一直占居主导地位,其次是景观生态保护与生态恢复、景观生态学的理论探讨.随着景观生态学研究的深入,以科学和实践问题为导向的学科交叉与融合不断加强,促进了景观生态学新的学科生长点的形成和发展,主要包括水域景观生态学、景观遗传学、多功能景观研究、景观综合模拟、景观生态与可持续性科学.在全球化背景下,中国的景观生态学研究也已经取得了长足进展,国际同行开始关注并在重要学术刊物上评介中国的景观生态学研究,标志着中国景观生态学已逐步走上国际舞台.然而,中国景观生态学进一步发展的挑战和机遇并存.中国科学家需要抓住人类对可持续发展和可持续性科学的共同夙求,放眼国际前沿、服务本土需求,从中国自身的特色出发,关注受人类干扰的和以人为主导的景观,以景观格局与生态过程的多尺度、多维度耦合研究为核心,区域综合与区内分异并重,推动综合整体性景观生态学的建立和完善.     

The Structure, Function, and Evolution of a Regional Industrial Ecosystem

A framework has been developed to assess the structure, function, and evolution of a regional industrial ecosystem that integrates insights from industrial ecology and economic geography dimensions with complex systems theory. The framework highlights the multilayered landscape of natural ecosystem functions, economic transactions, policy contexts, and social interactions in which interfirm collaboration evolves. Its application to a single case study on the island of Puerto Rico revealed changes in the system's institutional context, its resource flows, and the composition of its industrial community. It illustrated that external forces and interactions among actors at multiple levels can cause permanent changes—but not necessarily system collapse—as policy choices and interfirm cooperation can be used to organize resources in ways that retain system functionality.     

可持续性转型——第五届工业生态学国际大会综述

综述了在葡萄牙里斯本召开的第五届工业生态学国际大会情况.大会的中心议题是\"可持续性转型\",设立了可持续资源管理、工业生态学工具、工业共生、发展中国家的工业生态学等10个议题.在简介会议背景和大会基本数据后,对上述议题归类为社会物质代谢、生态工业发展和工业生态学方法工具3个领域并进行介绍和评述.最后,总结了国际工业生态学的发展现状及趋势,提出了对国内工业生态学发展的4点启示,包括加强实证研究、开展国家层面的物质代谢分析、注意新方法的开发与应用、强化理论基础构建意识.     

Consequential Life Cycle Assessment With Market‐Driven Design

This article describes the development of a consequential life cycle assessment (cLCA) with endogenous market‐driven design (MDD). Incorporation of MDD within cLCA (cLCA‐MDD) is beneficial because design decisions, influenced by market forces, are a major source of environmental emissions and resource consumption in many life cycle systems. cLCA‐MDD captures the environmental impact of these design responses resulting from industrial and policy decisions. We begin by developing the concept of cLCA‐MDD, then present a case study that demonstrates how design responses can be endogenously captured in a cLCA analysis. The case study is in two parts: First, we incorporate endogenous design responses into a cLCA of a mid‐size vehicle and, second, we conduct a policy analysis using a cLCA‐MDD approach. The case study illustrates that cLCA‐MDD can capture multiple “ripple effects” resulting from an industrial decision (e.g., downsizing a vehicle's engine) or a policy decision (e.g., raising gasoline taxes) and that these effects significantly influence results. A key challenge of the approach is appropriately managing and communicating uncertainties associated with the choice of economic parameters or models. We discuss sources of uncertainty in cLCA‐MDD and demonstrate a presentation scheme to facilitate communication of result sensitivity to uncertainties from input parameters, models, and model structure.